Sandwich 2, Dedham 1: Top seed denies boys upset

It did not take long for those in attendance at Monday night’s Division 2 South first round boys soccer contest between top-seeded Sandwich and No. 17 Dedham to see that the Blue Knights were the superior side.

It wasn’t until the 76th minute, however, that the hosts were able to deliver the winner off a well-placed shot by defender Austin Haygood from the right-center channel just outside the top of the box and secure a 2-1 win that booked its passage into Wednesday’s quarterfinal against No. 8 Medfield. Dedham concludes its season at 7-12-1.

Sandwich outshot the Marauders 30-2 and if not for heroic goalkeeping from senior Scott Murphy, who extended Dedham’s season by stopping three penalties in the preliminary-round win over Scituate, the contest would have been decided by halftime as he robbed Dallas Donovan and Peter Alvarenga on bids from point-blank range late before halftime. His performance continued on into the second half, finishing with 11 saves and came off his line nicely on many occasions to prevent even more chances.

“I thought (Murphy) was phenomenal, in high school soccer I don’t think you can have a better performance in goal,” said Marauders coach Paul Podolski. “Unfortunately, that goal at the end was a beautiful goal. It was a great shot, there was nothing you could do.”

“We knew they were going to get guys forward, they’ve got great speed and they got guys up the field quickly,” added Podolski, who was without midfielders Jamir Benitez and Pat Bligh because of the flu. “I think we got guys in their way, and I think we hung in there, but they were the better team and they deserved to win.”

Dedham’s back four of Chris Rush, Mack Farrell, Kevin Rosa and Ricky Green performed tremendously considering the amount of pressure they were under from start to finish. They effectively cleared away the few rebounds Murphy surrendered, blocked shots and at times bailed out Murphy as Rush and Green each cleared balls off the line.

“I wouldn’t want any other four (in front of me),” said Murphy of the way the defense played.

Nick Cotter opened the scoring, putting the Blue Knights in front after 26 minutes. He ran on to a ball played from the midfield in the top left corner of the penalty box, he managed to beat his defender and slide a shot past Murphy, who attempted to make a sliding save.

Despite not being able to possess for any significant length of time the Marauders managed to pull even in the 31st minute, earning consecutive corner kicks. Alvaro De La Puente sent it in from the left side to   Kyle Sharpe at the near post, who flicked it across the face of the goal. Rush, unmarked at the back post, headed it home to tie the game.

While the words on the field from the Blue Knights spoke of the game-winner being only a matter of time, it could not come soon enough for coach Ted Tedeschi, who was fearful of getting into a golden goal situation, or worse, penalty kick shootout.

“You can count on one hand (the number of times) Dedham came down and threatened … and the one redirected head off a corner, right to the kid that’s open, boom, bang its in the net,” said Tedeschi. “That really concerned me. Here there are, they’re going to have two or three hits for the night and we may go into penalty kicks and lose the game.”

Murphy kept the game tied heading into the half, robbing Donovan from close range following a restart in the 35th, and two minutes later Alvarenga hammered a shot from about eight yards that the Dedham keeper blocked out for a corner.

Dedham’s lone bid in the second half came on a partial breakaway for Justin Callaghan, but Kyle Van Cleef challenged him and stopped the shot at the top of the box.

Murphy made a terrific stop following a header into the mixer off a corner, tipping it just over the bar in the 57th. Six minutes later a restart from the midfield that was headed on goal from in the crowd at the top of the box was cleared off the line by Green, manning the post. Murphy also made a diving stop of a header following a 71st minute throw-in from Brian Ing.

The best bid to break the deadlock came in the 76th as a combination from Alvarenga to Donovan to an unmarked James Doleman. The junior defender, who pushed forward, was 10 yards from goal in the right-center of the box and he hammered a shot off the crossbar, leaving him in stunned disbelief.

Seeing his frustration after it struck the bar, it would have been easy to resign their fate to overtime. But Sandwich gathered the loose ball and Haygood found himself in space just outside of the box and struck it perfectly, leaving Murphy with no chance.