Boys’ soccer defeated Natick on Thursday at home by a score of 2-1, adding to their 4-0-0 undefeated record.
Senior Filippo Menozzi, a captain along with seniors Ethan Coomber and Sam Meiselman, noted that while the team “didn’t play great soccer,” he added that he was “glad” that they pushed through for the win.
The Tigers found the back of the net early into the match after a through ball put junior John Shore open towards goal, who swiftly volleyed the ball past the Redhawks’ keeper.
Towards the end of the first half, North doubled their lead after a fantastic header from senior Coleman Benedict, finding junior Matthew Nielsen open in the penalty area. Nielsen then drilled the the ball into the top corner of the net.
“Both of our goals came in that way, which was something that we worked on in practice, like our runs off ball into space, and playing the ball off to a teammate quickly,” he said.
Both teams had fairly even possession of the ball and had a similar number of chances, but the Tigers went into the half with the lead.
The Redhawks cut North’s lead to one during the second half. After a cross in from Natick landed into the six-yard box, Menozzi attempted to clear the danger by heading the ball over the bar. Unfortunately, the ball was slightly underhit, as it looped just over junior goalkeeper P.J. Membrino’s outstretched hands, and fell into the back of the net.
Menozzi praised the fight and effort that the team showed for the rest of the game after the miscue.
“Even after that goal, we pushed through and showed lots of determination during those last 15 minutes, which was great to see,” he said
Reflecting upon the game, Menozzi added that having a different mindset before the game started would’ve made for an easier win.
“We came into this game too convinced, like I just talked about confidence, but we were way too convinced in this game that we were going to get an easy result,” Menozzi said. “We realized that there was going to be a hard pitch today, and a hard team that we were playing against, which we really weren’t expecting. So in the end, we got our heads together, and we pushed through,” he said.
Menozzi emphasized the team as a whole as the biggest factor in getting the win, and mentioned how getting everyone involved was an important part of getting the result.
“The importance right now is the team together, what we do well is that we work well together, and we push off each others strengths,” he said.
As of Monday, September 17th, North was ranked 13th in the state.
The Tigers take on Andover High School on Saturday at home.