Boys soccer: Castro’s four goals lead Classical to tie with Beverly

Once again, Classical senior Miguel Castro showed why he is one of the premier soccer players in the state on Wednesday at Manning Field.With the Rams still trying to get healthy on defense and in a battle with Beverly, Castro took care of the offense himself. He scored twice on unassisted goals and added a free kick and a penalty-kick goal to help the Rams get a much-needed point in a 4-4 tie.”We really needed him and his impact was huge,” Classical coach Joe Skahan said.Castro’s impact was even more impressive considering he sat for nearly 25 minutes after receiving a yellow card in the first half.The Rams (9-2-4) also got an outstanding effort in net from Dammy Dada.”This wasn’t one of those great games to coach in, but I’m sure it was pretty fun to watch,” Skahan said.St. Mary’s 1, Austin Prep 1At Reading, Alex Glover scored off a direct kick in the first half, but the Spartans (5-7-4) suffered a defensive lapse early in the second half and it resulted in them surrendering the tying goal.Goalkeeper Rob Goggan was outstanding for St. Mary’s, turning aside 18 of 19 shots.Revere 2, English 1At Manning Field, the loss puts the Bulldogs’ (5-8-1) state tournament hopes in jeopardy. Freshman Leo Awokang scored off a Jefferson Fobellah assist in the first half to give English the lead at the break.But the Patriots rallied for a pair of second-half goals. The Bulldogs need to go 3-0-1 in their last four games to make the tournament.”The frustrating thing is that we’re playing very well,” English coach Kerry King said. “We had plenty of chances and just didn’t finish.”Swampscott 5, Winthrop 3At Swampscott, Rocky Nenshati had a hat trick and Kyle Taylor added the other two goals as the Big Blue (5-5-2) led 4-1 early and then had to survive a Winthrop comeback.”We were definitely dominating the game,” Swampscott coach Mike Chase said. “And then out of nowhere, Winthrop comes back.”Gloucester 2, Saugus 2At Anna Parker in Saugus, the Sachems (2-9-1) got goals from Carmen Bordonaro and Derek Coderre but saw the visitors tie the game late in the second half.Allan Gray and Dan Fama provided the assists on the goals.Salem 3, Peabody 2At Bertram Field in Salem, the Witches (6-6-3) jumped out to a 3-0 lead to spring the upset on the NEC North leaders.”This was definitely our best performance of the season,” Salem coach Mike Collins said.Nuur Mohammed scored twice and Edwin DeMoya provided the third goal to stake the Witches to the commanding lead. The Tanners (8-2-2, 8-1-2 NEC) stormed back in the second half on goals from Matt Rodgers and Craig Rosenbaum but couldn’t come all the way back.”We had no sense of urgency (Wednesday),” Peabody coach Stan McKeen said. “We woke up in the second half, but it was too little, too late.”Danvers 1, Marblehead 1At Marblehead, the Magicians (8-2-4) had the lead late but saw the Falcons score with 11 minutes left to tie. Ellery Smith provided the Marblehead goal early in the first half, assisted by Alaitz Aritza.St. John’s 4, Malden Cath. 1At Danvers, the Eagles (7-6-1, 5-2 Catholic Conference) finally exploded on offense as Dan O’Connor scored twice to pace the Prep. Sean Callahan and Justin Peluso added one goal each with Ryan Halmer dishing out two assists.Fenwick 3, Marian 2At Framingham, Fenwick (7-2-4, 5-2-1 CCL) was down 1-0 at the half but saw Doug Garabedian record a hat trick in the second half to help clinch a state tournament berth for the Crusaders.”It was a great, emotional win for us,” Fenwick coach Andrew Bub said. “What a great way for us to get into the tournament.”Brandon Ballard and Shane Alexander each had an assist on Garabedian’s final two goals.