English, Classical boys soccer teams play to 2-2 tie

LYNN – In the second game of a doubleheader, the Classical and English boys played to a 2-2 tie. This was the second meeting of the Bulldogs and the Rams this year. They met in the finals of the City Tourney with Classical winning 4-1. The Bulldogs came into the game with a 1-4 (0-3 NEC) record. Coach Kerry King was looking forward to notching his first league win of the season. Ram Coach Joe Skahan brought a record 0f 2-2-3(0-2-3 NEC) into the game. He was also looking for his first league win.The game was less than 1 minute old when co-captain Ulisis Guevara fed Gabe Smith a crossing pass and he pushed it by keeper Marc Moise to make the score English 1, Classical 0. Both teams displayed outstanding skills. As they went up and down the field the hitting was fierce. At the 32-minute mark, Ezequiel Rodriques picked up the ball on his side of midfield and dribbled his way through and past four Classical defenders. He broke free of the Ram players as he entered the top right corner of the area and blasted a low shot about a foot off the ground into the left corner. This pushed the score to English 2, Classical 0. The score should have been tied but for the outstanding work of keeper Eric Hamlin in the English net. The half ended with the score English 2, Classical 0.The second half opened with the same display of foot skills by both teams, Classical seemed a bit more determined and started pushing at the English defenders. It paid off in the 58th minute when Miguel Castro was sent in off a dead ball kick by Carlos Cifuentes. Castro beat the defender to the ball and had Hamlin at his mercy and put it under the diving keeper to narrow the score to 2-1.In the 70th minute, English had a chance to put the Rams away when a penalty shot was called. An English player was taken down and a yellow card issued to a Ram defender. The shot was taken by Alex Alvarez, who had the keeper going the wrong way, and his shot slid by the outside of the left post.In the 76th minute, Classical tied up the game. Castro intercepted a clearing pass, dribbled 30 yards through three English defenders, and beat the English keeper to the low left side. That was Castro’s second goal of the night and his 13th goal in 7 games so far this season. The game finished and the final score was English 2, Classical 2.King was not happy with some of the calls in the game. He said, “I thought we had the better of the play. They came on strong late and we could not hold them.”English plays Wednesday at Marblehead.Skahan said, “We started off slow and got up to speed in the second half. Miguel Castro has 13 goals and 5 assists in 7 games.”Classical plays next Wednesday at Saugus.