Dedham Boys' Soccer Shutout by Wellesley

In a lot of soccer games, the second half decides the game and the Wellesley boys' soccer team was able to control Dedham late on Friday night to come away with a 7-0 win.

Wellesley got an early goal from one of their biggest offensive threats, senior captain Kevin O'Brien, but Dedham settled down at had some chances of their own until Wellesley came back with a Gray Louis goal to go up 2-0 just before halftime.

"We were in a battle," said Wellesley coach Colm Hamill. "We knew we were going to get this from Dedham, because they give 120 percent."

"Early in the game they were creative offensively and I don't think we adjusted as well as we might have," said Dedham coach Paul Podolski.

Wellesley came out looking to put the game away early in the second half. Just a minute into the half senior captain Reyn Wagenaar brought down a cross at the top of the box to Louis who skillfully volleyed it in. A few minutes later Louis struck again, heading down a corner driven into a crowded box by Wagenaar.

"Last year we relied very heavily on Kevin O'Brien to score the goals," said Hamill, "but Gray Louis came in with the hat trick.  He's like what we call back in the EPL (English Premier League) a fox in the box. He scored three quality goals, which we didn't have last year, somebody to just stick that ball in the back of the net when it's bouncing around."

Wellesley would go up 5-0 on another well-taken corner that Mike Garland put in at the back post.

"In the second half they got those two corner kick goals and they kind of exploited some one-on-one situations in the final third," said Podolski. "I think you have to give them a lot of credit."

With a comfortable lead the Raiders could use their full roster, and took advantage of some Dedham miscues for two more goals from juniors Hugh Crowther and Drew Buzzell.

"I had five different scorers tonight which is awesome," said Hamill. "It's not very often in these Bay State Conference games that you're able to give your players a run out, but this was one and I'm really, really pleased for it."

There were bright spots in the Dedham defense, which was a man down as junior Mack Farrell missed the game due to injury.

"Our best defender wasn't able to play because he had a bruised foot, so that was a factor for us," said Podolski. "Overall I thought Colby Flis, Jake Reid and Adam Gianan, the sweeper, played well."

Despite giving up seven unanswered goals, Dedham will use the tough loss to get better over the long season ahead.

"It's early in the season and we'll get better as we go along," said Podolski. "I think we're just going to have to put this behind us and move forward."