Calvert Hat Trick Helps Wahconah Win Tourney Opener
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DALTON, Mass. -- The Wahconah boys soccer team Saturday followed the girls footsteps with a big 4-0 win over Shawsheen Valley Tech in the Division 4 State Tournament.
It was a double header for the Wahconah soccer family as both the boys and girls won their second round matchups to advance in the tournament. The Wahconah (10-7-2) boys took the field shortly after the girls won their match in hopes to complete the sweep on the day. It was a slow start from Wahconah as they struggled to get a footing on the game. Fortunately for Wahconah the defense was up to task early on, really dominating any slight chance Shawsheen had in the early stages.
“We have two incredible center backs and they set the tone for our defense," Wahconah coach Kyle Lyman said. "We were very aggressive like we have been working on in practice all week making sure we were on the back of the striker and not letting them turn. They communicate non stop and that’s what I really need out of them."
The strong defense allowed Wahconah to grow into the game and the breakthrough finally came from a beautiful cross down the left side from Sean Kays who found Brody Calvert for the finish. It was a great setup and sort of came against the run of play, but it was exactly what Wahconah needed to get things going.
“We’ve had to fight back in every game this year so it’s good to get the first goal, if we get the first one we have a much better chance of winning because we usually start out slow and even today it was a little low, but thank god we got the goal and it set the tone and kept us motivated," Lyman said.
The goal really flipped the script as far as the offensive intensity for Wahconah because they started growing into the game and really controlling the midfield. That energy coach Lyman was talking about came in effect in the 29th minute with Brody’s second goal of the night. It was a 50/50 ball that Brody was able to take down from the defender and drive a low shot just past the keeper to give them a 2-0 lead at the break.
The second half was a much better performance from Wahconah as a whole as they built off of that late goal in the first half to really pin Shawsheen back. Sean Kays was able to find Calvert once again with a nice ball down the line allowing Brody to split two defenders and slot his shot home for the hat trick.
The three-goal performance came on a day when Brody was recognized for breaking the school's career scoring record on the road in the Western Massachusetts tournament.
It was all Wahconah from this point on as Shawsheen struggled to get anything dangerous going in the final third. Wahconah added one more goal late from a great cross and volley finish from Noah Wilis.
The defense held on to its clean sheet, and Wahconah will now fix their focus on the next round of the tournament and a bonus home game.
With sixth-seeded Blackstone Valley getting upended, 3-2, in overtime by Ipswich Valley in the Round of 32 on Saturday, 11th-seeded Wahconah (9-7-2) gets to host the Sweet 16 game on Thursday against Ipswich.