Holy Cross boys soccer couldn’t have dreamed of a better start during Friday afternoon’s NVL showdown at Woodland Regional in Beacon Falls.
Within the first 10 minutes, the Crusaders had a built a 2-0 lead against the Hawks on goals by Kevin Maitz and Brian Silva. Holy Cross was the aggressor and attacked Woodland. The tide began to turn when the Crusaders were called for a penalty in the box. The Hawks converted their penalty kick to make the score 2-1 with 12:27 remaining in the half.
Holy Cross could never regain the momentum. Woodland evened the game with 4:18 left in the first half and went on to win 3-2. The Crusaders fell to 10-2-2 overall, including a 9-2-1 mark in the NVL.
Holy Cross will look to learn lessons from its second loss of the season. The Crusaders are one of the league’s four best teams, but coach John Teixeira said that any of the eight teams in the NVL tournament could win it. It will be a great tournament, and it begins next Saturday with the quarterfinal round.
Photo caption: Brian Silva (7 in white) had one of the two goals for Holy Cross during Friday’s loss at Woodland Regional. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
Gallery
Here are my photos from the second half of Friday’s game.
