Berwick Comes from Behind to Stun Governor's

The Berwick Academy Boys Varsity Soccer team traveled to Byfield, Massachusetts, to take on the Governor’s Academy on a drizzly Saturday afternoon. The two squads were evenly matched at every position on the field, and it was a clean, hard-fought contest for the full 90 minutes. Both teams did well to possess the ball early on, and a soggy pitch did not prevent the sides from stringing together good passing sequences both ways. The play went back and forth early on as each team tried to assert themselves and gain the upper hand. Five minutes in, captain Ryan Trotzky found himself with the ball 15 yards out, but Gov’s netminder Luke Zeller dove to his left to negate the play. Two minutes later at the other end of the field, Berwick netminder Zach Boston did the same, coming off of his line nicely to clamp down the attack. At the 15 minute mark, Gov’s struck first when Luke Bellacini found some daylight in the Berwick box and rifled one past Boston to open the scoring on the day. Berwick reacted well and only one minute later, Trotzky sent Dylan Mitchell a nice through ball to space. The speedy senior fought off intense pressure from behind before striking a 20 yard shot that sailed just over the crossbar. The play continued back and forth over the course of the opening session, with the referee keeping close tabs on an increasingly physical but clean game. Neither side really got close to finishing, as the middle third of the field was compressed and hosted most of the action.

Berwick emerged from the halftime huddle resolved to take control of the action. Just one minute into the second frame, midfielder Mitchel Varley danced into the 18 yard box and struck one on net, but Zeller again had the answer with a leaping save.   Seven minutes later, Boston started the attack from his own box when he sent a long punt that Condon corralled in the opposing box. He sent the ball along to Trotzky, who in turn found Varley for a shot Zeller tipped over his crossbar, sending Berwick to the corner for a set piece. Trotzky nailed a perfect low drive to the six yard line, where midfielder Alex Penfold tipped it past Zeller for his first Varsity goal, evening the score at one. Berwick picked up the pace from there, but Govs had the answers every time the Bulldogs threatened. Boston was tested and steady throughout, coming off his line to control the 18 yard box and stymie any Govs attack. The 63^rd minute saw the crucial moment of the match: Trotzky sent a cross in from the right flank, and striker Mason Alderson sprinted to meet it at the 6 yard box at the exact same time that Zeller came off his line to punch the ball away. Zeller and Alderson had a massive collision that the referee deemed was Zeller’s fault, awarding Berwick a penalty kick. Varley stepped up and hit the ball well, but Zeller guessed right and blocked the attempt. Varley had a second try at the rebound, but that sailed over. With the score tied and 15 minutes left, the game was open for whichever team wanted it more and gathered strength from that blocked PK. At one point, Berwick retreated to playing a lot of defense and it looked like a tie was the best they could hope for. Yet, with 8 minutes left, Paddy Condon made a deep foray into Govs’ box, and nailed a perfect back pass to the same spot Varley had just missed from. This time, Varley would leave no doubt, burying the game-winner past a stunned Zeller and his home crowd.

Berwick is 2-0-1 on the season and plays Landmark in Massachusetts on Wednesday.