By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Westborough / Lynn — When post-season competition commenced earlier this month, few would utter out loud the word ‘longshot’ when assessing the Westborough High boys soccer team’s state title aspirations, but many might have thought it. This 2016 squad was seeded nearly as low as a team could be (ninth in CMass Division 1) and to some the Rangers, second-place finishers in Mid-Wach B, appeared to be afterthoughts behind supposed powerhouse teams such as St. John’s, Algonquin, Marlborough, Shrewsbury and others.
But then something strange and perhaps highly unpredictable occurred. This Ranger bunch united like no team before it in school history, put their collective “pedal to the metal” and rattled off a string of five consecutive one-goal playoff victories that defied the expectations of many. Many perhaps, but one would be hard-pressed to find even a single doubter amongst players or coaches on this team that believed in one another from the start.
The result was a berth in the Division 1 state championship game with powerful Lexington High at Lynn’s Manning Field on Nov. 19, and while the result was not as hoped, a 2-1 loss, what occurred on this run down the team’s playoff stretch is nothing short of remarkable.
“As seniors we all really clicked before the season started and we knew that this was going to be our year with a great group of kids coming up,” said senior co-captain and midfielder Michael Reh. “We all built a special kind of chemistry together and it really helped us later in the season and in playoffs because we were able to know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and know where people can play. We were always able to pick each other up and that helped in the long run.”
“Our coach told us during the year how important it was to find our identity and by playoffs we found a formation with strong players doing the best they could at every position possible,” explained fellow senior co-captain Vikram Mathew, a fullback. “With everyone coalescing to our identity around playoff time, we found ourselves and knew we could play to our game.
“Coach emphasized to us how we had to keep our composure. I looked at the talent on this team and I saw that we could go really far and as soon as we found ourselves we knew we could and we did.”
“Our tough schedule really prepared us for the playoffs,” added head coach John Hillier. “I think a lot of people looked at our number nine seed which means that there are 32 teams better than us in the state. It seems quite remarkable but still we all envisioned ourselves being there.
“I’ve never been a part of young men and coaches that had such direction and motivation to win a championship. We were in six elimination games. Every time out there it could have been our last game from Nov. 4 on. That’s pressure and I’m very proud of how they handled it.”
The team opened the 2016 regular season admittedly in pedestrian fashion and closed that way as well. The team finished with a successful 14-6-4 record, but just a pair of wins in six tries to end the season, to some, seemed not quite the stuff commensurate to a deep playoff run.
But then the streak began. The Rangers advanced to the state-title game matchup with wins over Tantasqua Regional (3-2), St. John’s (1-0), Doherty (2-1), Wachusett Regional (2-1) and Amherst-Pelham (1-0). In the CMass Division 1 final versus Wachusett, it was senior co-captain Spencer Nagi scoring a pair of goals to lead his team to a 2-1 OT victory and the Rangers first district championship since 2003. In the state semifinal contest it was junior fullback Tyler Stott snapping home the OT goal to send the Hurricanes home and Westborough on to the ultimate matchup.
“We knew that if we stayed relaxed and played our game, things were going to work out,” said Reh of the November stretch. “Once that clicked with all of us it took hold and that really helped us in our playoff run. In the overtime games, we needed to keep playing our game to win and it really showed throughout the entire playoff run.”
“Our coaches would tell us that every game could be our last game,” added Nagi, a senior captain and midfielder who has signed a letter-of-intent to attend and play at St. Joseph’s College. “Give it everything you’ve got. Make your family proud, make your town proud. Everyone bought into that idea knowing that each time out this could be our last game. We were playing for more than ourselves. We were playing for each other, our team and our town. That kind of drove us to amp up the energy.”
“At the end of the season with a one-goal win over Dracut, we were down 2-0, tied it up and won it with two minutes left,” said Hillier. “Little did we know that that was how we were going to enter the playoffs with games on the line. We won all those close games and by then the kids felt like they couldn’t lose.”
But unfortunately for the Rangers they would suffer a season-ending playoff matchup with the Minutemen of Lexington ending the wild and to many, a most unpredictable journey. The loss hurt, Reh said, but won’t diminish the pride or erase the many positive memories.
“When we lost, it hit all of us very hard. That night was tough because it really hurts when you’re so close and it just slips away. But looking back on it, it’s really incredible what we did and it’s something I know I’m going to feel proud to be a part of. I’m going to think that we didn’t start with that much and we turned it into something incredible.”
“What we did, it just doesn’t happen,” Hillier said in truthful summation.
Members of the 2016 Westborough High Division 1 Boys Soccer State Championship runners-up are seniors Michael Reh, Isaias Hastenreiter, Vikram Mathew, Jack Walthall, Vinny Rosa, Rebonto Dey, Matthew Bongi, Aidan Merritt, Andre Franca, Conor Hillier, Spencer Nagi; juniors Matt Morin, Rian Barrett, Chris Amador, Greg Amador, Tyler Stott, Matt Rotman, Thomas VonDerVellen, Mikey Eshak, Dylan Connors, Jalen Basquiat, Tor Ramos; sophomores Dan Bugaev, Bill Thakuria, Jake Hughes and Drew Arnold along with freshmen Jackson Barry and Icaro Vieira.
Photos/Kelly Burneson