EASTHAM — The Nauset Storm’s first game of the 2025 Cape Cod Soccer League postseason — held on the Nauset High turf on Aug. 3 — ended abruptly during the final minutes of overtime when a collision led to Napoli Hyannis’s players storming the field to attack a Nauset forward.
Tensions were high from the beginning, thanks to the 9-0 drubbing the first-seeded Storm (8-1-5) had inflicted on the 8th-seeded Napoli (3-9-2) in their previous meeting. This time, Napoli went defensive, playing with five midfielders and only a single forward in an attempt to control the game.
For the most part, it worked: the discrepancy in forwards meant that most of the play happened on Napoli’s side, but the league’s newest team kept up an iron defense throughout. An early indirect free kick by Liam Blaisdell managed to break past Napoli’s goalie, but a referee ruled that the ball hadn’t undergone a full rotation after being touched, thereby rendering the goal moot.
The frustrated Storm led a fast-paced, near-endless assault on Napoli’s defense, with powerful kicks sometimes sending balls wildly out of bounds. James Stevens, who lives in Marshfield but plays for the Storm, sent one ball arcing into the top of a tall tree behind Napoli’s goal.
Nauset didn’t manage to push through a goal until the game went into overtime and spectators were starting to trickle out of the chilly, wind-blown stands. The game’s only tally was the work of Eastham native Charlie Cushing, a two-time Nauset High School soccer captain who now plays for Wheaton College. The team cheered wildly for his achievement, and the Nauset faithful who remained breathed a sigh of relief.
Coach John McCully said he could tell early on that the game would turn into a marathon. “We were having a difficult time penetrating the box in and around the goal,” he said. “They were willing to give up the chance to score because they wanted to stay in the game.”
The match was also extended by a slew of apparent injuries on Napoli’s side that McCully and the referees judged as dives — displays of feigned agony meant to earn a foul call. “It seemed like every time there was a dead ball, one of their players was on the ground,” said Captain Patrick Phelan after the game. By the end of the game, the Storm — and at least one of the referees — were chuckling at the constant falls.
Hyannis’s players weren’t so jovial. They argued over what they said were fouls on Nauset’s part, with some earning yellow cards for challenging the referees. “I don’t speak Portuguese, but I can tell when something’s pretty nasty, and I try to stay above it,” Phelan said. “I try to remind our team that if the opposing team is really hotheaded like that, they’ve forgotten about playing soccer.”
Tensions came to a head during the second 15-minute overtime period, when a Nauset player collided with a Napoli player near Napoli’s bench, leading to an argument between the two. Some of the Napoli players left their bench to join the altercation; when the referees called the game a few seconds later, most of the players and a few spectators had become embroiled.
Phelan said he had sensed the fight brewing all game. “I could tell the bench was about to clear, so I just went over there to pull my player out,” he said. He ended up falling bloodied to the ground after taking a hit to the face.
McCully, who has been coaching in the league for about 40 years, said he was shocked by what happened on Sunday. “Emotion takes over sometimes, but not to the degree that I saw,” he said. He said some of Napoli’s players could be suspended from next year’s season.
The Storm’s next game was scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Nauset High School against the 4th-seeded Scorcha FC, who defeated fifth-seeded Mid-Cape 4-2 on Sunday. The other two teams left in the tournament are 2nd-seeded AC-Independence, who defeated Stable United 4-3, and 3rd-seeded Upper Cape, who defeated the Wellfleet Breakers 3-2.
In women’s soccer, the 2nd-seeded Orleans Surf (6-3-3) took the title 2-1 in their postseason finals against 4th-seeded Sandwich (0-12-0) at DeConto Stadium on July 29. Sandwich had beaten first-seeded Barnstable (9-2-1) in a surprise upset during the first match of the postseason on July 24; Nauset scored two goals late in the game to end Sandwich’s revenge tour and claim the trophy for themselves.
