By Laura Soukkavong –
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — For much of the second half Sunday afternoon, WPI had done the difficult part. The Engineers had erased a halftime deficit, found an attacking answer in Adin Pezo and turned a one-goal hole into a one-goal lead.
Then came the final 7 minutes 14 seconds.
Western New England scored twice during that closing stretch, including Owen Dieterle’s winner with only 1 minute 10 seconds remaining, turning what had been WPI’s strongest comeback of the young season into a 3-2 loss at Suprenant Field.
It was a difficult way for the Engineers to remain winless.
WPI fell to 0-2-1 despite holding a 16-15 advantage in shots, putting eight attempts on goal and receiving two second-half goals from Adin Pezo. Western New England improved to 1-1-1 by doing what WPI had done earlier in the afternoon: responding after falling behind.
The difference was that the Golden Bears delivered their response when there was almost no time left for WPI to provide another one.
For the Engineers, the result will be difficult to separate from the circumstances surrounding it. They were not chasing the match during the final minutes. They had already done the chasing. They had already overcome Western New England’s first-half advantage and had put themselves in position to finish the afternoon with their first victory of the season.
Adin Pezo had changed the game.
The sophomore entered the afternoon as the reigning NEWMAC Rookie of the Year, and his two goals demonstrated how quickly one player can alter the direction of a match. WPI trailed 1-0 at halftime. Less than 19 minutes into the second half, it led 2-1.
That should have been the foundation of a victory.
Instead, it became the beginning of a loss that arrived late and quickly.
Western New England had taken the initial advantage in the 20th minute. Tyler Lewis created the opportunity, and Junior Beyoko finished it at 19:40 to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead.
The goal did not mean WPI had been without opportunities.
Nikolas Previte put two shots on goal during the opening 14 minutes, giving the Engineers chances to establish the early advantage themselves. Eli Marden and Liam Laidlaw also recorded first-half attempts, but Western New England goalkeeper Brendan L’Italien kept WPI off the scoreboard.
At the other end, Savio Ketnouvong helped keep the Engineers within one.
Savio Ketnouvong made two saves during the opening half, including a stop on Andrew Macca with fewer than five minutes remaining. That save mattered because WPI went into halftime trailing only 1-0 rather than needing to overcome a larger deficit.
The Engineers did not require much time after the break to take advantage of it.
Nikolas Previte helped create the equalizer, setting up Adin Pezo for the goal at 49:52. A match that had belonged to Western New England on the scoreboard for more than 30 minutes was even.
Then Adin Pezo struck again.
At 63:38, his second goal put WPI ahead 2-1. In less than 14 minutes, the Engineers had transformed the afternoon.
Adin Pezo now has five career goals, but the significance of Sunday’s performance went beyond adding two more to that total. His goals arrived with WPI needing an offensive response and provided exactly that. The Engineers had gone into halftime behind and emerged from the early portion of the second half in front.
WPI continued to apply pressure after taking the lead.
That is an important detail because the Engineers did not simply retreat after moving ahead. They continued generating opportunities and finished the afternoon with the statistical edge in total shots and shots on goal.
But soccer does not reward the team that wins the statistical argument.
It rewards the team that finishes with more goals, and Western New England found two of them when the available minutes were disappearing.
The first arrived at 82:46.
Matty Leonard provided the assist, and Lucas Ritson headed the ball into the net to make it 2-2. After WPI had protected its advantage for more than 19 minutes, the match was suddenly level again.
There was still time for either team to win it.
WPI nearly reclaimed the lead.
With just under six minutes remaining, Adin Pezo had another opportunity, but Brendan L’Italien made the save. It was one of six saves for the Western New England goalkeeper and, given what happened minutes later, one of his most important.
Had that chance gone in, Adin Pezo would have completed a hat trick and WPI would have regained the lead late.
It did not.
Instead, Western New England eventually found the final opening.
With 1 minute 10 seconds remaining, a chaotic scramble developed in front of the WPI net. Owen Dieterle emerged from it with the goal that completed the Golden Bears’ comeback.
There was little time remaining for another reversal.
WPI had spent much of the second half creating the kind of performance that appeared capable of producing its first victory. Adin Pezo had scored twice. The Engineers had generated more shots than Western New England. They had put more attempts on frame. They had overcome the first-half deficit.
Yet with 70 seconds remaining, all of it had been overtaken by one final goal.
Those are the losses that tend to stay with a team because they are measured as much by what was within reach as by what actually happened.
WPI was not overwhelmed Sunday.
The Engineers finished with 16 shots to Western New England’s 15. They put eight shots on goal while the Golden Bears put six on frame. Savio Ketnouvong played all 90 minutes and made three saves, while Brendan L’Italien needed six saves to get Western New England through the afternoon.
Adin Pezo led everyone with five shots and put three of them on goal. Nikolas Previte produced four shots, including two on target, and was responsible for setting up Adin Pezo’s first goal.
Eli Marden added three attempts. Michael Montabana recorded two shots, with one on goal. Tyler Lewis led Western New England with three shots while also assisting on Junior Beyoko’s opening goal.
The numbers suggest a match decided on a narrow margin.
The final minutes show exactly where that margin existed.
WPI had enough offense to recover from a deficit. It had enough pressure to move ahead. It had enough opportunities to put eight shots on goal.
What the Engineers could not do was close the match after earning the lead.
That becomes the lesson they take from Springfield.
At 0-2-1, WPI is still searching for its first victory, but Sunday offered a different problem from simply trying to create offense. The Engineers showed they could respond after trailing. They showed they could generate opportunities and turn those opportunities into goals.
Now comes the other part of learning how to win.
A lead in the 64th minute is an opportunity, not a result. A lead in the 82nd minute is closer, but still only an opportunity. Until the final seconds disappear, the match remains capable of changing.
Western New England demonstrated that in the most painful way possible for WPI.
The Golden Bears had led, lost the lead and then recovered it. Their final response required two goals in 7 minutes 14 seconds, with the second arriving when overtime seemed increasingly possible.
For WPI, there is no way to retrieve those closing minutes. There is only the chance to learn from them.
The Engineers now have several days to do that.
WPI will not play again until Saturday, when it travels to Hoboken, N.J., for a 1 p.m. match against Stevens. Western New England has a shorter turnaround and will travel to Norton on Wednesday, Sept. 9, for a 4 p.m. contest against Wheaton.
For the Engineers, Saturday will offer another opportunity to earn the victory that has eluded them through three matches.
They will arrive knowing they can come from behind because they did it Sunday. They will arrive knowing Adin Pezo can change a match because he did it twice in less than 14 minutes. They will arrive knowing they can create enough opportunities to put an opposing goalkeeper under pressure.
But they will also arrive knowing what Sunday taught them during its final 7 minutes 14 seconds.
Finding the lead is one challenge.
Keeping it until there is no time left is another.
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