Although the No. 3 seeded Greenwich High School boys soccer team was facing a 1-0 deficit at halftime, they came charging back in the second, scoring two quick goals and stunning No. 3 seed Wilton High School 2-1 in the FCIAC quarterfinals.
“That’s the first time that we have come from behind to win a game this year,” Greenwich High School head coach Kurt Putnam said. “That’s because, for the most part, we’ve always been in front. We’ve given up leads and that was nice to get back. To hit so hard the second time, it was kind of reminiscent of teams I had in the past that would hit and would hit straight away again. That knocks the life out of any team you play against. They don’t have time to catch their breath.”
Trailing 1-0 heading into the second half, and playing without standout Nick Bartels due to injury, the Cardinals needed only two minutes to completely silence the crowd at Lilly Field and steal momentum.
“It’s difficult for these kids, especially the seniors,” Wilton High School head coach Jim Lewicki said. “It was unfortunate, but someone has to win and someone has to lose. That’s how it is. I’m sure Kurt mentioned to the guys that Wilton has come down to us twice, once in the FCIAC and once in the States, and beat us. Now I know what the feeling is like.”
Before the second half started, Putnam assured his Cardinals that the opportunities were going to present themselves and it was vital for Greenwich to capitalize on them.
“I said to them that the opportunities are going to come, but they have to get back to making them have to chase us more,” the GHS head coach said. “If we keep moving the ball around more and keep trying to work a little harder off the ball, spaces are going to open up. If there’s an opportunity to play an early ball, then play the early ball because we can catch their defense out. Their defense showed, at times, that it could be a little vulnerable.”
With 27:08 to play in the game, Alejandro MacLean darted towards the Wilton net and blasted a shot from 25 yards out that found the top left corner of the net for the equalizer. Big Red kept its foot on the gas. After controlling the ball once play resumed, it was Edouard Quiroga’s turn to play the role of hero.
Sebastian Oe started the play by taking the ball and crossing it to Inaki Mendive. Mendive then turned and found Quiroga open around the 6-yard box. Getting the ball on the near side of the box, he lined up the shot and drilled the ball past Wilton High goalie Grey Livingstone for the 2-1 advantage.
“It was a great ball, a great volley and I’m glad that I finished that,” Quiroga said. “I thought that I had to shoot because I missed an occasion like that against Darien and Brien McMahon. I knew that I had to finish it. This feels amazing. I’ve never had anything like that and honestly it’s unbelievable. I’m so glad that I was a part of that experience.”
Although it was Greenwich that came away with the victory, it was the Warriors that fired the first shot. With 18:32 showing on the clock, Eric Pelletier was awarded a free kick from 20 yards out. He ran up to the ball and fired a perfectly placed shot that went over the GHS defenders and in the top left corner of the net, just inches away from the stretched hands of GHS goalie Chris MacKay.
“That was a fantastic goal,” Putnam said. “If that won the game, no one can go away feeling unhappy. If you lose a game, then you lose a game and say that you lost to fantastic shot. The way we got back into the game, I was really happy. We got the ball back on the ground finally and started playing our game. It’s taken a while for them to understand that their goal is the ball on the ground. It’s not in the air. We can’t compete with that because we are a small team.”
With the victory, Greenwich improved to 9-4-4 on the season, while the Warriors fell to 10-4-3 overall.
“I am happy for them,” Putnam said. “When you consider all the adversity that we’ve had, we lost Nick [Bartels]. You can’t replace him, but we lost other players throughout the course of the season, so for them to bounce back the way that they did was absolutely fantastic. We sat down last week and said that we have a couple of games left, so lets get the results that we need. But we need to get back to basics. All our practices have been just back to basics. We have done nothing fancy.”
The victory means that the Cardinals are in familiar territory once again. For the third year in a row, Greenwich will be playing in the FCIAC semifinal round. Last season Greenwich advanced to the FCIAC title game before falling to Ludlowe. Two years ago it was Big Red’s time to shine, as they captured the conference crown.
“It’s a little unexpected because we had a rough patch,” Putnam said. “If you have a look at the last 10 years, I think people are going to say that we have probably have been the team that has been the most consistent. We’ve made the tournament every single year. It would be great to get back to another final. It would be great to go back and have a chance to play for another championship.”
Greenwich will be in action Monday night when they return to Fairfield Ludlowe High School for competition in the FCIAC semifinal round.
