Classical’s Albin Asani, left, and English’s Ble Ley both have their eyes on a loose ball. Item Photo by Katie Morrison
By Steve Krause
LYNN — The Classical boys soccer team played a complete game Monday, and it sure picked the right time to do that.
The Rams defeated English, 3-1, in the first of two intra-city rival games this fall. And according to head coach Dominick Steadman, these games are always tough.
“It seems that no matter when we play them, no matter what our statuses are, or where we are in terms of records, these are tough games to play,” Steadman said.
“First of all, all these kids know each other too well, and second, our styles are so complimentary.”
The first half was a draw, which shouldn’t be a surprise because both teams played well and had lots of chances. It was the second half that proved to be the difference.
“I thought coming into halftime tied at 1-1 that we’d step it up in the second,” said English coach Kerry King. “Instead, we came out flat.”
Brian Morales drew first blood for Classical in the eighth minute of the first half, kicking the rebound of a teammate’s shot back into the net. But in the 33rd minute, Christopher Nawa drew English even, beating Classical’s Dan Cortes on a point-blank shot.
Coming out of the break, Classical got two quick scores from Pasulayman Sowe.
The first came on a slow shot from keeper Billy Allen’s left that stayed low to the ground and beat the goalie to his right side.
The second one came in the seventh minute when Angel Castillo, who was sent in to play goalie by King, made the original save on a Classical shot but couldn’t recover in time for the rebound.
If nothing else, Castillo, a sophomore, was lightning quick in the net, repeatedly straying far from the goal to thwart Classical.
“I thought we had six or seven real good chances in that second half,” said Steadman.
He said the Rams “played a slow first half. It wasn’t bad, but we were lucky to get out of it tied. We had all we could do to keep it that way They (English) played really well. However, we figured it out in the second half.”
From King’s point of view, “we did a lot of good things. But we also had some defensive breakdowns, and communications breakdowns, and Classical made us pay for every one of them.
“We had a lot of chances in the first half, but we couldn’t cash in on them.”