The WCA boys soccer team put together a tremendous season in 2024. That included a strong 10-2-4 regular season, and the program’s first-ever Naugatuck Valley League tournament win.
WCA was the No. 9 seed in the Class S state tournament. The Spartans began state play with a first round game against No. 24 Canton of the North Central Connecticut Conference. WCA trailed by two goals in the second half, but rallied for a 4-3 victory on senior Edo Bukalo’s goal with about six minutes to play in regulation. That brought the Spartans a second round home game against No. 25 Immaculate-Danbury.
Through 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime (two mandatory 10-minute periods), WCA and Immaculate were scoreless. The game would be decided on penalty kicks, and it took until the second round of five kicks for both teams for the victor to appear.
In that second round of penalty kicks, WCA’s magical season ended in heartache. Jerson Duque’s goal gave the Mustangs a 1-0 win (8-5 PK). The Spartan season ended with a record of 12-4-4. It was the final game for WCA seniors Bukalo, captain Silas Creaven, Matias Carphio, captain Will Mowrey, Will Rodriguez, Corbin Johnson, captain Xavier Duarte, Chris Crisotomo, Anthony Jamele and Edwin Arenas.
Creaven kept WCA in the game in regulation with some amazing saves. The first one came on a penalty kick with about 2:30 left in the first half. In the first minute of the second half, Creaven made back-to-back incredible stops on close-in shots to somehow keep the game scoreless.
The Spartans didn’t have a ton of great offensive chances, but the best came on a Drew Mowrey free kick with less than 14 minutes left in the second half. Mowrey booted the ball from in front of the WCA bench, and it traveled to the front left side of the goal. A Spartan got a head on it, but the ball bounced by the right post, agonizingly close to a goal.
In penalty kicks, Will Mowrey, Duarte, Rodriguez, Carphio and Drew Mowrey scored. WCA had three other shots, but they all hit off the goal, with two off the crossbar and another off the post.
CAPTION: WCA’s Kevon Stephenson (14) can’t believe his eyes as a teammate’s header goes just wide of the right post during the second half of Tuesday night’s season-ending loss to Immaculate-Danbury.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from Tuesday’s game.
