Boys soccer earns tie with Arlington

Senior midfielder Peter Wynant buried a penalty kick with one minute remaining to salvage a 2-2 tie for the Weston boys' soccer team against Arlington Tuesday afternoon.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, the Wildcats put a dent in the deficit early in the second half and then in the 79th minute of play, earned a penalty kick on a handball call in the box. Wynant placed the ball to the left side, out of the diving reach of Arlington goalie Sam Flavin to knot the score.

The tie broke the Wildcats' three-game win streak, but by staying out of the loss column, the squad improved to 6-1-1 overall.

"I was pleased and am very proud of the fact that our team came back. 2-0 is a very difficult score to come back from. We created a lot of chances. I am glad we were able to get a tie out of this because it was a good lesson for the kids to realize, even if you are down 2-0, you can still come back. Even though we didn't win, it was a good lesson for us to learn," Weston head coach Renato Capobianco said.

The Wildcats were playing without senior leading scorer Jon Silberberg, but drew on the leadership and skills from the upperclassman core to stay in the game and eke out the tie.

Arlington (4-4-1) came into Tuesday's Dual County Small League match playing well following back-to-back 1-0 wins over Bedford and 20th-ranked Wayland. Despite being down four starters, head coach Lance Yodzio was pleased with his team's effort, especially off the bench.

"It is a tough one. You want to come out with a win. It is just one of those things. That happens. There is nothing you can do. It is part of the game. It is a tough way to lose the win on a PK. To their credit they were putting pressure on us. If we just cleared it a little better those things are preventable," he said.

The Spy Ponders were prepared for the tough contest against the ninth-ranked Wildcats.

"The thing we were aware of was the speed they had, which they showed, and their ability to cross the ball. They have really skilled players that can put that ball where they want to and my guys were aware of it. They did a pretty decent job on it overall," Yodzio said.

Weston dominated play and possession, but could not convert on multiple scoring chances in the first half. Arlington sweeper Christian Fischer and defender Brent Lo turned away a number of opportunities in front of and sometimes behind Flavin in net.

"We were creating enough chances, we just weren't putting them away," Capobianco said. "They had about four chances in the first half and they put two of them away and that's why they were up 2-0."

Arlington's Ryan Salocks scored the first goal of the game in the sixth minute of play on the Spy Ponders' first offensive opportunity. Then with two minutes remaining in the first half, the Spy Ponders put themselves in control when Joey Lafyatis launched a 20-yard bomb into the far top right corner of the net for the 2-0 advantage.

In the second half the Wildcats continued to put the pressure on the Arlington net, but with a little more urgency. Wynant, Nick Perls, Eben Timko, Chason Timko and Andrew Jarrett each had solid looks in the box.

"The only thing we told them was to try to be a little more precise in the opponent's box. We are getting there, we just have to get our shots on target," Capobianco said.

Eighteen minutes in, the Wildcats got on the scoreboard on a throw-in play off the right sideline. Wynant collected the ball in traffic in front of the net. His shot bounced off the defender's foot and directly to Adam Stewart, who put a quick shot on net out of the keeper's reach.

Weston goalie Kento Kawai kept the Wildcats in the game late with three key stops. With time winding down Weston caught the break they needed and converted on the penalty kick to tie the game.