By Adam Kysiak
The Seacoast Phantoms hold Western Mass to their first scoreless half of the season
On a rainy Friday evening in Lusitano Stadium, the Pioneers (2-1-0) welcomed the defending National Champions, Seacoast United (0-1-1), in a hard-fought draw to give each team one point apiece.
Taig Healy opened the scoreboard after scoring a rebound off a Cameron Hall penalty save in the 47th minute. The defending champion scored his first goal of the season in Lusitano Stadium. On the other end, about six minutes later, Jose Suarez Monaco launched a cross in the box to Oskar Kaufmann, who found the back of the net with a sliding shot.
The hero of the match for the Pioneers was goalkeeper Cameron Hall. Within the first 10 minutes, attacker Mitchell Varley received a cross and fired the shot at goal from about five meters away, only to find Hall sending it back. After a quick inside-cut and finesse shot by Alfred Baafi, Hall countered the strike with a diving save. Cameron “The Wall” Hall also saved the game in the 79th minute with a stop after a breakaway shot by Healy.
There were two more great scoring chances for the Pioneers, as defender Luke Hancher almost laced one in after a chaotic collision with goalkeeper Tobias Jahn. The other opportunity was created as defender Aiden Kelly got off a great one-touch strike during a corner kick, but the shot went just over the net.
The Western Mass defense was all over the place in the second half, holding Seacoast to four shots. “In the second half the whole team [played well] and defended well, that is why we were able to attack more,” said Head Coach Federico Molinari. “In the first half… we were having problems defending, so that’s why we couldn’t get the ball to the forwards.”
Fouls were the main issue for the Pioneers, as they recorded three yellow cards in the first 25 minutes, including one on Molinari, who was on the sideline. There were 20 fouls in the second half alone, including multiple yellow cards for the Pioneers and just one for the Phantoms.
Western Mass played at a higher level on offense in the last 45 minutes. “We made some adjustments in the locker room and in the second half… we controlled the game very well and [Seacoast] gave us the option to attack them more,” said Molinari. Most of the offensive opportunities occurred in the final 30 minutes of action for the Pioneers. “I was happy with the second half.”
Molinari is looking on to the next match against the Boston Bolts (0-0-1) after the rough start against Seacoast. “It is a different game, they probably play [differently] than Seacoast,” The Bolts lost their first game against Vermont Green in a 2-0 shutout.
The Pioneers will battle it out with Boston on Tuesday night, June 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. in Alumni Field, located at the Mount Ida Campus of UMass. The game will be streaming on Sports Engine at NBC Universal.
