LYNN — Wednesday’s Lynn City Tournament opener between the English and Tech boys soccer teams came down to the wire. After 80 minutes of hard-fought play, Alexis Barrios lifted the Tigers to a 2-1 win in PK’s at Manning Field.
Both coaches knew their teams would be tested.
“A lot of people underestimate English,” Tech’s Eric Moreno said, “but they have a lot of tall, physical guys. They gave us a hard time in the first half because of the physicality and how tall they are. Most of my guys are smaller but we finished and continued playing with heart and soul.”
“I knew going in that Tech has a lot of skill players and they move the ball around well,” English’s Kerry King said. “I thought we could take advantage speed wise. Unfortunately in the first half, we created some opportunities and we couldn’t score. That’s the name of the game.”
Tech junior Josbel Murphy gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a first-half score. English junior forward Ryan Lima knotted the score at 1-1 in the second half. Goalies Jack Mancaniello (English) and Jesson Alarcon (Tech) both played well in net.
“In penalty kicks I always put my faith in my goalie,” Moreno said. “He knows that he needs his eyes on the ball. Wherever the ball goes, he goes. He was very disciplined and he played a great game.”
There wasn’t much action through the first nine minutes of play. Neither team got much going on the offensive and both goalies went fairly untested through the early going. English senior forward Kelly Nwachukwu put the first shot on goal 10 minutes into the evening. Nwachukwu raced his way past the Tigers’ defense but his shot was denied by goalie Alarcon. After another stretch of quiet play, Nkwachukwu sent a second shot in Alarcon’s direction. This time, the senior netminder used his calf to make the save and kept the game scoreless.
With 14 minutes left in the opening half, Tech made the most of a scoring opportunity to grab the lead. Murphy buried the ball into the back of the net for the game’s first goal and Tech carried a 1-0 lead at halftime.
It didn’t take English long to score the equalizer. After a nifty move, Lima tied the tilt at 1-1 just 25 seconds into the second half.
“In the second half, we came out on fire and scored,” King said, “but it was just one of those games. We created opportunities, we just didn’t finish.”
That’s how it stayed for the next 20 minutes, before a lightning delay halted play for the next half hour. Neither team got much going when play resumed, sending the game into PK’s. Both teams found the back of the net in four of the first five attempts. On the sixth, Barrios booted one into the back of the net and English’s attempt sailed wide to seal Tech’s victory.
“We’ve practiced PK’s a few times,” King said. “We really had confidence in all the kids who struck the ball. We have a super goalie (Mancaniello), who actually had good attempts at it. Hats off to the Tech kids. They put those things where no one could get them.”
The game goes into the record books as a tie for both teams.
Tech (0-0-1) advances to Saturday’s championship game (3), when the Tigers will square off against Classical.
“No matter who we play, we’re just going to take it one game at a time,” Moreno said.
English (0-0-1) hopes to come away from the tournament with a win in Saturday’s consolation tilt (10:45) against St. Mary’s.
“We’re very optimistic in the season this year,” King said. “We know St. Mary’s is a tough opponent. We feel can play with anyone this year, simple as that.”
