LYNN — The Lynn Classical boys soccer team took another step forward Thursday, but it still wasn’t enough to get its first win in the Greater Boston League.
On a rainy day where most local games were canceled, the Rams lost a heartbreaker at Manning field, falling 3-2 to visiting Malden. Despite the loss there were plenty of positives for coach Eric Moreno Jr. and company.
“Honestly, I recognize my team now,” Moreno said. “We got it together. Malden is a top team in the GBL and I honestly felt for most of the game we did dominate. We played the style that I’ve been waiting for. We’re finally clicking. There’s going to be a lot of positive going forward.”
Unfortunately for the Rams most of the bounces on the day just didn’t go their way. Classical let up a pair of goals on set pieces before an own-goal in the final minutes of play sealed the deal for Malden.
“We gave up goals on a goal-kick mistake, a corner kick mistake and an own-goal, in a rainy game,” Moreno said. “Those things do happen, but I felt like our two goals we really had to earn them and fought for them. I think we’re here and we’ll be OK.”
Elzon Halimi found the back of the net twice for the Rams. The sophomore scored on a penalty kick in the first half and again on a perfect laser of a shot on a free kick in the second.
“With Elzon, he’s a great player and he’s a set piece specialist,” Moreno said. “So when you put a set piece in front of him, it’s something we haven’t had in the past where we have someone who can come in when you have a free kick or penalty kick and give us a chance. That’s where most of his goals have come from. We have to be really happy about that.”
An early turnover in the Classical box let Malden take the lead in the first four minutes. Nicolas Ticas Rodas stole the ball and scored to put Malden ahead 1-0.
The Rams had plenty of close calls before evening things up. Halimi beat Malden’s goalkeeper to a ball out front and tipped it over to Rigoberto Gomez Gomez who scored. However, during the play the goalie was given a yellow card for his hard slide tackle on Halimi, negating Gomez Gomez’s goal afterwards but giving Halimi a chance on a penalty kick. The sophomore didn’t disappoint with a shot that found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
The early part of the second half belonged to Classical goalkeeper Isaiah Diaz. The junior made save after save to keep things tied heading into the final 10 minutes.
And those final 10 minutes were wild. Malden’s Aman Chhetri started things off, scoring on a free kick from the top of the box that ricocheted past Diaz to put Malden back up 2-1.
Halimi answered with just over three minutes to play, scoring on a perfectly placed free kick that slipped right into the top left corner of the Malden net.
But Malden came right back down again and Esteban Ventura sent a crossing pass across the box that bounced right off a Classical defender into the net to put Malden back up 3-2.
The Rams went out swinging, with a nice free kick from Jair Alvarez landing square in front of the Malden net in the final seconds but Classical couldn’t get a foot on it.
“Malden is an extremely tough team, we have battles with them all the time,” Moreno said. “It was nothing different. I think the boys right now are getting better every single day. We have one senior in that starting 11 and I’m really hopeful for the future for these boys. They showed when they play well and they play together they can do good things.”
Classical (1-5) is still looking for its first GBL win and there would be no sweeter time to get over the hump then against Lynn rival English Tuesday (5).
“(Tuesday) will be a good time and then we’ll see what we can do in the (GBL) playoffs,” Moreno said. “If this team can continue to gel we should put up a fight.”