Classical boys drop tourney opener to Brookline, 3-0

BROOKLINE – Classical, the No. 9 seed with a record of 11-4-3, traveled to Brookline to play the eighth-seeded Warriors with a record of 10-3-5 in a Division 1 North first-round game. The winner would play the top seed, Lexington, which is undefeated and untied with a record of 18-0-0. Brookline blanked Classical, 3-0.Brookline had some definite advantages coming into the game. Classical defensive standout Danny Henriquez was suspended from the game for acquiring his third yellow card in the Rams’ last game, against English.The other major advantage was the size of the Brookline team. Excluding the keeper, the Warriors’ back seven (the four deep backs and three midfielders) had five players 6-2 or taller. Classical likes to play the long through balls, and there was no way the Rams were going to win a battle in the air.Add to this the fact that in the first half, Brookline had a strong wind at its back and the sun shining into the eyes of Ram keeper Jeremy Dorson.The game was six minutes old when Brookline senior midfielder Kostis Theoharides chipped the ball over the head of a defender to striker David Taylor, who was flying down the wing. He picked up the ball in stride, took two dribbles and blasted a shot about a foot off the ground that went under a diving Dorson and found the back of the net. That was all the scoring in the first half.Classical changed ends for the second half, anticipating the wind and sun advantage. The wind shifted to a cross-field direction and the sun went behind the clouds for most of the rest of the game.In the 51st minute, Brookline increased its lead to 2-0. A through ball from a wing defender found striker Jack Pold going down the left wing. As he came even with the top of the area, he drew two defenders to him. He put a square pass along the top of the area to the other striker, Jacob Ebbs, who collected the pass and powered the shot over the head of Dorson in the net.Ten minutes later, Brookline scored the clincher. When Taylor headed the ball from the six-yard line at Dorson, who swatted the ball, it went right back to Taylor, who made sure of the second head ball. He put it in the corner for his second goal of the game.The last 15 minutes got a little chippy, and the referees issued 2 red cards and 6 yellow cards. The coaches calmed everyone down and the game finished. Classical finished the season with a record of 11-5-3. Coach Joe Skahan has some rebuilding to do, as nine of his 11 starters will graduate, and he only has seven back next year from the present squad of 20 players.