LYNN — Monday’s English girls and boys soccer double-header at Manning Field was a tough one for the Bulldog squads. The English boys fell to Malden, 4-0, in the early tilt. The English girls lost to Everett, 4-1, in the nightcap.
Malden carried a 1-0 lead at halftime and scored three goals in the second half to put the game out of reach. Waldir Yacsavilca scored the game’s first goal on a rebound, placing the Bulldogs in an early 1-0 hole. The rest of the first half turned into a back-and-forth defensive battle where English kept pace with Malden despite a struggling attack.
“For the rest of the half (after Malden’s first goal), it was pretty much an evenly-played game,” English coach Kerry King said. “We had a couple good opportunities. We really didn’t take advantage of them.
“Our guys need to have a knack for the net,” King added, “and they certainly don’t.”
Cherubin Musangu (six saves) saved Jefferson Malachie’s free kick in the opening minutes of the second half.
“He’s a good kid,” King said of Musangu. “He’s a first-year varsity player with not a lot of varsity experience. He has the propensity to make some great saves. He’s a super kid.”
From there, however, the Golden Tornadoes found their rhythm and opened the floodgates. Malachie raced past English’s defense for a one-on-one with Musangu and fired a shot into the back of the net. Mohamed Ayyoub Belatreche scored on a one-timer from 20 yards out with 18:31 to play, bumping Malden’s lead to 3-0. Nour Tafraoui capped the scoring with a header in the closing minutes.
The Bulldogs (4-10-1), out of contention for a state tournament berth, visit Gloucester Wednesday (4).
“We’re looking for our young guys to keep developing and become better soccer players,” King said. “We do have a fairly young team. I have a lot of freshmen and sophomores who are getting significant minutes. We’re pretty much playing for next year.”
In the girls game, both teams faced their share of struggles in a scoreless first half. Things livened up in the second half, when two goals were scored within the first four minutes of the period. Everett’s Macayla Bessler picked up a free ball and ripped a shot into the back of the net for the game’s first goal with 39:26 to play. Melissa Zayas knotted the game at 1-1 three minutes later when she scored on a flawless shot from 25 yards out. Zayas created her own opening and sent the shot past Everett goalie Elizabeth Avelar’s outstretched arms for the goal.
“Melissa’s goal gave her the most goals for a season since I’ve been here,” McNeil said. “It broke Briana Moreno’s record. Melissa can shoot. When she got the ball, they swarmed her and she got frustrated. They’re bumping her and they know she can score. We’ve scored 19 goals, she has 15 of them. She’s really good.”
The Crimson Tide took command from there, closing the game with three unanswered goals. Carolann Cardinale pumped in a the go-ahead goal with 29:00 to play and Ashley Portillo scored back-to-back tallies with 10:35 and 2:59 remaining to finish Everett’s 4-1 win.
“The score was 4-1 but I don’t think it was a 4-1 game,” McNeil said. “It was a 2-1 game late in the second half and they got a couple late goals. We were short players tonight. We had starters hurt during the game but I thought my defense was terrific. In the backline, Mielna Biondi, Brooke Zahine, Dayana Gamboni and Ravyn Rapley played terrific.”
English goalie Pamela Rosales made 12 saves.
“Pamela’s a senior and she’s getting better every game,” McNeil said. “I think she’s getting better and better.”
English (3-11-1) visits Greater Lawrence for a non-conference tilt Tuesday (4).