WALPOLE – Andrew McNally spent last season as Needham’s backup goalie, only seeing action in a select few spot starts.
It won’t be that way this season as the Rockets’ senior goalie steps into the net on a full-time basis, and McNally showed Thursday in the season-opener against Walpole he is more than ready for the increase in workload.
McNally delivered a stellar performance by making a career-high 15 saves, including several key stops in the fourth quarter to deny the Rebels and give the Rockets a 9-8 Bay State Conference win at Turco Memorial Field.
“Being a senior, he has always waited his turn for this moment,” said Needham coach Dave Wainwright. “He’s been so excited that he was built for it. I really didn’t have a lot concerns going into this game about how he was going to answer the call. I had a lot of confidence in him.”
McNally performed his best when the pressure intensified in the fourth quarter.
Walpole (0-2) had a few opportunities to cut into a two-goal deficit midway through the frame, but McNally stood tall, including stopping a shot on the doorstep with no defenders in sight.
With Needham (1-0) taking a 9-6 lead on a goal from Paul Martin with 3:27 left, the Rockets seemed to have it all but wrapped up until the Rebels made a late charge.
Conor Foley’s tally with 37 seconds left gave Walpole life and 18 seconds later, Darragh Fahey scored to make it, 9-8.
Walpole almost netted the equalizer in the waning seconds. The Rebels won a loose ball and relayed a pass over Needham’s defense to send an attackman in all alone on McNally with barely any time left, but McNally secured his final save.
“The way he was angled, I hugged my pipe,” said McNally of the last-second shot. “Even though he took a step out at the end, he was really only going high. He didn’t have the hands to go down low. I wasn’t even thinking about that. I punched my hands up top to where I thought he was going and it was either going there or to my helmet.”
Wainwright said: “He stood on his head and made some great saves. We would have gone to overtime if he didn’t make that last save. This is a whole different narrative if he doesn’t make that save.”
Needham also got a boost from junior midfielder Brendan Walsh, who scored all three of his goals in the second half.
Four straight goals bridging the second and third quarters gave Walpole its first lead, 5-4, but that’s when Walsh shouldered the scoring load.
A tally from distance with 3:16 left in the third quarter leveled the score before a low, hard shot from Michael Calcagni helped Needham retake the lead before the stanza was over.
Walsh then scored two straight goals to begin the fourth quarter, one of which he used a nifty spin move to lose his defender before going straight in on net, to give the Rockets an 8-5 lead with 8:16 remaining.
“This is my third year now, so I know how we do it here in Needham,” Walsh said. “Everyone just sets you up. Everyone wants to win games. It’s a great feeling.”
Needham jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the opening 12 minutes, and while Walpole battled back and outshot Needham, 23-13, its second slow start in as many games proved costly again.
“We did not convert,” said Walpole coach Jason Andalo, “and if we do not go down 3-0, if we convert some of those things that happen in the first three quarters of the game, then we’re not scrambling at three seconds to try to tie it.”
