The Westbrook Blue Blazes saved their best for last Saturday, earning a come-from-behind, 3-2 boys soccer win on a brilliantly clear day on a well-placed last-minute goal by Zach Souza. Alex Foster fed Souza the ball on a late attack and he punched it in with just 49 seconds on the clock.
The win almost never happened for the Blue Blazes, who improved to 5-2 on the season with the victory.
Westbrook trailed 2-0 at the half, “and I didn’t like that at all,” said coach Tim Gillis, who said his team had been getting off to quick starts. “So that was surprising for us. I thought we might be able to get a jump on them.”
But at halftime, Gillis used the score to provoke a little motivation.
“I pointed out to our players that a 2-0 lead really is the worst score in soccer for the team that’s ahead,” he said. “It gives them the illusion of comfort and might cause them not to search for more goals. They might fall into that trap and try to defend their way home.”
Gillis didn’t conclude aloud that the Bulldogs did indeed fall into that trap. But after Portland went into the break with the two-goal edge on scores by Fata Ali and Devin McNeill, Westbrook’s offensive pressure increased to an unprecedented high.
Travis Rand took advantage of a close penalty kick early in the half, with 37 minutes left to play, drilling a well-placed goal from inside 10 yards.
Rand tied the score more than 30 clock-minutes later after taking a nice pass from Chad Cleaves. Cleaves’ pass was right on the money for a charging Rand, who broke free up the middle for a clean shot from 12 yards away.
“We wanted to come up here today and win because our football team won last night,” said Cleaves. “We wanted those two wins, and it felt pretty good today.
“I didn’t like that we gave up the first goal, but we came back strong,” he said. “We knew that we had to step it up. We knew that we had to shoot more.”
Kevin Lessard, who co-captains the team with Cleaves, said the younger players have been contributing significantly.
“There are older kids on this team, but there are a lot of younger kids stepping up,” Lessard said. “The game-winner today was scored by an underclassman (Souza).”
Westbrook’s freshman goal keeper Galen Perkins, who had seven saves in the game, also can’t be overlooked in the victory. The younger brother of sweeper/fullback Eben Perkins was rock solid in the net for the Blue Blazes.
“He’s a wonderful goalie,” said Gillis, who noted that he also has given Galen a field uniform this season, should the need arise.
Westbrook started strong this season, with three straight wins, beating Bonny Eagle, Massabesic and Windham. But the Blue Blazes had lost two of three games going into Saturday’s bout with Portland.
“So this was a real confidence booster for sure,” said Lessard. “Now we need to take it one game at a time. We know what it takes to win games. Now we just have to do it.”
The coach agrees.
“It was important for us to get back onto the winning track after losing to Scarborough (3-2 Friday night),” Gillis said.
Westbrook was rained out in its scheduled Monday game with Cheverus and was to battle Deering on Tuesday.
A surprising Thornton Academy team, which narrowly lost to Gorham (2-1) Saturday and beat Portland (3-1) earlier in the week is Westbrook’s opponent Thursday for a home game set for a 6 p.m. start.
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