Ended up going to this game, Madison Park had a very talented team, but Newton North had a very talented forward (AP), the outside defender for MP was outmatched.

If Newton North is going to make a serious run at the boys' state championship, the Tigers will undoubtedly depend on Globe All- Scholastic forward Pfeifer. The senior was the story again yesterday as Newton North knocked off top-seed Madison Park, 2-0, in a first-round Division 1 North game at White Stadium.

Pfeifer assisted on the first goal and put the finishing touches on the win late in the second half with his fourth goal of the tournament. He scored all three Newton North goals in a first-round victory over Lowell.

Madison Park kept a strong hold on the Newton North offense for most of the game, but in doing so, created little offensive pressure of its own. Midway through the second half, Madison Park coach DiBenedetto was forced to move his standout player, Souto, from sweeper to midfield in hopes of opening up the offense. However, it was Newton North's offense that benefited from the move.

Year Madison Park went to states, knew I wasn't crazy.

St. John's Prep, which reached the Eastern Mass. finals last year in soccer, has seen some talented players depart: midfielder Hannon (27 goals, 5 assists last year) is now at Brandeis, forward Singleton (7 goals last season) is at Stetson, and defenders like Femino, Brad Parker and Murtagh are at Tufts, Notre Dame and Stonehill, respectively.

The Eagles, under second-year coach Ancone, believe they can enjoy the same kind of success they had last season. It certainly helps that the team knows the opposition is going to have difficulty scoring. Senior netminder Todd, who did just about everything but stand on in head in blocking shots in last year's EMass final, a 3-2 overtime setback to Madison Park, knows all about playing angles.

At forward, [Aucone] believes the scoring will be more balanced than last year when Hannon dominated. "Hannon was basically our offense last season," Henderson said. "We gave him the ball and let him go. We basically gave Hannon the ball and let him go last season. Coach believes Pat and I can make up for that loss of scoring by coming up with 15 goals apiece. I think we can.

Silver Lake vs. Weymouth rivalry from Old Colony League.

Weymouth captured the Old Colony League title. Twice during the regular season, it crushed rival Silver Lake, the team that had won the OCL four consecutive years. It cruised through the tournament, outscoring its opponents, 13-2. And yesterday Weymouth continued its roll, with a tidy 1-0 victory over Silver Lake in the Division 1 South boys' sectional final at Braintree High.
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Silver Lake (13-0-2) is ranked second in this week's Globe Top 20 poll, selected by the school staff with input from coaches. New Bedford, which has been the only No. 1 team this season, retains the top spot, while Lowell, Peabody and Needham round out the top five. Weymouth enters the poll at No. 13.

When players come into the Silver Lake program they expect to win. The seniors on this year's team have only lost five regular season games. "I tend to look at what's wrong with our team rather than what is right," said [ Johnson]. "I remember when Silver Lake was not considered a dominant team and sometimes I have a hard time accepting we are."

Silver Lake has won the Old Colony League title the last three years and is two victories away from its fourth consecutive title. This year's team has a special toughness and desire. Silver Lake came from behind to tie No. 1 New Bedford, 2-2. And Friday night it came from behind twice and scored with a minute left to tie Weymouth, 4-4.

How cool is this? A soccer tourney roundup from 1980? 4th quarter?

Yesterday, Somerville tried on the glass slipper one more time. And it fit. Mello's headed in a goal off the cross bar at 4:18 of the second sudden-death overtime to give Somerville a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Wakefield in the Division 1 North sectionals at Boston University.

Wakefield never was lucky. Guerriero had a perfect opportunity four minutes in the first overtime, but his head-in attempt off a corner kick didn't find the net - nor did the other 17 shots Wakefield poured on Somerville goalie Sandy during regulation play. Somerville didn't have one shot on goal in the fourth quarter.

In the Division 2 South sectionals, Duxbury outshot Westwood, 31- 8, enroute to a 2-0 triumph on goals by Patch and Mahoney. Norwell alsoqualified for the semifinals with a 2-1 triumph over Bridgewater-Raynham. Foxboro blanked Nauset, 3-0, and Sandwich upset Franklin, 1-0.

No. 16-ranked Newton North doesn't feel like an underdog in this year's boys' soccer state tournament.

Perhaps that's because it continues to knock off the top teams in the division as it did last night, defeating No. 5 Madison Park, 3- 0, in Chelsea.

Newton North coach Burstein said his squad, which defeated top- seeded Everett in the first game of the tournament, didn't belong in the bottom seed.

