No. 25 Wakefield is off to its best start ever, defeating No. 5 Heritage Boys Soccer in OT

No. 25 Wakefield is off to its best start ever, defeating No. 5 Heritage Boys Soccer in OT

RALEIGH, North Carolina – The key to the best start in school history for Wakefield’s boys soccer team, ironically, was graduation.

On Wednesday night, the No. 25 Wolverines had dominated possession and had better scoring opportunities than visiting No. 5 Heritage, yet it was the Huskies who scored first and the two teams were deadlocked for nearly 60 minutes without either of them scoring scored a second goal.

Then, with less than five minutes left in the second half of overtime, Wakefield scored twice. It capped off a 3-1 victory over Northern Athletic (4A) Conference opponents and pushed the team to a whopping 12-1 mark earlier this season.

“The best thing about this group is that we are all friends and teammates first,” coach Tony Calabria said. “They’re all so supportive of each other.”

Wakefield (12-1, 2-0) defeated Heritage (10-2-1, 1-1) in the first half – Calabria called it the best half his team had played all year – but the result was only 1-1.

Heritage scored in the 35th minute when a first-time shot from Cole Capps landed in front of Ryan Palmateer, who scored the first goal of the game. But in the 38th minute, a long ball from defender Alexander Jones found the path of striker Ibra Ndiaye perfectly, and Ndiaye lobbed it over the opposing goalkeeper’s head and into the net.

Ndiaye, who now has 15 goals in 13 games, was a second-team all-state player last year and was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Mid-Atlantic team.

The teams played the entire second half and the first half of overtime without scoring, as well as the first five minutes of the second half of overtime.

But with fresh legs thanks to numerous substitutes in OT, Wakefield struck twice in the final four minutes.

The first came in the 96th minute when Eduardo Vazquez-Aldama burst into the penalty area and hammered home a rebound for a 2-1 lead after Ndiaye fired in the first shot.

In the 97th minute, Heritage’s long free kick was volleyed across midfield by Zayd Dahir, putting Klein Pulley in position around the middle of the field with only the goalkeeper left to beat. He did, and then he turned forward in celebration, and the Wolverines had the record start they had wanted.

Heritage’s only other loss this season came at the hands of No. 2 Green Hope. It also has a connection with Apex Friendship.

Wakefield’s only defeat came at No.24 Broughton.