LYNN — The Classical boys soccer team came to play in Wednesday night’s Lynn City Tournament opening round, cruising to a 7-0 win over St. Mary’s at Manning Field.
“These guys worked so hard in the offseason,” Classical coach Eric Moreno said. “We’ve been working on agility and that hard work showed. They came in hungry this year because of the success last year. It’s been a different energy.”
Brian Morales led the offense with two goals while Diogo Prado Malmonge, Gabriel Sarmento, Fernando Gomez Godinez, Jenner Robles Sandoval and Mortada Al-Shiblaw each added one.
“These guys commit to everything,” Moreno said. “When we work in training we work on strength and power in the legs. That’s what we saw (Wednesday).”
Things fell apart for the Spartans, who didn’t manage a shot on net in the second half.
“We haven’t had much time preparing for this year,” Spartans coach Mike D’Agostino said. “We’re putting together a new team, we’ve been working on putting things together and it just didn’t work.
“We had a few injuries that have hurt us,” D’Agostino said. “Kevin Perez was hurt, Josh Chez another starter and Aidan Sullivan. A lot of guys hurt, a lot of young kids starting. I can’t say we’re young but it’s a new team. It’s a work in progress. We’re just trying to keep things positive. It’s going to work it’s just going to take some time.”
After some brief back and forth in the first 10 minutes, the Rams started to dominate possession. Alexander Ixlaj Tello ripped a nice shot that was saved by Spartans goalie Matt Gallego but Prado Malmonge cleaned up a loose rebound to put Classical ahead 1-0.
From there the Rams gave the St. Mary’s defense no room to breathe. Morales scored a pair of goals on two free kicks midway through the first half. The first sailed 30 yards and found the back of the net while the second slipped passed the fingers of Gallego.
With just over five minutes to go in the half, Classical added another goal. Sarmento found some room to work in the box and ripped a shot that found the back of the net to stretch the Rams’ lead to 4-0.
The Rams didn’t let up in the second half. Gomez Godinez started the half with a great shot from the right side and Robles Sandoval added another goal just over a minute later to give the Rams a 6-0 lead.
From there, Classical kept the pressure on and ate away the clock. Al-Shiblawi added a late goal for the Rams to cap the 7-0 win.
“We just look forward to the next game,” Moreno said. “It’s all about getting to the final and when you can do it in this way it builds confidence. These guys just didn’t let up and we’re going to bring this same momentum into Saturday.”
The Rams (1-0) move on to the championship game where they’ll take on Tech Saturday (3) for the second year in a row. Eric Moreno will get another chance to coach against his father, Eric Moreno, Sr.
“It’s two great coaches,” Classical’s Moreno said. “We coach similar systems and similar philosophies and it seems to be working right now. And it’s been awesome. It’s going to be fun and we’ll see what happens.”
St. Mary’s (0-1) takes on English in the consolation game (10:45).