B-CC fell to Walter Johnson (WJ) 4-3 in extra time in a back-and-forth homecoming thriller on Saturday, October 5th. After falling to Whitman just a few days prior, B-CC’s coaches and players were determined to make a strong showing against WJ. Before the game, head coach Guillermo Melendez said, “Even if you’re not physically in the game you need to be mentally in the game.”
The Barons controlled the tempo for the first 25 minutes with shot attempts from Shaan Bhattacharyya and Finn Dupin. During the latter part of the half, WJ started to come back, and with 15 minutes left in the half scored the first goal of the game. Two minutes later, B-CC responded with a goal of its own scored by Dupin to make it 1-1. The Barons retook control of the ball and with 2 minutes left in the first half, the Barons scored with a strong shot by Grady Petersen to go into halftime up 2-1.
In the second half, the Barons kept the pressure on WJ’s defense. In the first 10 minutes, B-CC had already attempted three shots, by Aidan Flynn, Petersen, and Dupin. But, within 20 minutes, WJ tied the game. The Barons’ defense continued to play aggressively but this led to a handball inside the penalty area. WJ converted the penalty kick to take a 3-2 lead. The Barons continued to fight, keeping the ball on WJ’s half of the field. With 15 minutes left, WJ’s defense conceded a goal to senior Aron Mallon, tying the game 3-3. Both teams continued to battle fiercely and a good save by Max Quintana helped the Barons push the game to extra time.
Going into extra time, both teams knew that the first team to score would win the game. WJ was able to quickly get the ball and with a long pass downfield they scored to earn the victory.
“Even though we’ve lost a few games in a row, they have been so close that we actually have been in the games and what we have been trying to do has worked pretty well, so there’s no reason to change anything,” Melendez said. The Barons will face Magruder on the road today followed by Kennedy tomorrow for Senior Night.
