Classical, Tech boys soccer ousted from tournament

Saturday afternoon, the only two Lynn teams to qualify for the MIAA soccer tournament drew teams with very high seeds. And all it proved was that seedings sometimes don’t matter.Twelfth-seeded Classical drew No. 21 Malden Catholic in Division 2 North, while No. 11 Tech tangled with 22nd-seeded Tewksbury – also in D2 – which qualified despite a 7-11 record.When the day ended, both Lynn teams were eliminated, with Classical losing 3-0 and Tech falling 2-1.For the first 10 minutes of the opener, the game was a race up and down the field. Keepers, Dammy Dada of Classical (10-6-4) and Kyle Lewis of MC, had some work in the nets. But the Lancers (9-8-3) eventually used their superior height and speed to begin dominating the game.In the 17th minute, after making a save on Classical, Lewis boomed a 65 yard punt over everyone’s head and freshman forward Mike Lewis beat the four defenders to the ball and went in alone on Dada. The Classical keeper came off his line and missed Lewis who walked into the goal with the ball to make the score 1-0, with the keeper getting the assist.Seven minutes later, a through ball from midfielder Tyler Bean found Nolan Alberghini behind the Classical central defenders. He picked up the pass in the arc, cut to his right and beat Dada to the low left side, doubling MC’s lead.Four minutes later, MC’s Alberghini carried the ball to the left corner and crossed it at about the six yard line, where Robert Bucchino took the shot with the ball still in the air. Dada had no chance and it was 3-0 at the half.Even though Classical came out fired up in the second half, the Lancers continued to frustrate the Rams. After about 15 minutes of that, the rest of the game turned into a nasty fouling contest on both sides. The referees issued four yellow cards, two to each team.Afterward, the referees would not allow the two teams to shake hands and both teams were sent to their benches.MC travels to No. 5 Danvers Monday (6).Tewksbury 2, Tech 1Tewksbury qualified because it broke even against D2 teams in the predominantly D1 Merrimack Valley Conference. Tech, meanwhile, was playing for the first time in D2.Similar to the opener, Tewksbury was much taller than the Tigers and just as quick. In the 15th minute, Tewksbury senior midfielder, George Kafkas sent in striker, Stefan Monteiro down the right side of the box. He turned the last defender and beat Tech keeper, Jonathan DeLeon to the low short side, giving the Redmen a 1-0 lead.The half ended with both teams having some good chances that were broken up by the defenders.In the 63 minute, a Tewksbury shot was deflected by the Tech keeper and the ball bounced to Stephen Monteiro, who one-timed it into the far top corner to double Tewksbury’s lead.Tech finally scored in the 78th minute. Freshman Francisco Franco broke in alone on the Tewsbury keeper Mike Ludka, drew him to the left side of the net, shot the ball with the outside of his right foot, and put it in the corner that the keeper had just left. With 14 seconds to go, Tech got a chance to tie the game with a penalty kick, which was taken by senior captain Richard Jones-Alas. The shot was labeled for the low left corner when Ludka dove and deflected the ball. The ball bounced once and the keeper scooped it up.