"I think if you look at the seedings, they were upsets," said Burstein, "but we play in an incredible league."

The Tigers' offense took some time to get started, but with 5 minutes 18 seconds remaining in the first half, senior forward Gersh got the first goal …

I wanted to say this was on October 31st or at least this game took two days to play, going into several OTs. This was known in Malden as black Friday, as it fell on Halloween and the football and maybe another team had lossed.

Malden's historic 3 - boys' soccer tourney victory over Medford Thursday has been forefeited because of an ineligible player.

Malden Superintendent of Schools DiGiammarino received an anonymous call after the game, claiming one of the Malden players was ineligible.

A check of the player's academic record yesterday morning confirmed he was ineligible. As a result, Malden's nine regular-season victories and the tourney win was forfeited.

Medford had a 29-0-4 soccer record against Malden dating back to 1976.

Medford will visit Chelmsford this afternoon at 5 in a Division 1 North quarterfinal game.

NATICK -- After a scoreless first half, it took Marshfield a little less than seven minutes to warm up the offense on a blustery evening as the Rams moved on to the Division 1 state final with a 3-0 victory over Cambridge Rindge & Latin last night.

Marshfield (19-0-1) moves on to face Western Mass. champion Ludlow in tomorrow's state final (1 p.m. at Worcester State).

Gaudette scored the game-winning goal 1:57 into the second half off a throw-in pass and a defensive deflection. Senior Johnson followed up on an assist from Frazier only 15 seconds later on the Rams' next possession. At 32:21, Johnson returned the favor and assisted Frazier on the third goal in a span of 7:32. The three-goal barrage in such short time seemed to take the wind out of the aggressive Falcons offense.

"Two mistakes and the game was over," Cambridge coach Vega-Arango said. "I was saying to my team that the first team to score will win. It is supposed to be that way when two undefeated teams meet in a final. We controlled most of the game, but they capitalized."

The Rams were having trouble figuring out the offense of the Falcons (18-1-2), who controlled the ball on their end of the field most of the first half. Cambridge seemed to have control of the game but could not get past the backers on defense to get any scoring opportunities. After the half, the Rams just needed to figure out their own offense.

"We were trying to get used to them (the Falcons offense)," Marshfield coach Lassige said. "They seemed to be winning all the balls. We were letting the ball play us instead of playing the ball.

"I talked to them (the players) at halftime and wanted to come down the left side more."

It worked as Frazier's and Johnson's goals both came from rushes on the left side of the field with crossing passes to put the game out of reach. But it was Gaudette's goal that deflated the tough Falcons defense.

"Usually I do not know what to say when I score a goal because it goes so fast. There was a few deflections, and I was able to put it in the net," Gaudette said. "The first half was kind of shaky, but we got lucky right off. We assaulted the net. I don't score much in the regular season, but I seem to come up big in the tournaments."

Gaudette's goal loosened up the Rams' entire game, as the defense came alive as well. Midfielder and senior co-captain Call secured the backfield, and Lassige praised Call's defense after the game.

"He is our unsung hero," Lassige said.

The first loss in three months for the Falcons sent them home thinking about all they accomplished this season.

"I feel bad for the kids, but one loss in 21 matches is nothing to complain about," Vega-Arango said. "I am proud of all we have done."

D-1/D-2 Reults Since 1980

DIVISION 1 BOYS

1980 - Wellesley 1, Billerica 0 (5 ot)

1981 - No state final

1982 - No state final

1983 - Chicopee 2, Needham 1 (ot)

1984 - Wachusett 1, Acton-Boxboro 0

1985 - St. John's (S) 5, Lexington 1

1986 - Plymouth-Carver 3, Wachusett 2 (ot)

1987 - Springfield Cath. 2, Natick 1 (5 ot)

