This Malden boy’s season did not end how Malden expected to, but they were able to have two good games to end their season with one tie and one win.
The Golden Tornados competed against Lynn Classical at home in their penultimate game of the season, which ended in a 1-1 draw in which both teams scored in the last ten minutes of the game with midfielder Felipe Domiciano scoring to even it up with only a few minutes left.
Malden started the game with high pressure on the other team, dominating the first half. Malden had a few chances to score, but couldn’t finish on those opportunities. The Golden Tornados’ goalkeeper played well until an unfortunate mistake forced them into a 0-1 deficit with little time remaining. While Malden was on the run, a Lynn Classical defender made a slide tackle, causing a freekick. With a well-placed kick, Dominicano scored, tying up the game at 1-1 with only around three minutes left.
In the team's final game of the season, the Golden Tornados would travel down to Watertown where they would come away with a victory in the closing minutes with senior Bradley Toussaint scoring the game-clinching goal to win the game in a 1-0 Malden victory.
Playing away didn’t put any pressure on Malden as they were playing great suffocating defense throughout the game. Watertown was also performing at a high level which made the game so much more intense. Both sides went back-to-back fighting for one goal. Nathan Dean, Malden’s goalkeeper, was on the run as he saved so many goal-scoring opportunities from Watertown.
Late in the game with about eight minutes left, Malden got an indirect kick from the rights side of the half. Senior Vinicius De Oliveira whipped it into Watertown's penalty box and Toussaint got to the ball and kicked it over the keeper and scored. With about five minutes left, all Malden had to do was play defense and the Golden Tornados would bring home the victory.
Looking at next year for the boys soccer team, the underclassmen are preparing to fill in the spots that many of the upperclassmen held this year. Malden will be losing seniors Erick Rodrigues, Vinicius De Olivieria, Gabriel Martinez, Kyle Lee, Jose Guerrero, Felipe Neves, Angel Smilyamov, Bradley Toussaint, and Allan Xiao along with senior captain Christan Osorno who has spent all four years on varsity. Malden will have a lot of stepping up to do, but the team does not see a challenge they cannot overcome.
