LYNN — It was an offensive onslaught at Manning Field Wednesday for Lynn Tech as the team dominated from start to finish, taking care of business against Lowell Catholic by a margin of 6-1.
The Tigers came ready to play. Only two minutes of game action went by before Tech got on the board. Right out of the gate, Tech was able to get the ball into Lowell Catholic’s zone and freshman defenseman Anthony Zavala wasted no time as he ripped a shot from the left side of the field that whizzed past Lowell Catholic’s goalkeeper to make it 1-0 early. Tech added another goal shortly after, and then at the 28 minute mark, senior central defensive midfielder Jason Robles capitalized for the team’s third goal in twelve minutes on a Tech corner. The ball crossed in from the flagstick and fell into the penalty box where it was passed around a few times before falling to Robles for an easy put away.
Tech showed excellent patience throughout the game. If a passing lane wasn’t immediately open for the Tigers, they would kick it back to their defense for a reset. Instead of pressuring, the Crusaders let Tech’s players sit on the ball and allowed far too much time for them to read the field and make a pass. When the Crusaders finally decided to apply pressure, it was too late as Tech had been given too much time to figure out how they would attack. They slowed the game down and controlled the pace, but also showed aggressiveness when that patience helped them get into the offensive zone – something senior winger Kevin Yuman says is an integral part of the team’s success.
“It’s pretty much just trying to play the ball calm, lift up your head, look up to the space,” he said. “It will help us become a better team and it has so far.”
With roughly 17 minutes remaining in the first half, junior winger Gregoire Amissi scored Tech’s fourth goal which looked to be the nail in the coffin for Lowell Catholic, but the Crusaders answered three minutes later to cut the deficit back to three. Tech went into the half with a 4-1 lead.
Lowell Catholic played a much better second half, perhaps due to the momentum from its first half goal. Earlier in the year, Tech Head Coach Eric Moreno Sr. tried to instill a mindset in his team to close out games and play to the wire – something the Tigers struggled with early on.
Tech seemed to have gotten the memo and tacked on two more goals to give itself a comfortable victory. Junior defensemen Julio Guillen scored a nice goal as he was almost parallel to the net when he kicked the ball out of the air – using the back of his heel to bend the ball around the goalie and into the far right post. To wrap the night up, freshman midfielder Gabriel Alvarez scored the team’s sixth and final goal with seven minutes left to send the Crusaders packing.
It was a comfortable win for the Tigers, and the talented group has gotten stronger as the season has progressed. While the 6-1 victory is certainly a confidence booster for the program, Moreno notes that the team has to close out strong over its next three games. If the Tigers can win out, there’s a high probability they would host a playoff game.
“Right now we look good,” Moreno said. “But we need to finish the next three games that we have. We finish the next three games with wins, we’re going to be in a very good spot.”
Tech will try to win the first of the remaining three on Wednesday, October 20 on the road against Greater Lowell at 4 p.m.
Ryan Vermette can be reached at [email protected]
