Scorcha Goal-Scoring Holds Mid-Cape At Bay In ‘High-Intensity’ Game

HARWICH – Nicholas Taylor’s score, the third of the night for Mid-Cape United, was the culmination of a ferocious comeback against Scorcha FC. Down 2-0, Mid-Cape United scored thrice in quick succession in the second half to take the lead with a little more than 10 minutes remaining.

That was too much time for Scorcha, who fired back a mini come-from-behind of their own in the game’s waning minutes to take the Cape Cod Soccer League matchup at Monomoy High School last Sunday night 5-3.

It was the second of a pair of matches in five days between the two sides. Mid-Cape had taken the first match 2-1. A lot more goals found the back of the net in the second match — a “high-intensity game,” Scorcha player-coach Odane Scale said.

“We kind of know what they were going to bring, and we kind of prepared for that in a way, just to play our game more,” he said.

Scorcha catapulted to a 2-0 lead early in the first half off two goals from Pierrce Miller, who finished with three total. Kashief Brown also scored twice.

“Some games we start off slowly, but we know what our mistakes are and we try to improve that every game, and today we really executed on that,” Miller said.

Player-coach Geoff Champagne opened the scoring for Mid-Cape, then Lucas Gurski and Taylor followed with goals to take the brief second half 3-2 lead.

“That’s soccer,” Champagne said. “All of a sudden, they pepper three of their own, and they win it by two. We worked really hard, and I think once we put that third one in, everybody got a little high on themselves and it’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

After Taylor’s score, a Pierrce Miller penalty shot served as the 3-3 equalizer and completed his hat trick. Brown’s two goals then put the game away.

“If we catch a team on the counter, we will dominate,” Scale said. “We will score four, five, six goals easily, so we do play a very dynamic type of football. A lot of fast guys, a lot of young guys as well, guys we used to play in other leagues, so we just kind of mesh that all together and try to bring that forward.”

Champagne said Scorcha is “explosive,” a technically sound team that has the ability to play the slow game but can also exploit fatigue on the opposing side.

“Like a shark, when they smell blood, they come right after you,” he said.

Mid-Cape dropped to 2-5-1 with the defeat, seventh place in the league. 

“We haven’t lost a game by more than two yet, and compared to last year, it’s a whole new team,” Champagne said. “We’re in the mix. We’re kind of right in the middle of the pack with these guys and everyone else.”

The win brought Scorcha to 3-3-2, fifth place in the Cape Cod Soccer League’s eight-team table.

“It’s been up and down, but I think overall, it’s been a good season because up to this point, we’ve come together more as a team,” Scale said.