Late Goal Decides Mid-Cape United Home Opener Against League’s Best Side

HARWICH – For nearly 90 minutes, Mid-Cape United hung with AC Independence during the former’s home opener at Monomoy Regional High School on June 10.

But nearly 90 minutes — a back-and-forth of attrition through a sticky sea fog blanketing the turf’s atmosphere — wasn’t enough to stave off the visitors, who lead the Cape Cod Soccer League table after one week of play (as of The Chronicle’s deadline).

Hudson Silva scored in the 87th minute to break the scoreless draw and deliver the 1-0 win for AC Independence (2-1-0). Despite the last-minute goal and ensuing result, Mid-Cape player-manager Geoff Champagne felt it was a “great first game” for the group, that they had picked up right where they left off from last year — a fifth-place finish in the wake of a total rebuild.

“To see us this early in the season, first game, for us to play this well, I'm really excited to see what's to come,” Champagne said.

The two sides played to a rather even stalemate for close to all of regulation. Mid-Cape United played mostly out of the back through goalkeeper Freddie Rosen. AC Independence generated scoring threats via quick counterattacks. Rosen, a Wareham native who plays at New England College, made multiple key saves in the first half.

It was that very counter maneuver that did Mid-Cape United in late. After a Mid-Cape free kick, Independence’s Rushawn Plummer niftily split two defenders. In a moment, the ball went from Independence’s side to Mid-Cape’s box. Silva took the honors of driving the goal home.

“It's just a very quick transition goal,” Champagne said. “We were on our heels, and bing bang boom, next thing you know, it's on the other side of the net…There's nothing you can do about it, but from wire to wire, it was 50/50 the whole way through. No one was letting up. It was a real slug fest. It was a great game.”

On Sunday, Mid-Cape fell 3-2 to Napoli Hyannis, dropping them to 0-2-0 to begin the season. The team has new kits this year, sleek black jerseys with a shamrock on the left sleeve (the logo of sponsor Stockbridge Property Maintenance, the landscaping business of Mid-Cape player Luke Hartigan).

Against Independence, Mid-Cape was missing one or two key players, according to Champagne, so the expectation was they’d improve offensively in the coming matches. About three-quarters of the roster returned from last year, and the team was “very selective” in the other players they brought in. Those newcomers were still getting acclimated to playing with the rest of the group during the home opener.

“You're seeing the results right here,” Champagne said. “Some of those guys are excellent, and it's just getting them used to how we play and how the guys that have been here play.”