After playing an 80-minute game and a pair of 10-minute overtime periods — 100 minutes altogether — at Bedford last Thursday evening, the Revere High boys soccer team outdueled the host Buccaneers in a penalty-kick shootout that went into a sixth round to earn a dramatic 2-1 victory in the Sweet 16 round of the MIAA Division 2 state soccer tournament.
With the shootout tied at 4-4 after the first five rounds, RHS goalkeeper Malek Sakhri made a spectacular, lunging save to his right to stop the sixth Bedford shooter. Patriot junior Patrick Valentim then calmly stepped up to the penalty spot and drilled the game-winning shot into the back of the Bedford net. Patrick delivered his strike to his right as the Bedford keeper dove the other way, giving coach Manny Lopes’s squad the biggest win in the history of the RHS boys soccer program.
Ironically, Sakhri had been the lone Patriot not to score in the shootout. Malek was the second Revere shooter, but the Bedford keeper made a lunging save to deny Sakhri, giving the Buccaneers a 2-1 lead after the first two rounds.
The shootout had begun with Bedford (which shot first) scoring and Patriot Jared Romero countering to make it 1-1. The next Bedford player scored to make it 2-1, setting the stage for the sequence of the Bedford keeper saving Sakhri’s shot, the subsequent Buccaneer player sending his shot over the crossbar, and Patriot Eric DeCarvalho scoring to leave matters deadlocked at 2-2 after three rounds.
Both teams scored on their fourth and fifth shots, with Patriots Jeremy Romero and Francisco Navarette beating the Buccaneer keeper, leaving the score deadlocked at 4-4 after the initial five rounds.
Sakhri then made a lunging save to his right on the sixth Buccaneer shooter, setting the stage for Valentim’s heroics to claim the win for Revere, bringing a happy conclusion to an emotionally-draining contest that had lasted for almost two and one-half hours.
Valentim, who had scored both of the Revere goals in the Patriots’ 2-1 victory over East Longmeadow in the Round of 32, also scored the lone Revere goal in regulation with about 28 minutes to play after the teams had battled through a scoreless first half.
The lanky junior received a beautiful through-ball from Navarette that split the two Buccaneer defenders as Patrick was racing down the right side. He gathered the ball in full stride, took three touches, and then, as the last Bedford defender was closing in from his left, delivered a perfectly-placed shot along the ground that caught the far post and ricocheted into the Bedford net.
The 1-0 lead held up until the Buccaneers brought the contest back to level with 9:11 remaining on a header off a corner kick set-piece.
The victory propelled the Patriots, the #9 seed in D-2, into the Elite Eight quarterfinal round last night (Tuesday), where they were scheduled to meet Wakefield, the #1 seed, which narrowly edged #17 Billerica, 1-0, on Friday. The winner will advance to the state semifinal to take on the winner of the contest between #4 Hingham and #5 Minnechaug.
