LYNN — It was a tale of two halves in a Northeastern Conference matchup between the English and Winthrop girls soccer teams Thursday night at Manning Field. The Bulldogs got out to a fast start and built an early lead. But in the end, a dominant second half from Winthrop was the difference in a 2-1 Vikings win.
“I don’t think we came in ready for English to put that much pressure on us from the start,” Winthrop coach Tracy Martucci said. “I think they caught us off guard, but we woke up in the second half.”
Maura Dorr played a great game offensively for the Vikings scoring one goal. Devon Barry scored the game-winner.
“We’ve been playing pretty flat the last couple of games,” Martucci said. “We haven’t been able to score. Two games this year we haven’t scored goals so we needed to break that seal (Thursday). English is a great team. They’ve come a long way.”
The Bulldogs dominated possession in the first half and Jenavier Tejada added her first career varsity goal to get them out to a 1-0 lead. On defense, goalkeeper Elysse Newson made several big saves and defender Ravyn Rapley played a nice game.
“It was a wonderful game,” English coach Ed McNeil said. “It was two evenly matched teams. We lost to them 1-0 last year and now 2-1. It’s a tough loss, it could’ve went either way for us.
“I thought Elysse was wonderful in goal,” McNeil said. “And Ravyn was great on defense. That helped us stay in the game.”
English got off to a fast start in this one. The Bulldogs created a few early chances but couldn’t find the back of the net in the first several minutes.
Midway through the first half, Melissa Zayas sent a perfect pass out front to Tejada who scored to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Winthrop created some pressure with a pair of corner kicks and a free kick in the closing minutes of the first half. The Vikings weren’t able to capitalize but were able to build on that offense after the break.
After several minutes of pressure Dorr made a nice move to slip by an English defender and scored to tie things up at 1-1 midway through the second half.
With less than 10 minutes to play Dorr created another scoring chance but this time her shot was blocked by Newson. But the rebound landed right on the foot of Barry, who scored the game-winning goal to put the Vikings ahead 2-1.
“Winthrop has a stud player in (Dorr),” McNeil said. “She was getting pressure all night and tied it up. I sort of blame myself for the winning goal. We got a corner, which we very seldom get. We sent everyone up and they transitioned down. We got caught up and it cost us the game.
“We’re used to losing by a few goals,” McNeil added. “But we were right there. I was pleased to see us battle and stay in this game.”
Both English and Winthrop have non-conference games against Boston City League teams up next on their respective schedules.
The Bulldogs (1-4-1) and will hope to bounce back at Burke Saturday (10). Winthrop (2-2) has a quick turn around at TechBoston Academy Friday (4).
