Hero of the Day Ahmed Hadi scored the only goal in Westbrook’s first-round matchup at Deering on Friday evening, a determined tip-in past Rams keeper Orey Dutton late in the second half that fired the Blazes up and allowed them to close strong.
“We finished tonight,” said Blazes head coach Greg Cavanaugh. “We’ve talked a lot about being more aggressive in our attacking third. We have really nice buildup from time to time, then we get into the attacking third and get simplistic.”
Hadi hashed his game-winner with 13:37 to play in regulation, on a feed from Jean-Marc Lohomboli. Lohomboli deflected the ball to the front of the Deering net from just a few feet right. Hadi, in perfect position, redirected for 1-0.
“We got lucky with a deflection,” Cavanaugh said of Lohomboli’s right-contortions-at-the-right-time body positioning on the assist, “but you’ve got to make your own luck sometimes…There are times when the game is about who gets the breaks, and who’s able to capitalize.”
There was some controversy on the play; the ball might’ve bounced off Lohomboli’s hand. But the call ultimately went in Westbrook’s favor, and such is the nature of sport.
After the tally, the Blazes needed to hold on, which they’ve sometimes struggled to do this year. They managed when it counted most, though, their defense standing especially stalwart as Deering piled on a desperate attack in the dwindling minutes.
“We learned a lot from South Portland,” Cavanaugh said, referring to a bout the Blazes failed to hold on to during the regular season. “Late in the game, when our line was back again and we did some ball-watching, I looked at Noah [Oliver, senior back] and he looked at me and just shook his head and immediately started to set a good line. He’s very confident back there now, kind of being our quarterback and making sure our shape is good.”
Nine-seed Westbrook improved to 6-7-2 in 2015, and moved on to Tuesday the 27th’s tournament quarters, where they faced a tall challenge in No. 1 Scarborough (12-0-2). The Red Storm ultimately took that matchup, 2-0, retiring the Blazes till 2016 at 6-8-2.
No. 8 Deering ends the year at 7-6-2.
Westbrooker Ahmed Hadi earned the only goal in the Blazes’ bout at Deering on Friday night.
The Blazes’ Nshuti Gakuru carries the ball away from his teams’ net, looking to start the attack.
Caleb Barlow of Westbrook and Patrick Runezerwa vie for a header on Friday evening.
Westbrooker Munib Abid takes a swipe at the ball in Friday night’s action.
Grayson Post of Westbrook and Jonathan Bujambi of Deering clash over an airball on Friday.
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