Cape Tech’s Magical Boys Soccer Season Ends With Tournament Loss

HARWICH – A season the Cape Cod Tech boys soccer program will forever cherish ended in heartbreaking fashion. 

 Two days after Cape Tech captured the vocational state title with a 4-2 victory over Westfield Tech in penalty kicks, the 28th-seeded Crusaders saw their season come to a close with a 1-0 loss to No. 37 Turners Falls on Sunday in a Division 5 preliminary-round bout. 

“It’s one of those situations where as a coach, you would’ve loved to have a Monday game after having two games in a row on Thursday and Friday,” Cape Tech’s first-year coach Nick Conti said. “Unfortunately it was scheduled to be played on a Sunday, and it’s really hard to play with one day of rest after playing two days in a row against two very skilled teams. 

 “We did our best. We did everything we could.”

 Turners Falls’ (9-5) John Ramirez-Martin scored the lone goal with 7:13 remaining when he buried a free kick from just outside Cape Tech’s 18-yard box. 

 Although it was a disappointing outcome for the Crusaders, the program made major strides during Conti’s rookie season. The team finished 13-3-1 and captured the Mayflower Athletic Conference Small Division league title before earning the program’s first state title on Friday. 

 “Our whole goal was changing the narrative here,” Conti said. “We’re just glad that we were able to win the state title for ourselves and Tech. It’s an honor and a memory that we’ll never forget. There’s no history of us ever doing that, so that’s something they can hang their hats on.

 “Anything that happened after Friday was really icing on the cake.”

 While the Crusaders will bring back plenty of firepower from this year’s team next fall, Conti was quick to praise his seniors for helping to guide the program to new heights.

“Our seven seniors had a hell of a season,” the coach said. “They all got a goal this season, and that in itself was a great achievement. We don’t know what the outcome will be for the sportsmanship award yet, but they gave it their all their whole season.”

The 12th-seeded Cape Tech girls volleyball team suffered a 3-2 loss to No. 21 Innovation Academy Charter School in the first round of the Division 5 state tournament on Monday in Harwich. 

 The Crusaders finished the season with a 17-4 record under first-year coach Jasmine Goncalo, a 2021 graduate of Cape Tech.