LYNN — The Revere Patriots capitalized on just enough of their scoring opportunities to take a victory over the Lynn English Bulldogs 2-0 at Manning Field Thursday.
Sophomore Sebastiao Souza and freshman David Tamayo each notched a goal for the Patriots en route to their victory.
Even in a win, Revere’s Head Coach Manuel Lopes feels his team can be better, especially offensively.
“We play well right up until we get to our offensive third, and in our offensive third, we cannot shoot if our life depended on it. In the last game, we should have put them away – we had more opportunities. This game it could have ended in the first half, but we do not shoot,” said Lopes.
“We do not want to shoot until we are literally inside with the goalie, and that is something we are going to fix before we get too far,” he said.
In the opening portion of the game, the pace was methodical for both Revere and English. Outside of Revere’s opportunities, the game stayed quiet offensively. In the game’s first 15 minutes, a shot from Tamayo that rang off the post and a shot that whistled by the top right corner of the net from Revere junior Sebastian Tobarda were the only great chances.
While English had trouble maintaining consistent offensive pressure, its defense was up for the task. Precious Akande and Darvin Kuffour made life difficult for the Patriots to get efficient shots on net. The Bulldogs’ goalkeeper, Alejandro Zayas, came up big for his team with some excellent saves. Akande even made an impressive one-footed save in front of an open net that would have been a sure goal for Revere.
Although the Bulldogs had trouble putting shots on net, they did a fine job of passing and holding possession to wear down the Patriots. In the waning moments of the first half, Revere almost struck first on a give and go when junior Juan Chavarria passed to sophomore Jared Romero, but Romero put too much power on the shot, and it flew over the crossbar.
As the game moved to the second half, each team had a lot of possession, but neither the Bulldogs nor the Patriots could capitalize. That was until Souza seemed to almost dump the ball towards English’s goalkeeper, and the ball snuck in the back of the net to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead.
After its goal to take the lead, Revere had many opportunities to extend it, but Zayas showed his mental toughness in net and shook off the tough goal he allowed. He made countless point-blank saves in the final 10 minutes of the game to keep English in it. Unfortunately, deep into extra time, Tamayo made a nice move and was left free in front of the net and scored to seal the 2-0 victory.
Looking ahead, Lopes sees some promising signs in his team that will benefit them for the rest of the season, even if there is always room to improve.
“The fact that we can build up through midfield, in the back, and to be able to create this stuff. That is a good thing,” said Lopes.
“We are in a good place. I think we need to become a threat after 30 yards,” he added.
Michael Coughlin Jr. can be reached at [email protected]
