Bulldogs show grit in defeat

Yes, the scoreboard said that Beverly cruised to a 4-0 victory over Lynn English on Tuesday night at Manning Field. But the Bulldogs actually acquitted themselves very well against one of the top teams in the Northeastern Conference.The game was in doubt until a little under 14 minutes remained in the second half when the Bulldogs finally began to tire and Beverly was able to pop in a pair of late goals. Despite the loss, English coach Ed McNeil was still happy with the effort he got from his club.?I thought that we played much better than we did against Classical (in the finals of the Lynn City tournament) and against Peabody,” McNeil said. “We played very well on defense. We just ran out of gas at the end.”The Panthers, who much like English had to replace most of their starting lineup from a year ago, came out of the gates quick and controlled the play from the outset.The English defense was rock-solid in front of keeper Kaitlyn Nadeau through the opening minutes but freshman Megan Vien found a little opening and was able to slip a shot past the Bulldog netminder with 30:00 left in the half for a 1-0 lead.The goal seemed to loosen the Panthers up and they turned on their high-powered offense.Caitlin Munzing just missed on a header midway through the half before Nadeau robbed Stephanie MacLeod from close range.Rachel Calnan, who, along with Emma Trahant and Shanna Zeramby, was outstanding on defense for English all game, thwarted another good Beverly chance with just over five minutes left in the first. Moments later, however, MacLeod was able to convert on a loose ball following a Munzing corner to send the Panthers to the locker room up by two.?I thought that we really played well in the first half. They didn?t dominate us like I thought they would,” McNeil said. “We played great on defense.”Beverly outshot the Bulldogs, 8-1, in the opening 40 minutes and didn?t miss a beat when the second half started. Sarah Visnick nearly made it 3-0 in the opening moments of the second but her shot with Nadeau out of position hit the post and sailed wide.Beverly?s defense, meanwhile, was solid as it kept balls well away from Kyra Wolonsavich?s goal. The Panthers continued to swarm around the English net but Nadeau came up with several great stops to keep the Bulldogs in the game.?Kaitlin really made some nice saves to keep us in the game and it was only 2-0 with 20 minutes left. That wasn?t too bad,” McNeil said.The dam finally broke for the Bulldogs with just under 14 minutes left when Kadrianna Letts scored off a scramble in the English penalty area to make it 3-0. Visnick, who had misfired on several good chances in the second half, finally connected with 7:00 left to close out the scoring.