As early as Lake Braddock senior Guil Costa made his presence felt during Monday’s non-district clash at Langley, it was his constant presence in the midfield during the second half that showed how determined both he and the Bruins are to make up for last year’s disappointing end to their season.
Costa scored on a perfectly placed free kick in the game’s third minute, and then served up a goal and an assist in the second half as the visiting Bruins trounced the Saxons, 4-0.
“Every game that we’re playing, we’re playing like it’s our last,” said Costa. “We have a lot of seniors on this team, and the past four years, it’s like we’ve always almost been there, but never broken the ice. …Our goal is to get to the state tournament.”
Even a seasoned goalkeeper would have had trouble as Costa’s free kick bent inside the near post, but the Saxons (4-3-1) solidified their play during the rest of the first half.
“After we scored that goal, they did control the midfield a little bit,” said Lake Braddock assistant coach Elliot Toobin, who moved Costa into the midfield just before halftime. “We thought we could get Guil — if you’ve seen him play before, he just has so much energy and brings a really good mentality — so we thought dropping him back would create some opportunities.”
Costa was everywhere in the second half, and he set up junior forward Jose Colchao on a through-ball in the 54th minute to put the Bruins (6-0-2) ahead, 2-0. After Colchao scored again off a similar pass from Garrett Patrick in the 81st minute, Costa also got his second goal on a nifty individual effort in the 84th minute.
“He juked me up right down there. He’s got quick feet, and he just moves fast,” said Saxons senior midfielder Ryan Rudzinski. “They just got some good breaks. They got some good goals. I’ll give it to them. They’re a good team, and I guess they outplayed us today.”
NOTES
» Lake Braddock coach Joe Soos was suspended and did not attend the match after being ejected from the Bruins’ 0-0 tie with West Springfield on April 4.
» The game was the first in nearly two weeks for both teams, and it was the first game back for Langley seniors Ryan Rudzinski and Neil Barlow, who both had been injured.
» Last season the Bruins went 14-0-2 and won the Patriot District title before a 3-0, upset loss to W.T. Woodson in the Northern Region semifinals.
