English boys soccer defeats Rams

LYNN – The Lynn English and Lynn Classical boys soccer rivalry added yet another chapter to its long history, as the two teams engaged in a hard-fought contest on Monday afternoon at Manning Field.After dictating the vast majority of the opening 40 minutes, the Bulldogs got a goal from Brian Rovira with 3:26 remaining in the first half. The tally would hold up as the only score of the game, as English won 1-0.Rovira?s game-winner came on a rebound putback after Omar Maradiaga?s original attempt was rebuffed by Classical goalie Strati Saranteas.?Omar made a nice through ball to the net, and Brian was there to put home the rebound,” explained English coach Kerry King. “Brian is our leading goal scorer so far and is a very dangerous player.”While Classical struggled to find a way to generate chances, the English tandem of Rovira and Carlos Valenzuela kept Saranteas busy throughout the half.Rovira nearly scored a beautiful goal in the sixth minute, but his rip from the right side went just over the crossbar. Valenzuela?s fancy footwork with the ball in the tenth minute led to a Rovira breakaway, but the play was ruled offside.?They are both fantastic players and were all over the field for us today creating problems,” said King of the duo.Despite failing to register a shot, Classical nearly took the lead with just over 23 minutes to play in the first half. Back-to-back corner kicks came close; the latter, by Keregya Nasibu, was volleyed by a few heads before being cleared.The Rams again came out flat for the start of the second half as English pushed to increase the lead, only to come up short thanks to Saranteas (10 saves). The momentum finally began to swing with 32 minutes remaining and Classical getting desperate.After a near miss from Paul Strileckis at 26:55, the Rams? Tyler Way?s throw-in reached the center of the field in front of the English net, where a horde of players jockeyed for position. The ball was fired towards the net, nearly finding the bottom left corner.Way nearly scored the equalizer at 9:28, but his strong shot targeted for the right post was caught by English keeper Kyle Arsenault, who was in great position despite some traffic in front of him.?We finally got some high pressure going in the back half of the second half, but couldn?t find a way to score,” explained Classical coach Rob Upton. “We started forcing guys up and it created some solid opportunities for us.”The loss drops the Rams to 2-5-0 overall and 1-4-0 in conference play while the Bulldogs improved to 3-2-1, and picked up a big conference win to get to 2-1-1.?They?re always going to be tight games with these two teams,” explained Upton. “No matter who?s playing well or who?s not, both sides get up for these games.”He continued, “Coach King had his guys ready to go today and they played really well.”