Grey Ghosts Fall On Controversial Penalty Kick

In the end, the 2011 boys’ soccer season hinged on a single kick, and depending on whether you rooting for Westford or Lincoln-Sudbury, it’s questionable as to whether that kick should have occurred at all.

; the Grey Ghosts boys’ soccer team almost took the Warriors to the brink, but fell 1-0 on a penalty kick in the first half of overtime.

Despite the Warriors’ pedigree second only to Brighton in the MIAA 2011 Division 1 North brackets, Westford went toe to toe with the favorites throughout the afternoon.

The Ghosts had their chances at various moments peppered through the game, but what kept the contest level was their ability to continually negate Lincoln-Sudbury’s advantage in opportunities on net, thanks to the work of Westford goaltender .

“(Brunelle’s) phenomenal, I’ve liked him all along. I feel like he’s very long, he gets out, he covers his space very well and covers the area, and it’s hard to get anything over him,” said Lincoln-Sudbury head coach David Hosford. “As time goes on, you worry because with a goalkeeper of that quality, it’ll take something special to beat him.”

Despite Brunelle’s brilliance in net, Westford couldn’t make the most of its limited time in the attacking third, squandering what would be the last strike before the end of regulation seconds before injury time when a free kick careened into the Warriors’ wall.

Lincoln-Sudbury almost ended the contest with five minutes left in the first overtime period when a free kick beat Vallone before narrowly sailing wide, but it would be the penalty given to Warriors’ captain Forest Sisk that he slotted home a few moments later that would prove decisive.

Despite the result, Westford head coach Tony DiLeo had nothing but praise for his boys after the difficult loss.

“They came to this came to prove what they were really capable of doing,” said DiLeo. “They took the undefeated team, ranked number one in the Globe Polls, to overtime where they needed a PK to decide it. This would have gone the whole way if it wasn’t for that.”

Lincoln-Sudbury will now prepare for their 2 p.m contest on Tuesday against Medford, who defeated Chelmsford 1-0 on Friday.