Peterson’s Hat Trick Guarantees Mashpee High

By: Rich Maclone
Published: 11/05/10

When it mattered most, the Mashpee High School boys’ soccer team came through with a big-time showing. Needing a win, and only a win would do, to earn their way into the MIAA state tournament, the Falcons traveled to Carver High School last Thursday night and exploded for a 4-0 win under the lights to put them into the postseason.

“I was hoping that we’d show up and play hard, but they did more than I expected,” Coach Ed Furtek said. “It was pretty awesome.”

Not only was it awesome, but it didn’t take long for the Falcons to show that they’d come to play. Actually, it took nearly no time at all.

No one came to play harder than sophomore Nate Peterson, who would factor in all four of his team’s goals in the game. Peterson took the ball on the opening kickoff and ran right up the middle of the field and caught the Crusaders off-guard, quickly slotting a shot by the CHS keeper that gave the Falcons the lead, 1-0, just 18 seconds into the game.

Less than 10 minutes later, the Falcons struck again and took the wind out of Carver’s sails. Peterson once again sliced through and fired a shot on goal. This time the goaltender stopped the bid, but he did not hold onto the soccer ball. The rebound caromed to the far post and Cody Lootens was in position to pounce on it, firing the ball home off the rebound to double the Falcons’ lead and give them a huge piece of insurance.

Carver entered the game just a game above .500 with three games to follow. Not quite as much was riding on the outcome for the home team as was for the Falcons, but the game was still important to them as well. Trailing 2-0, CHS started to do all it could to increase the pressure on the Mashpee defense, which included defending corners with only five men back to attempt to counterattack whenever possible.

But they could not crack the MHS defense, thanks in large part to the play of goaltender Spencer Perlmuter. The junior has done a fantastic job of taking ownership of the goaltender responsibilities in his first year as “the guy” in net and he came through with a stellar performance in his team’s biggest game of the year. “He was awesome, just awesome,” Coach Furtek said. “He had to come up with some acrobatic saves to keep us in it, and he made them all.”

Sophomore Dylan Shute also was credited with being a standout on the defensive side for the Falcons. The sweeper for the team, who has started every game he’s played in during his first two years of high school soccer, was seemingly everywhere for the Falcons throughout the game.

Mashpee would go on to add two more goals in the second half to put the game out of reach. Both came off the foot of Peterson, who increased his team-leading goal amount to a dozen on the season with the hat trick. He scored an unassisted goal and then added one off a feed from senior Matt Jalowy to ice the Falcons’ cake.

Furtek said that making the state tournament is a great accomplishment for his team and also the completion of the major goal that they set from day one. It did not come easily, he said, as the 20-game slate certainly has had its ups and downs.

“We were so young [from the start of the season] and our goal was to make the tournament and then anything can happen after that. Then you win three out of four at the start and you get greedy, but then we hit some bumps in the road,” Furtek said. “I have to keep reminding myself that these guys are young, really young. We only start one senior and we have two more who come off the bench and help out, but for the most part our roster is full of young guys.

“We are pretty much where I hoped that we would be. Now, anything can happen.”

Leave a Reply

In order to comment you need to be logged in.