LYNN — In the MIAA state tournament, seedings can sometimes can mean little to nothing. That much was evident Tuesday evening at Manning Field, as the No. 1 English boys soccer team was knocked off by No. 16 Andover, 3-1, in the first round of the Division 1 North tournament. The difference in the game may have come within the final minute of the first half, when a mistake on defense allowed Andover to score and grab all the momentum before the break.
“We knew going in that (Andover’s) league (the Merrimack Valley Conference) is one of the best in the state, and we knew that they were a great team and that they’d be ready to play,” said English coach Kerry King. “We knew that we needed to play our game out there, but unfortunately they were quicker to the ball. Their physicality really wore us down eventually, and a couple of mistakes on our part led to goals for them.”
Chris Lazo scored the lone goal for the Bulldogs. Andover got two goals from Zoah Silva-Landry, while Evan Arpin added the other goal. Anthony Previte notched one assist.
The game was a stalemate for much of the first half, with each team getting a few scoring opportunities scattered throughout the period. Andover had two corner chances turned away early, while English sent several shots on net late.
But with less than a minute to go in the first half, Andover turned the momentum. The Golden Warriors broke into the offensive zone with numbers, and Previte sent a quick cross pass through the box to a wide-open Silva-Landry, who knocked in an easy goal to make it 1-0 Andover at the break.
“I really thought that skill-wise we were right there with them for the entire first half,” King said. “Unfortunately they were beating us to a lot of balls and beating us up physically, and that eventually took its toll on us.”
The second half didn’t start off well for the Bulldogs either, as Andover went up 2-0 on Silva-Landry’s second of the game just over six minutes into the action. But English persevered, and the Bulldogs continued to get chances at the net on offense. Things finally turned a little brighter when English earned a free kick with under 10 minutes to go. Jalen Coriolan took the kick and sent it deep into the box, where Andover goalie Wilson Stecher jumped up to knock the ball away. But Stecher knocked it right onto the foot of Lazo, who buried the goal to make it 2-1 and give English some much-needed life.
But Andover continued to stand tall. The Golden Warriors played a possession game for the remainder of the half, eventually sealing the win on a goal from Arpin with less than two minutes to play.
English closes out the season with a 14-1-2 record. While there are nine seniors — four of them starters — who’ll be leaving to graduation, King feels that the Bulldogs are in a good position to contend moving forward.
“We’re really going to miss our back four on defense, but we’ll still be returning a lot of the core of our midfield and strikers next season, so I think we’ll be in really good shape going into next year,” said King.
