Season Recap: A Season to Remember for Somerville Boys Soccer

The 2010 season was a long one for the Somerville High boys soccer team, but that's a good thing when there are two weeks of potential playoff games to look forward to. 

As long as the season may have been however, it still ended too early for the Highlanders, who for the second year in a row lost in the Div. 1 North Semifinals, this time to Brookline in a . 

The season got off to a precarious start for Somerville, who went 2-4-2 and dropped some big matches, including .

But the Highlanders were able to turn things around and started winning some important games down the stretch, including a, a  and a to finish the season 9-5-4 and take the 17th seed in the Div. 1 North Sectional. 

Somerville opened the tournament with a in the preliminary round, and then avenged their early season loss to Madison Park, to advance to the semifinals. 

But the excitement of the tournament was just getting started, as Somerville traveled to Medford last week for a quarterfinal showdown so  that it would have been hard to imagine a better matchup.  

With two league rivals and two head coaches who considered each other brothers going head-to-head, only one team would make it to the semifinals. Unfortunately for Medford, that team turned out to be the Highlanders, in an epic battle in front of nearly 400 fans. 

The loss was a crushing one for the Mustangs, with several players leaving the field in tears at the thought of their marathon season finally coming to an end. Meanwhile, Somerville stormed the center of the field to celebrate the huge win. 

But Somerville's run was finally halted by a tough Brookline team in the semifinals, who knocked off the Highlanders to advance to the Div. 1 North Finals, only to lose to Newton North, 2-1, in penalty kicks. 

Homero Morais was the catalyst that kept the Highlander motor running all season long. After missing six games in the middle of the season with an injury, Morais' return coincided with Somerville's impressive late-season win streak and impressive tournament performance.

Of couse you can't win games if you can't stop the other team, and that's exactly what senior back Toby Moynihan did all season long. Moynihan led the Highlanders defense and was a major factor in Somerville only giving up just over a goal per game this season. 

The two seniors will definitely be missed next season, but with the way Somerville has been playing over the last several years, there's no doubt that the Highlanders can make another run at the championship in 2011.