Boys' Soccer: Marauders Fall 1-0 to Wilmington in Spirited Match

Belmont High School Boys' Soccer Head Coach Peter Guellnitz came off Harris Field Thursday night, Oct. 3, quite satisfied with the effort his charges gave in their match with Wilmington High.

"Great game," said Guellnitz, echoing similar comments from players, fans and even the referees.

"Both teams played very well, very clean. We play very similar styles with strong defenses that limited the number of scoring chances."

He just didn't like the result as Belmont (6-1-2) fell from the ranks of the undefeated as they fell to the Wildcats, 1-0, on a corner midway through the first half. 

"This sort of game was going to end 1-0 and we were winning games those until now," said Guellnitz, who was playing the game without his leading scorer, forward Michael Chertkov, due to injury. 

It was a game were one team took control on either half; Wilmington (9-1-0) the first 40 minutes and Belmont the second. Wilmington, a strong, taller team, relied on their strength on set pieces and in the air while Belmont's eleven marked their opponents closely and used its speed and passing to move the ball into the Wildcats end. 

As Wilmington made drives deep into Belmont's end, both Sam Kearns and Gaspar-Jean Naisonett took away Wildcat chances on the back line with Sammi Bellcotti blocking a in-close shot from the attacker's feet.

But just inside the 21 minute mark, Wilmington scored the only goal of the game on a corner kick that was the result of an acrobatic save by Belmont's goalkeeper Peter Berens who pushed a errant headers by a Belmont defender onto the crossbar and out of bounds. 

The resulting corner, Wilmington's Drew Foley found and on rushing Mitchell Goulet who came from a deep defensive position and headed an uncontested blast by Berens.

"They're a physical, big strong team and that situation is where you would expect them to get their goal," said Guellnitz.

Belmont nearly tied up the score six minutes later when Wilmington's goalie Luke Foley fumbled picking up the ball allowing Andrew Eudolian to clip the ball towards the open net. But the ball didn't have enough momentum to reach to goal line before a defender kicked it out of danger.

The second half saw Belmont take control for the final 30 minutes, playing most of the game in the Wildcat's half of the field. Belmont's two best chances came less than two minutes apart as Andrew Strawbridge was taken down from behind inside the penalty box but the foul was not given at the 29 minute mark and Nick Pearson was knocked to the ground at 31 minutes by Wilmington's Foley after the goalkeep missed the ball on a long throw in. The ball was bouncing towards the goal only to be stopped by Pearson's prone, injured body which Foley pounced on the ball. 

Despite the loss, Guellnitz was philosophical on being dropped from the unbeaten.

"We haven't been playing like an undefeated team because we haven't considered ourselves as an undefeated team. We only though of ourselves having a great season. And we still do. I was proud of them. I thought they played well, we played out type of style with a little more possession in past games. So I would say we showed improvement despite the loss."