1988 - Silver Lake 4, Springfield Cath. 1

1989 - Wakefield 1, Ludlow 0

1990 - Springfield Cath. 4, Madison Park 2

1991 - Weymouth 2, Marlboro 0

1992 - Framingham 1, Springfield Cath. 0

1993 - Springfield Cath. 2, St. John's Prep 0

1994 - St. John's Prep 1, Ludlow 0

1995 - Ludlow 4, Somerville 1

1996 - Weymouth 1, Springfield Cath. 0

*1997 - Weymouth 2, Ludlow 2

1998 - Marshfield 3, Milford 1

1999 - Ludlow 4, Needham 0

2000 - Ludlow 2, Marshfield 0

2001 - St. John's (S) 2, Newton North 1

2002 - St. John's (S) 3, Dartmouth 2

DIVISION 2 BOYS

1980 - Duxbury 4, Southwick 0

1981 - No state final

1982 - No state final

1983 - Duxbury 5, Monson 0

1984 - Duxbury 5, Wahconah 2

1985 - Rockland 3, Monument Mountain 1

1986 - Winchester 2, Wahconah 1

1987 - Winchester 5, Mt. Greylock 2

1988 - Duxbury 1, Nashoba 0

1989 - Framingham North 2, Nashoba 0

1990 - Nashoba 2, Duxbury 1

1991 - Wellesley 2, Hudson 0

1992 - Westford 2, Quabbin 1 (ot)

1993 - Shepherd Hill 3, Danvers 1

1994 - Duxbury 5, Wahconah 0

1995 - Needham 2, Oxford 1

1996 - Masconomet 3, David Prouty 2

1997 - Wakefield 1, East Longmeadow 0

1998 - David Prouty 1, Concord-Carlisle 0

1999 - Duxbury 1, Auburn 0

2000 - Woburn 2, East Longmeadow 1

2001 - Groton-Dunstable 2, Somerset 1

2002 - Lincoln-Sud. 2, Northampton 1 (ot)

If anyone has a request for an article or game write up, let me know and I can try to find it. I'm finding articles that go all the way back to 1982.

Medford Ludlow 2003 D1 state final

I remember that game. Medford had the 21 year old kid and Ludlow ran them off the field

Don't recall medford having a 21 year old kid or Ludlow running them off the field. It was a 2-1 game and Medford hit the crossbar in the last couple minutes. Ludlow won on a pk on a boneheaded play from a Medford kid. Nice try though.

How long have you lived in Medford?

Medford vs. Ludlow 2003

Globe Version

WORCESTER - The Ludlow boys' soccer dynasty is alive again. The Lions captured the MIAA Division 1 state championship, the 14th in school history, with a 2-1 win yesterday over EMass champion Medford at Worcester State College.

Ludlow got on the board first early in the first half. Senior Carvalho came in on a breakaway, but Medford goalkeeper Degurski stopped his shot. Degurski could not corral the ball, though, and the rebound squirted out to Ludlow's Magalhaes, who deposited the ball in the net.

The Lions did not sit on the lead, instead keeping the pressure on Medford, which had a hard time containing Ludlow's speed. Just a few minutes after Magalhaes's goal, Ludlow tallied another.

Senior Pereira went in for a breakaway, but Medford's Hughes tackled him in the box, and Pereira was awarded a penalty kick. He scored on the free kick, putting the ball in the lower right corner.

From there the Lions, whose last state title came in 2000, had to hold off Medford's potent offense.

The Mustangs got on the board in extra time in the first half. After Ludlow was whistled for a foul just outside the box, senior Costa drilled a beautiful shot just under the crossbar in the far right corner to cut the deficit to 2-1.

"That's the worst time ever [to give up a goal], that took a lot out of our team," said Ludlow coach Goncalves.

In the second half, Medford (20-1-2) had numerous opportunities, but failed to capitalize.

"We had our chances, we hit a post, missed breakaways. That's how it goes," said Medford coach Scarpelli.

The Ludlow defense did a superb job marking high-scoring forwards Delboni and Nascimento. "All season long our markers have been shutting down teams," said Goncalves.

Delboni only got one shot on goal but it was nearly the equalizer. He came in on a breakaway and chipped the ball up over the sliding Ludlow (19-3-1) goalkeeper, but the ball hit the crossbar.

The loss was the first for the Mustangs, whose only blemishes were two ties against Everett.

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Herald Version

WORCESTER - While missed offensive opportunities and a costly foul inside the 18 might dominate Medford coach Scarpelli's short-term memory, he'll have nothing but fond recollections of the Mustangs boys soccer team in the long run.

The Mustangs failed to rally from a two-goal deficit in yesterday's Division 1 state final and fell, 2-1, to Ludlow at Worcester State College's Coughlin Field.

It was the 14th state title for Ludlow and its first since 2000.

"This is a class bunch of kids," said Scarpelli, whose team finished 20-1-2. "The last four years, they've only lost a handful of games, and the last two years this is their second loss. They're classy, character kids. You've got to love them.

"With all these kids, soccer aside, these kids are pure gentlemen."

