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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
After a pair of hard-fought draws against two tough TVL opponents in Dover-Sherborn and Medway to begin the 2016 season, the Westwood High varsity boys soccer team took their home pitch against Bellingham last Tuesday evening in search of their first win.
The Wolverines (1-0-2) got out to an early lead in Tuesday’s tilt and never looked back, cracking the win column for the first of hopefully many times in 2016 with a 6-0 victory.
An own goal by Bellingham got the scoring started for the Wolverines less than six minutes into the contest. Senior captain Tim Giovino gave Westwood some insurance four minutes later with a strike from approximately 10 feet out, as Westwood went up 2-0.
Junior midfielder Brian Gibbons notched two goals seven minutes apart from one another with two left-legged kicks to the opposite post, putting Westwood up by four.
“Brian stayed nice and wide and gave himself a great angle,” said Westwood head coach Jon Grant. “He put himself in good position to make a play and it paid off twice.”
Billy Wallace and senior captain Connor Walsh also added goals of their own to extend the Westwood lead to six and put the game on ice. Junior goaltender Nick Barner (three saves) also recorded his first shutout of the season.
“I’m pleased with the way our guys went out and performed tonight,” said Grant. “We did a great job of keeping possession and moving the ball forward. We were fortunate enough to get some goals early but there is definitely a lot we still to need to work on as we missed some quality chances at the beginning of the game.”
“Bellingham is a fast team and they press the field and attack the ball very well so we did a good job of controlling the tempo and winning races to loose balls.”
