St. Mary’s wins city soccer boys consolation; rain postpones girls consolation

LYNN – The girls consolation game of the Lynn City Soccer tournament, between English and Tech, was scheduled to kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday, but the referees delayed the game until 9:45 before calling it off due to heavy rain and thunder and lightning in the area. The latest word is that it will be played on Oct. 6, site TBD.The boys consolation, between St. Mary’s and Tech, went on as scheduled. The rain was just as heavy, but there was no thunder and lightning in the area. St. Mary’s prevailed 5-2.St. Mary’s opened the scoring in the first minute. Due to the slippery field, a Tech defender did not clear the ball, and senior midfielder Alex Glover slotted the ball in the left corner past Tech keeper Kevin DeLeon. This made the score 1-0, Spartans.In the 19th minute, Tech was called for a hand ball in the area and a penalty shot was awarded to St. Mary’s. Zach Paone put the ball over a diving DeLeon. One minute later, the Spartans just about put the game out of reach. Senior midfielder Peter Louvaris fed Glover with a square pass about eight yards from the goal and Glover put the ball in the low left corner for a 3-0 lead.In the 31st minute, St. Mary’s sophomore striker Ralph Bertrand found the whole net open in front of him from about six yards out, and he scored. This made the score 4-0, Spartans. The first half ended with no further action.The second half was a completely different ballgame. In the 49th minute, Tech got on the scoreboard when Pedro Blas put a cross through the area from the right wing, where Francisco Franco picked up the pass and beat Spartan keeper Rob Goggin to the high right side. This made the score 4-1, St. Mary’s.”It was a game of two different halves,” Tech coach Fred Gallo said. “Whichever team had the wind played much better. We need to be more consistent in our play. We should be OK when our league season starts.”In the 67th minute, the Tigers scored again when Richard Jones-Alas took the corner from the left side and Gustavo Rodriguez skied over the Spartan defenders to nod the ball into the net.In trying for another goal, Tech pushed all 10 players deep into the Spartan end. Here, one of the most unusual plays in soccer happened. The ball was cleared to midfield, where Nick Gagliolo of St. Mary’s was on his side of midfield, and therefore in an onside position. He scooped up the clear and went in alone on the keeper from 60 yards out. DeLeon came off his line and continued out of the area trying to get Gagliolo. They met about 30 yards from the goal and DeLeon missed the tackle. Gagliolo went in alone to score in the 77th minute. This made the score 5-2, St Mary’s. It was the Spartans’ first win of the year.