Belmont boys soccer battles Winchester to draw

BELMONT — Less than a week after falling to Winchester in the first rematch of last year’s Div. 2 North semifinal game, the Belmont boys soccer took back some morale victory against the defending state champion Sachems on Saturday by forcing a 1-1 draw at Brendan Grant Memorial Field.

Ali Noorouzi’s goal from the left side in the third quarter broke up a string of tight defense from both teams to notch the score at 1-1 for the Marauders (0-3-1), effectively breaking a four-game losing streak dating back to that playoff loss to Winchester (3-0-1) last year.

“I think it’s always great to play a state winner,” said first-year Belmont head coach Jean Carlone, who was the program’s assistant coach before. “No lack of confidence, I think it’s an additional confidence to play a state champion and (finish) 1-1. For us, it’s a (good) performance. We didn’t concede (at home).”

A slow start from both units saw a mere two combined shots-ongoal through the first quarter. Winchester only needed one shot to get on the board, though, with senior Ben von Halle burying a free kick following a trip on a move inside the box in the 16th minute.

Neither team seemed to gain much rhythm consistently on the attack after that, with each unit having small runs for a few minutes at a time. And whenever either team started to get some push down the field to try to create scoring chances, either the execution wasn’t there to finish off plays, or opposing defenses did well to cut off scoring and passing lanes to clear the ball.

“I think we definitely could’ve executed a little bit better, Belmont made some adjustments and created some problems for us,” said Winchester head coach Vinnie Musto, whose team stands tied with Lexington at the top of the Middlesex Liberty standings. “But we played well, Belmont’s a very good team. I wish them all the best.”

After Belmont tied it up in the third frame, perhaps the defensive sequence of the game came from Musto’s group as the Marauders clicked toward the end of the contest. Winchester sophomore keeper Brendan Ross was tested with five shots on goal in the final seven minutes, and he and the defense responded to preserve the tie.

That included a one-on-one between Ross and Belmont’s Will Kilavatitu on a breakaway with just under four minutes left, which Ross batted away on the shot.

“He’s been great all year,” Musto said. “You forget that he’s a sophomore sometimes because he has so much composure. He came up huge for us in the first and second half.”