Rams lose to Tanners in soccer

In recent seasons, Peabody and Lynn Classical have been among the upper echelon of teams in the Northeastern Conference. On Monday afternoon at Manning Field, the two teams put on another fantastic display of soccer.Playing for the second time in four days, the teams battled from end to end for 80 minutes and it came down to a one-minute stretch early in the second half.Classical?s Tyler Way put a shot off the crossbar and the Rams then watched as Bobby Caproni netted his second goal of the game, tipping in Joao Correia?s free kick with 30:45 left to give the NEC North-leading Tanners a 2-1 victory.?Bobby is so speedy and he fights for everything,” Peabody coach Stan McKeen said. “That was a well-played game that was very clean. Classical is a good team.”It was one of those rare instances where even the losing team came away with a lot of positives as the Rams (7-6-0, 5-6-0) gave the Tanners (11-1-1, 11-0-1) a second stern test in four days.?Peabody is a very good team and they have a knack for capitalizing on the bounces when they get them,” Classical coach Rob Upton said. “We played very well against a really good team. I was happy that we came out and played with the emotion that we did.”Neither team could generate much in the way of offense through the opening minutes before both teams broke loose and began a frantic stretch of up and down play over the final 30 minutes of the half.The Tanners had the first good chance of the game when Lucas Amiral picked up a free ball off a scramble but whistled a shot over the crossbar. Classical went off in transition and nearly broke the ice but Abitalib Girdea sent a shot of his own over Kevin LeBel?s goal.Peabody?s top scorer, Ben Manoogian, then had a chance but he shanked a one-timer in front of Strati Saranteas? goal midway through the half. Just over five minutes later, the Rams? Karegeya Nasibu fed Girdea for a shot that deflected off LeBel and trickled across the goal line with 17:54 left in the half for a 1-0 lead.Classical also had taken a 1-0 lead on the Tanners Thursday only to see Peabody fight back with three second-half goals. Peabody didn?t wait quite as long on Monday to begin its comeback.Caproni got off a quick shot seven minutes after Girdea?s goal and it beat Saranteas clean to tie the game at 1-1 through 40 minutes.The pace of play was just as crazy through the opening minutes of the second half with both teams pushing for the go-ahead tally. It looked like the Rams might be in line for it when Jonathan Benavides cut down the right wing and fed a perfect pass in the box that found Way?s foot for a shot that had Fagner Cubero-Cuelho beat clean but rang off the crossbar and was cleared away.?If we can get that goal there, it?s a different game,” Upton said.Immediately off the Classical miss, the Tanners went on the offensive and got the bounce that determined the game.Correia took a free kick from 30 yards out that Caproni managed to get a piece of and deflect past Saranteas with 30:45 left to go to give the Tanners the lead.After that, the Peabody defense turned up the wick and would hold Classical to the outside for the rest of the game.?Our defense really did play well,” McKeen said. “We haven?t had to fight back from behind except for in the Acton-Boxboro game so it was nice to see the kids respond and come back.”