ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Saugus captain Brian Rivas and Kyle Kariores of Gloucester battle for the ball.
SAUGUS — For the Saugus boys soccer team, this season has been a challenge.
The Sachems are still winless with two games left to play, but this young team has improved by leaps and bounds as the season has gone on. That was evident Wednesday at Anna Parker Playground.
The Sachems fell, 2-0, to Gloucester, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The last time the two teams met back on Sept. 20, Fishermen coach Armando Marnoto said he had to tell his team to back off and stop shooting in a 7-0 win for Gloucester.
That was certainly not the case Wednesday. The Fishermen had to fight for both goals, and Saugus made several bids to get on the scoreboard.
Gloucester also had to deal with sophomore goalie Juan Lopez, who moved from the midfield into the net earlier in the season, but looked like a natural between the pipes for Saugus.
“He really works his butt off,” Saugus coach Larry Bolduc, who’s in his first year at the helm of the Sachems, said. “In his spare time he’s working with his brother on diving and punting and it’s just crazy.”
Lopez turned away at least 10 shots in the first half, a few of them from point-blank range. But he also had the help of a solid defense in front of him that limited Gloucester’s shots in the second half.
“It’s unbelievable. Even the Gloucester coach said we’re like a 100 percent different team,” Bolduc said. “Everyone’s a different player. It’s incredible. Everybody can make passes and take shots that they weren’t able to make in the beginning of the year, the goalie can make saves he couldn’t make at the beginning of the year. It’s been a complete overhaul, it’s great to see.”
Gloucester got off to a hot start, peppering Lopez with shots. Lopez made a diving save on a shot from Elijah Elliot, and later made a point-blank save on another Elliot shot, kicking the ball out of the box.
The Fishermen got on the board late in the first half. Midfielder Gianluca LoContro found the corner of the net past Lopez’s dive for the 1-0 lead. But Gloucester wasn’t done yet. Joe Kibango picked up a pass and drove to the net, uncontested. Lopez met him far outside the goal and knocked the ball away with a slide.
Early in the second half, Saugus had what may have been its best chance to score. Brian Rivas launched a direct kick that was on goal but hung up for just a bit too long, and the Gloucester defense cleared it out.
Gloucester’s second goal came on an unlucky break for Saugus. Kibango took the ball in on a breakaway and Lopez came out to knock it away, but Jean Uminwe was waiting to knock the rebound into the open net.
“We played a game today of controlling the ball very well, we just had a tough time finishing,” Marnoto said. “In the second half, we just kept at it, trying to spread the ball wide and trying to get some through balls, and that’s how we got our second goal. But (Saugus) worked really hard against us, and played a lot better this time around. They’re coming along, and I told the coach I hope he stays with the program.”
Bolduc credited senior captain Angelo Andrade with playing strong defensively and keeping Gloucester at bay.
“He’s incredible at center back. Nothing gets by him,” Bolduc said. “He can contain any player. He wins balls and finds people open.”
With two games left to play, the Sachems have their eyes on the season finale against Winthrop on Halloween.
“Winthrop is a winnable game for us,” Bolduc said. “We played really well against them, we had a lot of offense. We want to finish off strong to end the year.”
Katie Morrison can be reached at [email protected].