Berwick Defeats Dexter-Southfield 5-0

The Berwick Academy Boys Varsity soccer team traveled to Brookline, Mass to take on the maroon and silver of Dexter-Southfield on their homecoming weekend.  The blustery wind coupled with a fast turf factored into every long ball in either direction, forcing both teams to adjust game plans and seek short outlet passes rather than long through balls. A brief warm up did not seem to affect the Bulldogs as they took the play right at Dexter only 18 hours after leaving their home field the day before.   Berwick strung together some of their nicest passing sequences of the season in the early-going, earning three corner kicks in the first ten minutes.  The last one paid off as Brendan Tribastone delivered perfect strike to Jack McCraven, who lasered a shot along the turf past Dexter keeper Cole Weiner.  Berwick continued to push the offensive play, keeping Weiner busy all afternoon.   In the 19^th minute, Tribastone dribbled his way to the top of the Dexter penalty area and earned a direct kick after a hard foul.  Tribastone drove a perfect, 20 yard ball over the four-man wall and tucked it neatly in the upper left corner of the net.  Ten minutes later, Tribastone prepped himself for another set piece from the corner, which he delivered to Derek Muse who found the back of the net by lobbing it over the Dexter keeper to round out the scoring for the first half.   McCraven and co-captain James Ordway anchored a steady defensive front that allowed little through to the Berwick goal as co-captain goalie Ian Randle had a quiet half.

 

The second session saw more of the same.  The Bulldogs continued to carry most of the play, but facing a stiff wind, Berwick needed to keep the ball on the turf and execute crisp passing sequences.  Ten minutes into the half, defender Deven Heiderscheidt sent Tribastone a nice pass into the box, where he was again taken down, putting him on the penalty stripe for the second time in as many days.   Tribastone buried the attempt, effectively putting the game out of reach for the Dexter maroon and silver side.   The Bulldog reserves continued their strong play on the week, as Ethan Littlefield and Duncan Haywood filled in well on defense, Luke Stockmayer and Neale Walsh played superbly up top, and Christian Zinck, Pierce Wood and Jake Donoghue turned in more strong performances on the flanks.  In the 63^rd minute, McCraven sent Muse down the wing, and he tipped it to Donoghue, who fed an open Chad Thut, who calmly finished the play, and the scoring on the day, with a neat flick to the far corner past the diving keeper.  It was just a matter of maintaining the shutout at that point for Randle, and he had to earn it in the73rd minute when Dexter was awarded a penalty kick.  With little on the line but pride, Randle extended his body and dove to his left, deflecting the ball that trickled right back in front to a massive scramble.  Randle had to make two more saves from his back, but finally managed to gobble the ball up to preserve the clean sheet for the Bulldogs.

 

Berwick is 7-0-4 on the season and welcomes Phillips Exeter to South Berwick on Wednesday.