From the Wayland Town Crier - 7/17/2008

 

They had been playing soccer together since they were 1^st graders. Playing in both the fall and spring over twelve years translates into a total of more than 300 games played for Wayland!  They graduated from the high school on June 8 but at 8am on Sunday morning, June 29, they were still playing soccer together… perhaps for the last time. What better place for such an event to take place but the semi finals of the  U19 championship at the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (the state wide competition for the top teams from the state’s eight different youth leagues).

 

Dan Barnes, Graham Clark, Dan Cowen, Mark Foreman, and footballer (American style) Julian Ponsetto filling in for the injured Sam Bekenstein, took the field together at 8am for their semi-final match against Swampscott, the Essex County Champion and first place finisher from the other U19 group of five teams. They were there on the strength of a 1-0 win (Mark Foreman the goal scorer on a perfectly executed one touch redirection) in their fourth and final game of group play the evening before. The win gave the team a win and three ties over a 24 hour time period, good enough for a 2^nd place finish in their group of five and their early morning “date” in the semifinals.

 

Participation in this tournament was the culmination not only of an undefeated spring season in league play but also of a journey marked over the years by their love of the game combined with their strong and abiding friendship on and off the field.

 

Julian Ponsetto, headed to Boston College in the fall, may have chosen football over soccer when he entered high school, but he never lost his passion for the world game of football.  He kept on playing whenever he got a chance. Sam Bekenstein, perennial Dual County league soccer all-star, headed to Yale where he will play soccer, abandoned club soccer as a freshman so he could play lacrosse. And continue to play soccer with his “buds”. Dan Barnes, off to Amherst College in the fall, was one of the team’s steady and dependable defenders. For what he may have lacked in speed he more than made up with skill and abundant smarts - never getting beaten without poking the ball away from the attacker. Graham Clark, bound for Merrimack where he will play in goal, is perhaps the most athletic goalie to have ever played for Wayland. He caught the eye of college recruiters despite picking up the position only as a sophomore and never playing club soccer. Mark Foreman, headed to the University of Rhode Island , is distinguished by his ever present smile and twinkle in his eyes.  He proved to be the team’s all-purpose player. During the state tournament he played all the positions on the field but goal:  striker, center midfield, outside midfield, stopper and sweeper! Quiet but incredibly consistent with his play was Boston College bound John Cappellucci. Like Mark Foreman, John played a key role for the team by filling in at several positions over the season.  During the tournament he mainly played as one of two center midfielders.  Last but not least was the team’s spiritual leader, Dan Cowen. An EverReady Battery with incredible speed, stamina and passion (for everything!), Dan is headed to Washington D.C in the fall for a year with “City Year” before heading to Syracuse University . Pre-game cheers were Dan’s domain always coming up with something absurd that would leave the coaches shaking their heads and the players psyched to play!

 

Of course it takes more than five players to make a soccer team. And there was nothing exclusionary about this group of graduating seniors – in fact quite the opposite. They were joined by a strong core of underclass varsity players to form a team with great skill and even greater spirit.

 

Rising seniors Alexander “BT” Burgun-Tower and Steven Byrn teamed with Dan Barnes and Mark Foreman along with rising juniors Conor O’Neil and Or Efrat to form the leading defensive unit in the league. Over the course of seven regular season games and three Memorial Day Tournament games they allowed only four goals. During their eight post-season playoff and state tournament games they allowed only three more goals for an impressive total of seven goals allowed over eighteen games! Of course it helps to have an all-league goalie behind you making a number of unbelievable saves over the course of the season to keep the goals against at such a low number!

 

At midfield Cappellucci and Cowen were joined by rising seniors Lucas Holmes and Max Hill and rising junior Andy Bekenstein.  As the season progressed the midfield developed an increasingly impressive combination of possession play through the middle and speed on the flanks.

 

Up front striker Sam Bekenstein displayed his renowned tenacity and skill with the ball before being lost to injury half way through the season. Mark Foreman moved up from sweeper to fill the gap left by Bekenstein’s injury and immediately showed an ability to create scoring opportunities working with heady rising Senior James Ivker and bullet fast rising junior Mike Trueblood. Rising senior Brendan Place , like a human canon ball, unfortunately sustained a knee injury in the last regular game of the season played under the lights on the stadium field - a 2-1 win over Dedham that clinched first place in the BAYS U18 1A division.

 

Perhaps the key to it all, however, was Charles Goodhue, the team’s chief strategist and coach. In two previous seasons the team had been trained by James Bede, the extraordinary local professional who has worked with many different Wayland teams over the years. Gray Holmes and Josh Bekenstein, the team’s organizers and coach wannabees, thought a different point of view and someone who could also coach the games would be good for the team’s development. They struck gold!

 

A captain of the 2001Wayland team that won the state soccer championship, Charles and several of his high school teammates are the founders and continuing organizers of the Champion Soccer School .  The school, now in its 6^th year, has built a strong local reputation.  It is held the first two weeks of August at the high school for kindergartner through high school age kids (go to championsoccerschool.com for further information). Charles played soccer at Brandeis University and graduated in 2006 with a BA in Chemistry and Economics. He then earned a MA in Chemistry from Harvard and is now working as a health and environmental consultant for the Eastern Research Group in Lexington .

 

Without hesitation, Charles agreed to coach the team and allowed that he would volunteer his time “to give back to the Wayland soccer program”.  On display at the state tournament was a team playing its best soccer of the season thanks to his guidance and mentoring.  Soft-spoken, Charles got the attention of his players at Saturday practices and Sunday games through their respect for him as a person, for his knowledge of soccer and for his ability to identify and communicate key game strategies.

 

So you may ask, how did the semifinal state tournament game turn out? The team played with only one substitute as they had the entire tournament (due to injury and vacations) against a Swampscott team with five substitutes. Undeterred, the Wayland boys played smart, high quality possession soccer from start to finish. Swampscott played a similar game and together they put on a magnificent display of soccer. Swampscott had a great opportunity in the second half but their shot soared well over the Wayland goal.  It was Wayland that created the most scoring opportunities. There were several softly chipped direct kicks from just outside the penalty area that created some tantalizing scoring chances and some dangerous plays in from the wings. But neither team could score during regulation time.  Tournament rules called for 10 minutes of overtime. Again, no goals. So the game went to penalty kicks.

 

Swampscott shot first. Graham Clark anticipated perfectly and made a diving save to his right. Wayland followed with precision shots executed by Mark Foreman, John Cappellucci and Lucas Holmes. Swampscott matched goal for goal. And then the Swampscott goalie took over. He anticipated a shot by Steven Byrn to the upper right and deflected it wide. Swampscott followed with a well placed shot just out of the reach of Clark’s dive. And then Mike Trueblood stepped up having to score to keep the team’s hopes alive. Talk about pressure! He fired a blast labeled for the lower left corner. With perfect anticipation and an incredible dive, the Swampscott goalie deflected the ball off the post and wide of the goal for a Swampscott win.

 

Though it is always tough to lose, the Wayland team knew they had played a great game against a good opponent. They congratulated the Swampscott team in the traditional handshake line, thanked the referees as they always did after every game, and gathered their belongings one last time. Not left behind – no way! – was the recently adopted team mascot, an orange Mickey Mouse bouncy ball the team had won at Chucky Cheese before their win the evening before that had clinched 2^nd place. There was laughter and congratulations all around. A great run for five remarkable young men had come to a close. But no tears were shed, no disappointment to share as it was time to move on. Places to go. Friends to meet. Fun to be had. And memories to be cherished.