In a game that came down to the wire, Masco was able to move onto the next round with a late goal, 2-1, this past Monday.
Marlborough made the drive as underdogs, but turned some heads when they struck first on a quick counterattack at around eleven minutes.
Masco then turned up the heat by pressing for the remainder of the first half. But after having many scoring opportunities throughout that half, Masco couldn’t finish the job.
Deep into the second half, Masco was able to capitalize off a mistake from the Panthers’ center back, and junior Enzo Nteta punched one in off his left foot, tying the game with around 17 minutes to go.
In a tie game, the defense was more important than ever. The Chieftain defensemen, senior captain Aiden Colleran, and juniors Nate Mrozcek and John Green, had a fantastic outing, protecting the Chieftain net all game.
Mrozcek came up with a clutch slide tackle, preventing a score 25 minutes into the first half.
Just when this game looked like it might go into overtime, junior Gabe Fantin found a cutting senior captain Jack Fiedler as he hit the cross of his right foot into the top left corner of the net with just five minutes to go.
This is nothing new for Fiedler, as this was his 19th goal of the season, which ranks him at fourth in goals in the North Shore.
The Chieftains crowd erupted as the players jumped into a pretty packed student section.
The effort off the bench from junior Timmy Lull was nothing less than fantastic, getting his foot on what seemed like every ball that came his way.
Senior Tennant Bryson also had an outstanding game for Masco, controlling the ball beautifully and propelling the Chieftains to victory.
Junior goalkeeper Gabriele Russo was also quick on his toes, locking up the net for Masco and not letting Marlborough sneak any by him.
With this win, the Chieftains’ next game is in the fate of tonight’s contest between West Springfield (6) and Grafton (27). If West Springfield wins, Masco will take the two-and-a-half drive up as underdogs, but if Grafton can pull off a win, they will get their second home game of this playoffs.