MIKE MACKE
WZBD.com
WOODBURN – The Heritage Patriots boys soccer team took their 7 – 4 – 2 record to Woodlan for the first round of Sectional 23. Their opponent, Norwell, entered tournament action with a 6 – 9 – 1 record. The two teams played just a couple of weeks ago with Heritage coming out on top in a close contest 1 – 0. This game would not be much different as the Patriots again prevailed by a one goal margin, this time by the score of 2 – 1.
The first half began cautiously as neither team was able to mount a threat for the first ten minutes. The action primarily occurred between the 20-yard lines on the turf field until Kyler Morris got off a shot for Norwell at about the thirty-minute mark. It was handled easily by Heritage goalie Josef Toby Henning, but it signaled the beginning of offenses finding their footing. Forty-five seconds later, Ar Zit Cahn tested Norwell goalie Noah Fromm with a nice shot from angle that was saved to keep things scoreless.
Norwell was the first to break through at the 17:52 mark of the half when Zane Borne fired a shot from the corner of the eighteen box that beat Henning and the Knights had a 1 – 0 lead. A minute later, Heritage had a chance with a free kick from 22 yards, but Cahn’s effort was saved easily.
At 14:23 the Patriots’ Myo Min Tway received the first of several yellow cards given in the match as fouls were given freely throughout. One of those fouls called on Norwell at the 7:20 mark gave Heritage a free kick from just outside the box. Alex Martinez took the kick and his shot was pure, finding the upper left area of the goal tying the match at one.
A few minutes later, Twa Rit put a shot on goal and Fromm made a nice diving save to preserve the tie. It was short-lived though as with 3:28, a rather touchy foul was called at the top of the box and the Patriots had another free kick. This time, Rit passed off to Tway who fed it back to Rit and the Heritage senior buried it from straight-on to give the Patriots the lead at 2 – 1. Following the goal, the Norwell keeper was given a yellow card for arguing the foul call. Teammate Philip Gaier donned the goalie’s shirt for the next two minutes and even recorded a save before Fromm re-entered the game.
In the second half, Norwell had the wind at their back and looked to use it to apply pressure. The Patriots never really gave them open looks and despite the wind advantage, the Knights could not generate any offense. The best chance came from center defenseman Cooper Sloan who fired a rocket from the midfield line that rode the wind and just carried over the crossbar.
Norwell fell to 6 – 10 – 1 while Heritage picked up their eighth win of the season and advanced to the semifinal game on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Their opponent will be Canterbury, who won the second game of the evening by a 6 – 0 score over the host school, Woodlan.