The MVRHS boys soccer team went 3-for-3 last week, and were riding a five-match winning streak heading into a Wednesday afternoon matchup at Cohasset.
Monday afternoon, the Vineyarders traveled to Norton and thrashed the Lancers, 6-0.
MV scored two quick goals to put the hosts on their heels. Arthur DaSilva scored the first from Kaio DaSilva on an 18-yard breakaway, following a series of slick passes. Lucas Goncalves doubled the Vineyard lead in short order, stealing the ball from the Norton right back and curling a right-footed shot into the upper right corner from outside the box.
Goncalves turned playmaker on the next Vineyard goal, setting up Kaio DaSilva for a 3-0 lead.
In the second half, Kaio notched his second score, with the assist to Edgimar Lisboa, and Lucas Goncalves finished Arthur DaSilva’s cross with a left-footed volley to chalk up his second goal.
Ryan Koster supplied the coup de grâce with some quick thinking on a set piece. Seeing the Norton keeper stationed at the left post directing the wall in front of him, Koster intelligently aimed for the far post, and floated a perfect shot into the top right corner from 30 yards out.
“By far and away our best game of the season,” Coach John Walsh said. “We had long stretches of controlled possession, and on multiple occasions made passes inside the box, and they ran out of gas. [Norton] play in a good league, and we expected to have a really hard game, and were prepared for a dogfight. We had a lot of one-two passing and hard work off the ball, and it showed.”
Last Friday, after a 5-2 win at Monomoy, Coach Walsh was pleased with the result, but not especially with how it was achieved. “I was super-happy to get the win, but we gave up possession really cheaply, and we didn’t really control the game like I wanted to. We had some really brilliant offensive play, then some equally poor defensive play, and gifted away some goals. But credit Monomoy for creating pressure,” he said.
Both teams were generous with defensive errors, and both were opportunistic on offense.
Edgimar Lisboa put the Vineyarders in ahead 1-0 from Lucas Goncalves, and Andrew DaSilva set up Kaio DaSilva for goal No. 2.
The Sharks cut the lead in half by taking advantage of a communication breakdown between goalie and defender, leading to a free kick that deflected off the Purple wall.
Jose Henrique restored the two-goal lead, pouncing on an errant throw from the Monomoy keeper, but two minutes later, the Sharks tallied again after a pair of Vineyard defenders went for the same ball, which deflected to a Monomoy striker for an easy tap-in.
Off the ensuing kickoff, Kaio DaSilva took a feed from Ryan Koster, went in one-on-one with the Monomoy keeper and slotted the ball into the right corner to make it 4-2, MV.
The Vineyarders stayed in control from there. Arthur DaSilva capped off the win with a shot inside the left post, assisted by Kaio DaSilva.
The previous day at Dan McCarthy Field in Oak Bluffs, the Vineyarders downed Dennis-Yarmouth, 3-0.
Lucas Cacique put the Vineyarders up after 15 minutes. The shot hit a rut on the field and the ball took a wicked hop, spinning past the D-Y keeper.
“Our defense was able to keep D-Y away,” Walsh said. “Matheus Rodrigues had a couple of good saves, but his distribution kept D-Y off balance; he found the open guy and fueled the attack.”
Kaio DaSilva doubled the Vineyard lead later in the first half after some nifty passing between five players. Ultimately, Arthur DaSilva placed a through ball between three Dolphin defenders, Kaio took the pass on the run, and polished off a 25-yard breakaway.
The third Vineyard goal was arguably even better. Kaio DaSilva drove a 40-yard pass to Ryan Koster that bounced chest-high. The D-Y goalie came out, Koster gave the ball a gentle tap over the keeper’s head, took one touch to settle the ball down, then navigated away from a Dolphin defender and the keeper, tucking a shot into the lower right corner.
“We learned how to possess the ball,” Coach Walsh said. “We planted the seeds of our possession game, and forced D-Y to chase us around a lot. When we went forward, we were able to create a couple of nice passing strings, which created a couple of goals.”
The Vineyarders (6-3-2 overall, 4-2-2 C&I Atlantic) host Cardinal Spellman of Brockton on Thursday and Sandwich on Tuesday. Both matches start at 3 pm.
