Rams seniors impress as Classical girls stop English

LYNN – The seniors on the Classical girls soccer team will remember Wednesday evening?s matchup with rival English for quite some time. The Rams scored early and often en route to a 7-0 rout over the Bulldogs.Classical was led by multi-point efforts from fourth-years Krista Cuozzo (two goals, assist), Francesca Galeazzi (two assists) and Jess Perez (goal). Senior defenseman Kathy Perez also played a strong game in front of keeper Jillian Strileckis, who earned a shutout in perhaps her final home game.?I am truly lucky to have had the pleasure of coaching them the past couple of years,” said Classical coach Justina Alicudo. “They have been such a good group of kids both on and off the field. It?s going to be very hard to see them leave the program.”The Rams came out strong to begin the contest, nearly converting on a few chances before finally breaking onto the scoreboard at 18:07. Cuozzo fought for position in close before hammering home a bouncing ball that found its way through traffic.Classical upped the lead to two at the 13:35 mark as Shannon Magner took a pass on the right wing from Jenn Ierardi and tucked home her shot to the bottom right corner. Just 1:25 later, Perez banged home a free ball following some nice passing from Galeazzi and Cuozzo.The Rams would tack on two more goals in the half, the first a brilliant shot from Briana Silva to the top left corner on a bouncing ball with 5:00 remaining. Cuozzo?s second of the contest beat the halftime whistle by mere seconds.The Classical defense was rock-solid all night long, keeping the play in front of them and preventing any solid chances on Strileckis.?I thought we played very well defensively,” explained Alicudo. “We have been working on our communication a lot and I was happy with the way they talked to each other tonight. We also got to put some defenders in different positions and they did a good job adjusting.”The Rams would add two second-half tallies, the first from Ierardi off a Galeazzi corner kick at 36:20. Taylor Ferraro capped off the scoring, as her corner kick?s momentum carried the English keeper past the goal line.Classical pulled back offensively following its final goal and focused more on ball movement. English?s attempts to push forward were rebuffed as it failed to muster a shot on goal.Classical?s regular-season finale comes on Friday evening against Salem. After that, the Rams will await confirmation on where the postseason journey will begin.?We don?t have a clue where we stand but we?re very excited to get going,” said Alicudo.