Ludlow (19-3-1) capitalized early when Carvalho dribbled in on Medford keeper DeGurski (eight saves). Carvalho's shot was stopped, but Magalhaes streaked in to bury the rebound.

Later in the half, Medford defender Hughes lost his temper and took down Ludlow's Rosa on a break. The senior was issued a yellow card - Ludlow's Bruschi was issued one later in the half - and Pereira punched the ensuing penalty kick past DeGurski.

"We started the game playing our game," said Ludlow coach Goncalves. "We move the ball well from one side of the field to the other and it was working fine. And then we capitalized right off the bat."

Said Scarpelli: "They kind of got us on our heels a little bit with the outside backs attacking us there, and that's how they got their goals."

With just 30 ticks left in the first half, Medford jumped on the scoreboard. Senior Costa placed a 30-yard indirect kick inside the crossbar and over the head of Ludlow keeper Levesque (four saves).

With solid team defense, led by marking backs Rodrigo and Bruschi, Ludlow limited Medford's chances in the first half. The Mustangs carried play after the break but failed to tally the equalizer.

All-American Delboni nailed the crossbar on one breakaway and Costa missed a point-blank shot off a feed from Nascimento to ensure Ludlow's victory.

"We had our chances. We hit the post, we missed a few breaks. That's how it goes," said Scarpelli. "They're the state champs."


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Globe Version #2

It just didn't seem fair. Of all the goals and pretty plays Delboni made in his four-year career as a member of the Medford boys soccer team, it was the one he narrowly missed in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Division 1 state championship game last weekend against Ludlow that he'll probably remember the most.

With less than 10 minutes remaining and Medford trailing, 2-1, Delboni, the two-time Greater Boston League MVP, took a beautiful through ball and raced in all alone on goal with just the goalie to beat.

As he streaked in with the ball at his feet, the huge crowd at Worcester State College rose to its feet in anticipation of another magical moment for the Medford soccer team. Ludlow's goalie came charging out of his net to challenge the play, and seeing this, Delboni calmly chipped the ball over the goalie's head.

The ball traveled through the air for what seemed like an eternity. Delboni probably had time to think about how he would celebrate the goal, which would have easily been the biggest of the eight he had scored in this year's tournament.

Then the unthinkable happened: The ball hit the crossbar and was cleared away from trouble by a Ludlow defender.

As Ludlow worked it out of the offensive zone, Delboni stayed behind the play and looked skyward in utter disbelief about how the ball did not find its way to the back of the net. Unable to comprehend what had just transpired, he proceeded to bend over and put his head in his hands as if he knew that would be the last chance Medford would have to draw even.

Following the game, which Medford went on to lose, 2-1, Delboni could hardly speak. He joined his teammates at midfield to collect the runner-up trophy and clapped his hands when Ludlow was presented with the state championship trophy.

Yet as he made his way to the sidelines to collect his bag and get ready for the bus ride home, it all finally hit Delboni. He, along with a number of his teammates, broke down into tears. He barely looked up as people approached him to shake his hand and offer their congratulations on what was an unforgettable season.

"He's a classy kid," said Medford head coach Scarpelli of the star forward he's coached for four years. "That's why some Division 1 [college] program is going to love to have him. He's a class act."

Delboni should not remember his senior season for the goal he didn't score, but for all the other times he led his team past the competition. He should remember the Division 1 North sectional semifinal where his three goals and one assist helped Medford defeat Andover 5-1. Or the goal against Newton North late in the first half of the sectional final that drew his team even just before halftime.

But try telling that to a kid after his team fell short of its ultimate goal of winning a state championship.

Through his four years at Medford, Delboni has grown as a player and person. As a senior he wouldn't allow himself to be immature on the field and let calls, or non-calls, from the referee affect his play, as he had done in previous years.

Sure, the Brazilian-born forward, who grew up playing soccer in the streets with his friends, sometimes had a word or two to say to the officials, but following the game, as he did after the win over Newton North, Delboni would find the officials, shake their hands and thank them for a good game.

"Talent aside with all these kids, soccer aside, these kids are pure gentlemen," Scarpelli said. "They play with so much heart and so much desire you have to love the way they play. My heart goes out to them because they deserve better. Unfortunately it didn't roll our way."

It may not have rolled their way against Ludlow, but losing just one game this season, as the Mustangs did, and falling by only a goal in a well-played state championship game is hardly something to hang your heads about.

Over time, Delboni and his teammates will realize that and hopefully forget all about the play that hurt so much last weekend.