LYNN — The English boys soccer team continues to march along.
English looked fluid across the board Monday night in a 3-0 shutout win over Northeastern Conference rival Danvers at Manning Field.
English, 6-0-1, remains undefeated. The Bulldogs’ lone tie was a 1-1 draw with Tech in the Lynn City Tournament earlier this month.
“We felt open jitters going into the Tech game,” English coach Kerry King said. “We knew we were a very good soccer team. I think as the season goes on we’re just more comfortable passing the ball. We do such a great job moving the ball quickly. It’s tough for teams because they can’t key in on one player. We have three, four, five kids that can be dangerous.”
King said the win over the Falcons was a long time coming.
“We were lucky enough that Danvers has a few injuries and they’re young this year,” King said. “It’s always good to beat a team like Danvers. It’s a big win for our program. We feel that if we can keep playing together, playing our style of soccer, we can beat any team in the league. We’re a dangerous team.”
English featured three different goal scorers. Chris Lazo, Bruno Cabral and Robyn Barrios each tallied one goal. Ryan Lima assumed the role of playmaker, logging three assists.
“We preach it every day in practice- playing two touch soccer, moving without the ball and playing quick to put a lot of pressure on the (opposing) defense,” King said. “We really created a lot of opportunities (Monday). I feel like we need to work more on our finishing this week because we could’ve had a lot more.”
Defensively, the Bulldogs were on their A-game from start to finish.
“We’re fairly young up front but we have senior leadership back there with Obed Baswa, Ryan Zollo, Yonel Espinoza and Andric Barrios. All of them are three or four-year varsity players. We’re strong, we’re fast and to be honest, many of them were midfielders so they have have great ball skills too. They do a terrific job building our attack from the back too.”
It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to set the tone. After a few minutes of back-and-forth play, English put Danvers’ defense on its heels by dominating time of possession. Lazo had the first solid look at the net but Danvers keeper Daniel Vatousios made a nice save with his leg 12 minutes in. Three minutes later, Cabral sent a nice pass to Jalen Coriolan for a one-on-one look at Vatousios. But Coriolan’s shot sailed high, keeping things scoreless.
English finally found the back of the net midway through the period with Lazo breaking the ice. Cabral added a goal right before the half, bumping English’s lead to 2-0 at recess.
The second half was all Bulldogs. After a couple more solid shots on net, Robyn Barrios made it a 3-0 game. With a comfortable lead, English ran out the clock the rest of the way.
English visits Marblehead in another Northeastern Conference clash Wednesday (4).
“It’s going to be a battle,” King said. “Marblehead’s a physical team. They have a few skilled players. We have to play at our best. If we play at our best, if we move the ball, I think we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”
