Patriots prevail in double OT

DIV. 2 BOYS SOCCER

FITCHBURG — Logan Dick had seen Concord-Carlisle go into penalty kicks earlier this week just to advance to yesterday’s Division 2 state final.

The senior captain made sure it wouldn’t get to that point again.

Dick netted the game-winning goal in double overtime off a pass from Cameron Emde-Gerdine to lift Concord-Carlisle to its fifth state title since 2006 with a 2-1 victory over Oliver Ames at Fitchburg State’s Elliot Field.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Dick said. “I can’t really believe that I scored the game-winner on the last touch of my senior career.”

C-C (14-2-6) dictated play throughout the extra frame and thought it had scored the game-winner twice before Dick’s tally.

Two times during the first overtime, the Patriots found the back of the net, but had both goals negated due to offsides.

“The second one I was a good 10 yards on the field before I realized they called it back,” said C-C coach Ray Pavlik. “It is what is. We just kept grinding.”

It wasn’t until the 98th minute that the Patriots were able to end it. Emde-Gerdine made his way through the box on the left side before he crossed the ball to Dick, who got a knee on it for the victory.

“I couldn’t be happier for Logan,” Pavlik said. “We had only three seniors that played today and he’s a great person, a great captain. We’ve had a bunch of injuries and he just stepped up and taken his play to an extra level in the tournament.”

Oliver Ames (15-3-4) came out strong and opened a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. A long throw-in by Christopher Lawrence found the head of Michael Nikiciuk, who flicked the ball out of the reach of 6-foot-5 keeper Davis Van Inwegen with the ball hitting the crossbar and going in.

C-C regrouped in the second half and gained momentum with a bevy of chances.

In the 66th minute, Kyle Jackson tied the score when he collected his own rebound just inside the top of the box and fired a shot low into the left-hand corner.

“In the first half, we didn’t really get the ball on the ground and pass the ball,” Dick said. “We didn’t really play our style. But in the second half, we just committed to playing our style and put them on the back-foot and it worked.”