The Bowie High School Bulldogs' season came to a premature end on their home ground, losing their first-round playoff matchup to conference foe Northwestern High School, 1-0.

The season-ending loss comes on the heels of the Bulldogs beating Northwestern two weeks earlier, 4-0.

"I had a feeling they would be very tough," said Bulldog goalkeeper Brady Mazzei.  "The team thought we were just going to beat them easily because we cooked them last time, so we didn't come out as hard as we should have."

The Bulldogs might have been a bit over confident going into the match, but they had to know they were in for a tough one as the game started.  The first ten minutes was a battle in the middle-third of the field.  Both teams seemed like they were trying to settle in and get a feel for their opponent.

Northwestern then looked the more likely team to find a goal, creating a handful of chances leading to the early breakthrough.

In the 13^th minute, a scrap happened in front of the Bowie goal with the Bulldogs unable to clear the ball to safety.   It started when Mazzei came out and got a block on the initial shot.  The rebound came out and Northwestern had another crack on goal and that shot was blocked by sweeper Damilola Adetola but not completely cleared.

The ball finally found the foot of Northwestern striker Edwin Arias who calmly took the rebound and placed the ball to Mazzei's right, past his outstretched arms and into the back of the net.

"I always tell them when we are at the goal that we must attack the box," said Northwestern coach Nigel Trim.  "We attacked the box, and their inability to clear that ball resulted in a goal."

"Usually we never have any guys around that area, so we can't score, but this time, we pressed and pressed…and we were right there, and we just tapped it in."

After the goal, Northwestern seemed content with sitting back in their defensive shape, while trying to find a second goal on the counter-attack; Bowie seemed to come to life offensively.

The Bulldogs had the majority of chances in the last 20 minutes of the first half, but failed to find the equalizer despite BHS's outside midfielder Emmanuel Ajomale coming close twice.

The first opportunity came 31 minutes in: Moises Lazo served a lovely cross from the left that was punched clear by Northwestern goalkeeper Herson Romero, but right to Ajomale who volleyed the rebound just over the crossbar.

The second opportunity came in the 37^th minute.  Ajomale was found through on a diagonal through-ball for a one-on-one with the keeper, but in the end, Romero made an outstanding save to secure Northwestern's slight edge going into halftime.

"I came out as soon as I saw him stuttering," recalled Romero on his save in the 37^th minute.  "I knew he was going to shoot, so instincts told me to dive, and I got the ball."

Bowie continued to put on the pressure offensively creating many potential opportunities, but Northwestern seemed content to sit back defensively.

Bowie's Lazo was the architect of several Bulldog opportunities in the second half.  His well struck crosses in the run of play and from corners created a number of opportunities, but Romero seemed to get his hand on everything, punching the ball to safety every time.

Lazo kept pushing, and in the 48^th minute, it looked like he had brought the Bulldogs back even, but Romero was up to the challenge once again.

Lazo found himself on the end of a through ball that many (including many Northwestern defenders) thought was offsides, but Lazo dribbled into the box and looked to slot the ball to Romero's right.  The ball looked destined for the side netting only for Romero to stretch out and get his finger tips on the shot before finally corralling it in.

In the 52^nd minute, BHS had a long throw in on the side.  After the ball got into the box, it set up perfectly for Samuel Daniels-Dodson who mistimed his volley and struck it over the bar.

The Bulldogs continued to push and kept coming up empty.  The tandem of Romero and sweeper Hector Gelabert seemed to be too much for the Bulldogs.  Gelabert seemed to clean up any ball over the top, and if the Bulldogs did find a way through, Romero always seemed to save the day.

With only three minutes left in the game, BHS coach Richard Kirkland decided to let his goalkeeper Mazzei take the free kicks with Lazo out of the game due to injury.

Mazzei took and hit an absolute laser from about 40 yards out that Romero only watched go inches wide, but Mazzei would get another chance.

In the 78^th minute, Mazzei set up a free kick from about 35 yards out in the middle of the field.  Instead of going for goal, he hit a clever chip that seemed to get over the Northwestern defense only for the Bulldogs to be caught in an offside position.

Shortly after, the final whistle was blown and Northwestern celebrated on the field, but the win wouldn't have been possible without the efforts of Romero.

"It was very difficult," said Romero in retrospect.  "Every ball that came in, every ball they shot… I had to come through it and do my best."