There are no longer any undefeated teams in the Old Colony Men’s Soccer League. East Bridgewater Football Club banged out five goals to defeat Whitman United at the high school on Monday, handing the final unbeaten team in the league their first loss.

“We just didn’t come to play,” said team manager Mike Newcomb. “[E.B. F.C.] played well though, you can’t take anything away from them. We were never in it.”

Whitman came out of the gate strong and dominated possession in the opening minutes of the game. But E.B. F.C. began to take control thanks to suffocating defense and forcing turnovers in the midfield. One such turnover about 15 minutes into the game led to a three-on-one break for E.B. FC on Whitman goaltender Warren MacCallum and Billy Rivers capitalized to put United in a 1-0 hole.

E.B. F.C. continued to pressure the Whitman end of the field following their goal and struck again after Rob Harvey drew a penalty on Whitman’s Michael Quinn and then fired a ball past MacCallum. E.B. F.C. made it 3-0 following a corner kick when the rebound came right to Andrew Ventura, who blasted it into the net from 20 yards out to send E.B. FC into the half up by three.

East Bridgewater continued to win the battle for possession in the second half, winning most loose balls and creating more turnovers in the midfield. Harvey added his second goal of the game for E.B. FC and Brian Sousa added his first to make it 5-0.

“We got beat to every ball,” Newcomb said. “We didn’t play our style, they dictated and they finished.”

However, goalie Michael Anthony was the story of the second half. In the second half, Whitman began to solve East Bridgewater’s defense and generate more scoring opportunities, but Anthony stopped several wide-open shots to preserve the shutout victory.

“Their goalie played great,” said Newcomb. “He made six or seven point-blank saves to keep them in it.”

Next week, United hopes to get back on the winning track when they face Shoe City, who is tied with Rockland F.C for second place in the Champions Division behind Whitman. 

“We’ll come back next week,” Newcomb said. “No big deal.”