BARNSTABLE — J.J. Devine made 2 sterling stops, and Matt McAuliffe converted Nauset’s 4th and final penalty kick as the Storm won the shootout 4-1, to defeat AC Independence and capture the Cape Cod Soccer League’s Davis Cup last Sunday night at Barnstable High School.
The game was exactly what one would expect from the two best teams in the league: tight and tension-filled. The teams battled to a scoreless tie through 90 minutes of regulation and two 15-minute overtime periods before heading to penalty kicks to decide the winner.
The two teams finished the regular season atop the table with only one point separating Nauset, the regular-season champion for the 3rd straight year, from their Barnstable rivals. Both teams were well ahead of the league’s other 6 teams, with UpperCape finishing a distant 3rd. Nauset reached the finals without surrendering a goal, besting Napoli 1-0, in a game marred by a brawl, and Scorcha 4-0. ACI downed Stable and UpperCape to make it to the championship game.
ACI lost only 3 times in the regular season; 2 of those defeats to the Storm by one-goal margins. Nauset lost only once, in the last game of the season, after it had clinched the Penn Trophy for compiling the league’s best record.
“We’ve been playing well all season,” said John McCully, the Storm coach, who projected a relaxed air before the kickoff.
The first half was evenly matched with both sides getting several opportunities to score. It featured solid ball-handling and precise passing. There was an abundance of close, high-level defense and an absence of flopping after incidental contact.
The second half saw more of the same, but the Storm created more consistent pressure in the ACI end, forcing Independence goalie Luis Gustavo Almeida to make several tough saves to keep the game scoreless.
McCully gathered his squad before overtime and calmly but firmly reminded them there were only 30 minutes left in the season. “Give me all you got,” he said. The Storm responded by registering a couple of near misses that had the crowd of several hundred gasping. Patrick Phelan’s header off an excellent cross went just over the crossbar with less than 10 minutes remaining. Five minutes later, Liam Blaisdell took a feed from Andrew Plourde and fired a shot that Almeida dove to his left to grab just before it reached the goal line.
“I thought we were the better team tonight,” said McCully. “They have a good goalie, but we were carrying the play for the most part.”
McCully’s assessment was accurate, but since Nauset was unable to break through, the game was decided on penalty kicks. The Storm, mirroring their coach, remained stoic throughout, ignoring the loud, engaged ACI fans, some of whom left the stands in an attempt to be on the sidelines for the best-of-five penalty kick drama. After a break so officials could herd the crowd back into the stands, the shootout began.
Phelan led it off and calmly drilled a shot past Almeida. Victor Viana immediately tied it up, besting Devine, but that was to be ACI’s last small victory. After Charlie Cushing gave Nauset a 2-1 advantage, Devine dove to his left to turn back ACI’s Ramon Ramires. Owen MacKinnon, who was a stabilizing force on defense all evening, then stepped up to provide an offensive boost, slamming a shot to the left side of the cage past a helpless Almeida to give the Storm a commanding 3-1 advantage. Devine responded by stopping Alex Barroso, this time with a dive to the right, setting up McAuliffe for the goal that clinched the title and cleared Nauset’s bench for a jubilant celebration.
Devine’s clutch play was not a surprise to his coach. “[Devine] is strong on penalty kicks,” said McCully. “He has done it before, and we knew he would do it again.”
“I love it — it’s my thing,” said the rangy Devine, speaking of the pressure associated with being his team’s last line of defense. The goalie, a 5th-year senior, will be playing for UMass-Boston, where fall practice started on Monday just hours after the championship game ended.
The dominating presence on the pitch throughout the night was Phelan, the Storm’s 40-year-old captain. If you wanted to find him, you looked for the ball. He was never far from it, usually with several defenders draped on him. Two different ACI players were assessed yellow cards for aggressive play that left Phelan sprawled on the turf, and several more cards could arguably have been given. Asked if every game was like that, Phelan, with a bloodied elbow and sporting a bandage over his left eye, said it pretty much was.
“I have no in-between mode,” said the smiling midfielder, who amazingly showed few signs of exhaustion.
“[Playing] is great for my mental health and a good way to stay connected to the game,” said Phelan, who is a certified financial planner living in Eastham. “It beats going out for a jog to stay fit.”
With the game finally over and the players packing up for the final time, McCully summed up his team’s season-long play best when he thanked them after the trophy presentation: “It was an absolute pleasure to watch you every game this season,” he told his team. “I had the absolute best seat in the house.”
