The English girls soccer team turned in a strong performance on the defensive end Thursday night at Manning Field but the offensive woes continued for the Bulldogs as they fell, 2-0, to Gloucester in a battle between Northeastern Conference opponents.
The Fishermen scored once in each half and denied two late English scoring opportunities to seal the victory.
Senior goaltender Pamela Rosales made her season debut for the Bulldogs in net and brought her A-game. Rosales made 12 saves.
“Pamela came back from California (Wednesday),” English coach Ed McNeil said. “We had no practice (Thursday) because we had a game and she was over at the park in the afternoon with girls practicing with her. She had no chance on either of those two shots, they were both beautiful shots.”
Also playing well for the Bulldogs were Arianna Garcia, Ravyn Rapley and Julianna Perry.
“I thought we played very good,” McNeil said. “Freshman forward Melissa Zayas had a good chance at the end. We had a few chances at the end. One we missed an open net and the other, Gloucester’s goalie made a terrific save. Gloucester’s a good team, they’re a tournament team.”
The Bulldogs fell to 0-2 on the young season with the loss. They’ll look to bounce back with a win Saturday morning (9) against Tech in the Lynn City Tournament consolation game.
“We’ve never lost two games in the City Tournament,” McNeil said. “We’ve won the tournament once. We have a winning record in the tournament. We have some winnable games coming up and I’m very pleased. We have four freshmen playing a lot.”
GIRLS SOCCER
Malden 3, Salem 2
At Salem, the Golden Tornadoes earned a win in their season opener. Up next for Malden is a conference game Saturday afternoon at Medford (4).
BOYS SOCCER
Somerville 3, Revere 1
Scoreless at halftime, the Highlanders fired in three second-half goals to claim the victory. Revere visits Catholic Memorial Friday night (7).
VOLLEYBALL
Danvers 3, Peabody 0
At Peabody, the Falcons earned a swift victory with set scores of 25-20, 25-20 and 25-23. For Danvers, Kaylee McHale logged 13 kills and 2 aces, Carly Goodhue logged 9 kills and 17 digs and Lily Eldridge tallied 26 assists. For Peabody, Rachel Coleman had 13 assists, Ava LaValle and Alexa Flewelling each had 6 kills, Tatiana Correia tallied 3 aces and Jonalynn Carpenter logged 3 kills with 2 blocks.
Peabody fell to 0-1 with the loss and hopes to bounce back into the win column Friday evening (5:30) when the Tanners host North Andover.
Georgetown 3, St. Mary’s 1
The Spartans dropped a tough non-conference match on the road at Georgetown. St. Mary’s fell by scores of 15-25, 25-19, 21-25 and 15-25. With the loss, St. Mary’s dropped to 1-1 on the season. Up next, the Spartans travel to Catholic Central League opponent Archbishop Williams Tuesday.
