The Middlesex boys’ varsity soccer team put in a solid 45 minute performance on a rainy Wednesday afternoon in Concord.  Unfortunately, the match was 90 minutes long and the team put the effort in only after gifting four tap-ins to the delight of the visiting Lawrence Academy team.

The first half wasn’t a minute old when Lawrence scored on an unmarked near post corner with a free header.  The next twenty minutes saw Middlesex bounce back and dominate the possession with solid play from freshmen Gavin Tasker and Jivan Purutyan and captain Phil Skayne, as they won the ball back quickly and kept the ball moving and stretched out the high line of the Lawrence defense.  The lack of experience for Middlesex showed, as instead of exploiting the dominant possession and capitalizing on the scoring opportunities they instead were whistled for offside eight times in twenty minutes. 

Junior Stevie Gleason also had a solid scoring chance denied when his dipping shot came back off of the crossbar with the keeper beaten.  Then in the 25^th minute an under-hit service by Lawrence fell to a Middlesex central defender who took a loose touch rather than clearing the ball, the ball fell to a Middlesex defensive midfielder who took another loose touch instead of clearing the ball and the ball fell to an opportunistic Lawrence forward who hammered the free shot into the back of the net for the 2-0 lead.  Just five minutes later, Lawrence’s top player was afforded room in the midfield by the midfielder assigned to mark him and he punished the tactical slip-up as he ran through the exposed heart of the Middlesex defense to score for the shocking 3-0 lead.  Middlesex came back six minutes later when sophomore Julian Bishop had a rebound fall to his feet in the box and just missed the open look by putting the ball off the post.The final goal of the match came in the 40^th minute as Lawrence’s right sided midfielder waltzed past two defenders to walk in on the baseline and square the ball across the edge of the six for the easiest of finishes. 

After the half time gut-check and regrouping, Middlesex held Lawrence level at 0-0 in the second half.  This was the solace on the day, as Lawrence reinserted their best players for the final quarter of an hour to push for a fifth goal that never materialized thanks to some staunch defending.

Of note on the day for Middlesex was junior Keeper Michael O’Keeffe, who made 15 saves and was left exposed too often in the first half by tactical indiscipline and ineffective tackling.

The boys are focused on having two top training sessions before traveling to Brooks on Saturday.