LYNN — The Tech boys soccer team fought to a 1-1 tie against Minuteman Thursday at Manning field, but it was a disappointing night for coach Eric Moreno Sr. and his Tigers. Tech controlled the pace of play for just about all 80 minutes but the Tigers fell short on more than a few scoring chances throughout the night.
“It was discouraging,” Moreno said. “We are the better team. We had a lot of different chances and to just come away with a 1-1 tie against that team is not a good result at all. I’m not happy with my team. We should be able to finish every single time we had the ball. We weren’t able to.”
The Mustangs’ defense didn’t do Tech any favors either with a handful of saves and blocked shots keeping the Tigers offense at bay. Minuteman managed just three shots on offense.
“Their goalkeeper was a good player,” Moreno said. “There were three or four shots that they took away from us but I’ve been telling my team this whole season, ‘you have to bury the ball in the back of the net.’ You can’t give the goalie an opportunity to get to it. We have to place it in a corner or put on a hard shot.”
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to start getting shots on net. Erikson Licardie, Jason Robles and Bibek Gurung each found themselves with scoring opportunities in the first half but their shots were either saved or blocked.
Minuteman got on the board early on with a goal on a far shot from about 30 yards out and the Tigers found themselves in a 1-0 hole despite dominating possession time.
Tech couldn’t capitalize on a pair of corner opportunities before Licardie created another great scoring chance. The freshman forward beat the Minuteman goalkeeper to a loose ball but couldn’t control it enough to get a solid shot on net.
The Tigers finally cashed in late in the first half. Josbel Murphy finished a nice rush up field with a goal to tie things up at 1-1 before the break.
The second half was more of the same with Tech just falling short on opportunities left and right. The Tigers couldn’t manage anything on a corner kick or a free kick to start the second half. A few minutes later Brian Barrera had the ball on his foot with an opportunity in front of an empty net but the Mustangs defense forced a wide shot.
That was the story of the night for the Tigers. Despite consistent pressure on offense, the Mustangs’ defense always managed to do just enough to keep things tied until the final whistle.
“Last year and this year our biggest struggle has been to finish,” Moreno said. “We have a great offense. We have a fast offense. Most of these kids are young, freshmen and sophomores with a couple upperclassmen. At the same time we create some great opportunities but we can’t put the ball away. Some of the games we lose or tie, it always comes down to that.”
The Tigers (3-2-2) host Northeast next Tuesday (4).
