STOUGHTON, Mass. – The Stoughton Black Knights have been itching to break out offensively. Through four games, the chances have been there but the finish has been missing.
That changed in a hurry on Tuesday afternoon as Stoughton netted the opening inside the first two minutes, doubled its lead before the halfway mark of the first half and added four more goals in the second half in 6-2 win over Milford.
Stoughton caught Milford off guard to start the game, with goalie Matt Gallagher’s clearance eventually bouncing into the area. Senior Jordan Asnes took a touch was given time and space, allowing him to despot his left footed shot into the net for a quick 1-0 lead, just 75 seconds in.
Asnes had another chance with a shot from the top of the 18 and Marco Antunes had his low cross picked off, both inside the first 10 minutes. Five minutes later, the Black Knights broke through. Antunes corner to the far post was batted around between multiple players before falling to the feet of Marcio Dos Santos inside the six and the junior made no mistake, using the outside of his right foot to find the back of the net.
Milford found the back of the net for the first time in the 35th minute. Left back Lucas Caetano delivered a through ball that Pedro Sampaio ran onto. Sampaio cut across the face of goal but was ruled to have been fouled before he could get a shot off, earning a penalty kick. Sampaio calmly finished, tucking his shot into the low left corner to make it 2-1 just before half.
“The boys were good today,” head coach Aaron Salter said. “But they didn’t react as well as they should have after conceding a goal because they were so on top of the game, it was sort of a bit of a shock. I told them at halftime what they had been doing was right, we just need to go back to how we were playing.”
Stoughton quickly found its groove again to start the second half. Inside the first three minutes, the Black Knights earned a corner that Antunes drove to the near post. Dos Santos had his bid stopped on a nice save from Luke Capobianco but Stoughton senior Loubensky Lucas pounced on the rebound to make it 3-1.
The Black Knights’ offense rolled from there. In the 50th minute, Lucas dropped one over the drop that Asnes took possession of inside the area and again finished at the back post for a 4-1 advantage.
Five minutes later, Goddy Fombe made a nice run from the back, finding Lucas, who used a class turn to get free and was taken down from behind, earning a penalty. Lucas took the penalty himself, going low to his right for a 5-1 lead.
Stoughton capped its scoring just one minute later in the 15th minute when a service bounced off a defender and Asnes hit it first time to complete the hat trick.
“It was nice to see the forwards show up for the game. The last couple of games, we’ve created chances but the ball hasn’t been hitting the net,” Salter said. “It was nice to see Jordan get a hat trick as well. And then Loubensky got two which I hope will kickstart him for the rest of the near and we can push on.”
Salter also had praise for Antunes, who was dominant in his spot on the right wing and was responsible in creating the majority of Stoughton’s chances.
“Marco was brilliant,” Salter said. “I talked with him before the games and told him ‘You’ve done the right things, but your final ball is something you’ve had to work on.’ We haven’t had much practice because of so many games but he’s obviously been working on it on his own. I always tell the boys to breath before they cross or shoot just to relax themselves.”
Milford grabbed a second goal in the 60th minute as Tiago Carvalho’s corner kick found an open Marcelo Panno in the area for a tap in.
“I don’t know if that goal really changed much,” Milford head coach Brian Edwards said of Stoughton’s early goal in the second half. “I think our performance, top to bottom, was forgettable at best and we have to move on. We just have to be better. You could tell from the beginning of the game until the end, we weren’t in it. It doesn’t matter who you play, if you play like that you’ll get embarrassed and that’s what happened.”
Salter is hoping this win can turn into more positive results going forward, saying, “The key thing today is the boys looked like they had fun. We haven’t had fun in any of our games this year so it was great to see them enjoying it with smiles on their faces.”
Stoughton boys soccer (2-3, 1-3) is back in action on Wednesday with a trip to Norwood. Milford (1-3, 1-3) will play in the opening game of a double header on Saturday at 5:00 at Canton.