VIDEO: Gonzalez gives Warriors second straight dramatic victory

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – The Wildwood High School boys soccer team has shown a flair for the dramatic through its first two games of the season.

One game after netting the winner with only 12 seconds to go against Clayton, the Warriors got an extra time goal from Jason Gonzalez in a 2-1 result over Cape May Tech Monday afternoon to make it two wins from two games under new head coach Sal Zampirri.

“We worked very, very hard in preseason,” Zampirri said. “It’s really a testament to them as players. I’m extremely proud of them. Any challenge we put in front of them during those 6 a.m. practices, during those two-a-days, they stepped up to it and never complained about it. They really got after it and it’s a testament to them how they’ve pulled out these first two wins just by grinding it out and working hard and being fit and playing tough.”

The winning goal came late in the first period of extra time. Alexander Osario took the ball down the left flank before beautifully crossing to Tyler Brown. Tech goalkeeper Nick Boehm made an amazing stop on Brown’s shot, but the ball bounced behind Boehm for Gonzalez to usher over the line before a Hawk defender could clear.

The tally completed a comeback for the Warriors, who found themselves down a goal when Adam Dille ran through Lucas Woolcock’s long free kick at the left post and sent the ball into goal. The Warriors conceded despite enjoying much more of the possession in the second half to that point.

Wildwood tied it only a couple of minutes later on a beautifully taken shot by Gavin Burns from the top of the 18 after being set up by teammate Kelan Miller.

“That’s going to happen sometimes, where you get sucker-punched in the face, and I’m happy the boys responded well to it,” Zampirri said. “We fought right back and scored again a couple minutes later.

“That same thing happened in our first game against Clayton. We were down 2-1 in the second half and then we responded with a quick goal and then we got the winning goal (from Brown) with 12 seconds left. Hopefully, we can carry this kind of effort going forward.”

Wildwood is next in action Tuesday at Pitman. Cape May Tech (1-2) also plays Tuesday, at Atlantic City.