Boys soccer: Branson, Marin Academy battle to a draw

The last time the Branson School boys soccer team played against Marin Academy, the Bulls took a heavy 6-0 road loss in 2022. The Bulls have leveled up since then, making their return to the MCAL playoffs last season after a long drought.

The Bulls ran into the Wildcats – who have been the gold standard for boys soccer in Marin for many years – again on Thursday and proved they could hang with MA as the teams battled to a 0-0 tie at College of Marin.

“It was one of those games where you could tip your hat to every single kid that stepped on the field because neither team was giving an inch to the other squad,” Branson coach Tom Ryan said. “For us I think it’s a nice momentum builder as we go into the break. We got off to a rough start that first week (of the season) and now we’ve gone five games getting results – either ties or wins – so that’s a big turnaround for us.”

Both teams came out with attacking mindsets and created plenty of chances throughout the game but both defenses dealt with most of the threats and the goalies – Charlie Hansen for MA and Niccolo Machotka-Farley for Branson – came up with the big saves when they needed to.

“It’s a very big result,” Machotka-Farley said. “A couple of years ago we lost 6-0 to them, I think at MA. Since then we’ve grown as a team. We’ve grown together, got new players, got new guys. We’re still working and it’s just a huge result for us, gives us good momentum going into the MCAL season and the last couple of (North Coast Section) games as well.”

MA (0-3-2) started the game well and almost went in front in the 18th minute when a header by Dominic Yu went wide of Branson’s goal by inches.

“We felt coming in that – with MA’s pedigree and their history – it was going to be a tough test for us and I thought the guys met the challenge,” Ryan said. “The first 20 minutes we were chasing the game a little bit, just because of their quality,. We settled in and defensively figured out a couple things then the boys were able to execute a pretty solid game plan in the second half.”

Branson (2-2-3) had a pair of potential chances to go in front in the latter stages of the first half. The Bulls had a two-on-one overload inside the 18-yard box in the 33rd minute but MA’s back line scrambled to snuff it out with Tom Downie making a crucial clearance.

Branson threatened again in the 36th minute when Cooper Little played a through ball to Sebastian La Duc between two defenders but the ensuing shot went just wide to the right.

MA’s best chance of the second half came from Alexander Schoell, who tested Machotka-Farley with a shot from about 25 yards out. Machotka-Farley — playing off his line a bit — made the recovery, using his long frame to tip the ball just over his crossbar for a corner.

“I saw that ball really late so it kind of came down pretty fast,” Machotka-Farley said. “I had to get my hand up at that point and hope that it was going over. … I think it was probably going to hit the bar or go in. I couldn’t really tell at the time but better safe than sorry.”

The Bulls created the next big chance in the 56th minute on a long ball played out of their own half to Rodrigo Diaz, who played a nice give-and-go with Little. Diaz got the ball back just outside the 18-yard box and fired a shot on target that Hansen was able to corral.

“All of a sudden (Diaz) was at the top of the arc, maybe even the 18, and had a nice snap shot that their keeper took pretty well,” Ryan said,

MA created another chance in the 64th minute when Downie fired a hard shot on goal but Machotka-Farley was well positioned and came up with the save.

Branson had the last, best chance of the game in the 79th minute following a long throw-in by Jonah Sher. The ball found its way through MA’s box to the far post where Kai Mekonnen was positioned. Under duress from both Hansen and an MA defender, Mekonnen’s attempt went over the bar and the teams settled for a well-earned draw.

“I’m super pleased with a point,” Ryan said. “I think it would have been a little unrealistic to think we were going to maybe get all three today.”