By: Josh Abrams
West Chester, PA - A high-stakes battle between two mammoths in the Friends School League took place on Friday afternoon when Westtown School played host to visiting Shipley School.
Dominance doesn’t seem to do enough justice for both teams, who came into the game boasting 5-0 conference records. To add to the dominance, the schools had only conceded three goals combined, with Westtown posting a 26-0 mark and Shipley at 25-3.
In an extremely tight and intense contest, the Moose took down the Gators by a score of 2-0, thanks to goals late in the second half from junior forward Antonio Ubiera and senior outsideback Alex Carty.
The win keeps WT perfect in FSL play, and atop the league, with a 6-0 record. More impressively, the Moose still have yet to allow a goal against such competition, raising their remarkable ratio to 28 goals scored and zero against. Shipley's is still at an incredible 25-5 margin, despite being handed their first shutout in league play.
Carty shared his thoughts on the magnificent feat and how it has come to fruition so far this season.
Carty goal extends Westtown's lead to 2-0 late in the second half (Video/Josh Abrams)
Westtown senior Alex Carty on how prepared his team was for this game (Video/Josh Abrams)
“I think it comes down to practice and dedication,” said the senior. “A lot of our players put in their own practice (on weekends) and prepare for games like this. It really comes down to our defense; they hold it together and talk to each other, and our goalie (junior Francisco Benbow) has done a great job in net.”
Westtown seniors Hayato Ishii, Santiago Caballero and Leo Salvucci (Video/Josh Abrams)
Preparation is key when achieving success in any given sport, and WT senior midfielder Leo Salvucci can attest to how important it is to be as ready as possible for game time.
“I really think it’s passion and hard work,” Salvucci said. “In practice we work really, really hard to make sure that everything we do is clean and at a high level. When it comes to games like this we don’t want any mess-ups, just want to play a clean game of soccer.”
The bittersweet realization of competing in the FSL is the teams only get to play each other once during the regular season. That helps motivate people like Ubiera, who was able to sneak behind the Shipley defense and net a grounder past Gator goalie Dylan Stoltz.
“We’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time,” Ubiera said. “We knew it was going to be intense, we knew it was going to be a hard game. (I just) wanted to make sure everybody has fun because that’s a big point of it. Making sure that we could come out here against a very good team and not only win, but enjoy ourselves. I think that’s a big part of the process.”
For the feat of no goals allowed in league play, the junior gives all of the credit to the guys who might not get as many “box-score” opportunities and are tasked more with setting up their offensive-minded teammates.
“Our backline and midfield are doing a really awesome job,” said the junior. “Leo Salvucci is amazing, Mariano (Alonso), Adrian (Guerra Perez) (etc.) they all do such a good job with not only defending but just keeping the ball away (from the other team).”
Westtown junior Antonio Ubiera details what's going well for the Moose (Video/Josh Abrams)
Second half scoring opportunity for Caballero saved by Stoltz (Video/Josh Abrams)
Both teams’ seasons trek on for a few more league games. Westtown will travel to FCS for another tough conference battle on Tuesday, while Shipley heads to George School on Wednesday as the schools make up the rained out game from 9/26.
Westtown senior Santiago Caballero scoring opportunity early first half (Video/Josh Abrams)
Late first half header from Antonio Ubiera saved by Shipley GK Dylan Stoltz (Video/Josh Abrams)
Ubiera might be onto something when he anticipates Friday not being the last time Westtown and Shipley take the same field again.
“This was a game that we were going into like ‘Hey, how tough, exactly, is our conference?’” Ubiera expressed. “And I think we found out, and I think we’re going to play these guys again (in the FSL tournament).”