Mallards Claim Title with OT Win

BERLIN- Worcester Prep's boys' varsity soccer team wrapped its highly successful regular 2008 regular season campaign this week with a 2-1 overtime win over Delmarva Christian to claim the Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) regular season championship.

The Mallards fell behind the suddenly tough Delmarva Christian team early on Monday and trailed 1-0 at the half. Worcester has shown a penchant for getting off to a slow start and getting its offense cranked up the second half all season and Monday's game followed a similar pattern.

Trailing 1-0 in the second half, Worcester finally got on the board on a goal by Martin Sanchez on an assist from Parker McIntosh to tie the game at 1-1. Each team had opportunities to score in the waning minutes, but the defenses responded and the score remained tied at the end of regulation.

Worcester applied relentless pressure on the Delmarva Christian goal throughout the overtime period but could not break through. Finally, with just over three minutes remaining in OT, Sanchez crossed the ball to Fausto DiCarlo who fired it into the back of the net for the dramatic 2-1 overtime victory.

With the win, Worcester completed its regular season with an impressive 11-1-1 record and another ESIAC regular season title. The only non-wins on the Mallards record were a 1-1 tie with Sussex Tech in the second game of the season and a 4-2 loss to Delmar back on October 7.

Worcester faced Gunston yesterday in the first round of the ESIAC tournament.