Churchill Sneaks Out of Watkins Mill with a Win

Friday’s matchup between two of the county’s premiere teams came down to this contrast: Watkins Mill controlled most of the possession, but Churchill mounted more dangerous scoring chances—and with the game tied in its waning moments, the Bulldogs netted a clutch goal to come away with a 1-0 win.

The win over a well-regarded Wolverines side adds to the Bulldogs’ impressive start, which has moved them to the top of the Washington Post’s and The Gazette’s rankings, positioning them as a bona fide contender for the 4A title.

Meanwhile, the loss capped off a disappointing week for the Wolverines, who started the season with quality wins over Quince Orchard, Clarksburg and defending 4A champ Magruder.

That run came to an abrupt halt on Sept. 26 against Einstein when Watkins Mill squandered a 3-1 lead at home to lose 5-4 in overtime.

Facing a high-powered Churchill squad four days later, the Wolverines found themselves on the wrong side of late-game drama when junior forward Crispin Muessle took a cross in the box and cracked a shot that caromed in off the far post with 2:42 left to play.

Muessle’s heroics aside, Churchill’s win belonged more to its stout back line and goalkeeper Eli Lorenzi, a unit that is fielding Montgomery County’s stingiest defense; giving up only four goals in eight games.

Watkins Mill put that to the test on Friday with a high-pressure style that took control of the middle third of the field thanks to decisive combinations orchestrated by Patrick Pato, Obed Agyei and Ariel Rodriguez.

The Bulldogs’ back line stiffened against the forays. Watkins Mill pressed more players forward and turned the tide in their favor in the second half. But that pressure rarely amounted to more than hopeful but fruitless long passes. The Bulldogs’ goal came as Muessle capitalized on a counterattack.

A desperate final push won Watkins Mill a free kick from 25 yards out and 20 seconds left to play. As he has all season, goalkeeper Eli Lorenzi calmly corralled Patrick Pato’s shot to seal the Bulldogs win.

“They combined a better than I had imagined they would. They have a lot of talent; we sort of survived that. That could have been them winning the game as easily as us.” Tarzy said. “We’ve always been very good at finding a way to score goals at the right time“Our team has shown a real good trait: they fight for their game, they protect their goal fiercely.”

While the loss stung, it was a showing in which Heckert learned more about his team’s good than the bad.

“I saw it go in the net and I felt bad for the guys because they deserved better,” he said. “Soccer is a funny game. I’m going to go home and be proud, be proud of the things we got better at today. … We figured some things out, we moved some pieces around. We’re still a work in progress, but we’re getting pretty close to being pretty darned good.”