Crimson Tide Soccer Weekly Update

By Joe McConnell

Girls on a roll

After starting off the season with three straight losses, the Everett High School girls soccer team (3-1 in the Greater Boston League, 4-3 overall) won its next four, including last week’s home games at 7 Acres against Revere (3-2) and Lynn English (1-0).

The win against Revere on Sept. 16 was a tight, tension-filled game, according to coach Dom Persuitte. The Tide scored the lone goal in the first half after a back-post run by Connie Paz Hernandez, where Odalis Sandoval crossed the ball to her, before she knocked it home.

The Everett girls dominated the entire half, but still only scored the one goal. Revere, with renewed hope, came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. They scored two goals in five minutes to take the lead, and it looked like they had come back to life after a sluggish start. However, the home team was able to tie the game up with a shot from 20 yards out by Sofia Arana-Quintanilla.

With less than a minute left, Sandoval was blatantly taken out in the penalty box, and as a result a penalty kick was awarded to the Tide. Arana-Quintanilla then stepped up and smashed the ball past the keeper to account for the game-winning goal.

“Every one of my players stepped up and played well,” said Persuitte afterwards. “This win against Revere is a massive boost of motivation for us.”

Lynn English came to town two days later to face the Tide, and this game turned into another nailbiter. This one, however, took nearly 80 minutes before the host team put another one in the win column.

“I have nothing to say about this game, except that Lynn English did a great job, and their goalie kept them in it,” said Persuitte. “We didn’t score until there was just five seconds left in the game, when Odalis Sandoval scored the goal on a direct shot on net. The ball went under a defender’s foot, and the goalie did not react fast enough, before it went into the net.”

After taking on Lynn Classical (Sept. 23) and Somerville (Sept. 25) on the road after press deadline, the Everett girls will begin next week with a game at Medford High School on Tuesday (Sept. 30) at 4:15 p.m. They will then return home to play host to Malden at 7 Acres two days later (Oct. 2) at the same time.

More close calls for the boys

The Crimson Tide boys (1-4-2) are still trying to figure things out in the early going. Their losses could have gone either way, and second-year coach Rodney Landaverde certainly hopes that they reverse the trend, as the calendar flips to a new month next week.

Last week, the Crimson Tide dropped a couple of GBL road matchups to Revere (3-2) on Sept. 16 and Lynn English (3-1), the very next day, before they battled non-league Methuen to a 1-1 tie at Everett Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Against Revere, Landaverde was pleased with the team’s start, and it resulted in a goal by junior Whitney Pereira, who fired off a 25-yard blast that eluded the Patriots’ goaltender.

The lead was able to stand up throughout the first half, and early on in the second half, before Revere took advantage of an Everett penalty to tie up the proceedings. The momentum was shifting, and it resulted in the go-ahead goal by the Patriots.

But the Everett boys were able to regroup, and at that point the game went back and forth. With 12 minutes left on the clock, sophomore Daniel Henriquez got his team’s first real good scoring opportunity in the second half, and capitalize on it after sending a cross from the right wing to senior captain Gabriel Garcia, whose header knotted up the scoreboard, once again.

The game went down to the wire, and it was Revere that was able to connect up top to retake the lead with three minutes to go. They were then able to hang on to secure the victory over their GBL Everett rivals.

There was no time for the Tide to reflect on the close loss. They had to climb back on the bus the very next day for a trip to Lynn in order to go up against Lynn English at Manning Field.

“We got off to a slow start, but did have some scoring chances,” said Landaverde. “However, we managed just one goal after all of that.”

Garcia set up the score on a cross that the Lynn English defense inadvertently deflected into its own goal.

“The second half was somewhat controlled, but the legs began to (tire) that resulted in our passes crumbling, and Lynn English was able to take advantage of it,” said Landaverde. “We continued to attack, but toward the end of the game we gave up a free kick that Lynn English was able to connect on to account for the all-important third goal to seal up the win for them.”

The Tide wrapped up the week with a home game at the Stadium on Saturday against Methuen.

“It was a very intense game, and at times very scrappy,” said Landaverde. “Both teams were aggressive, but our boys were able to hold their own against the Rangers.”

Everett was denied a goal early on in the first half, but it didn’t slow down the home team.

“We started moving the ball much cleaner and sharper in the second half, but on one play we tried to dribble the ball out of our own end, but Methuen scrambled for it, and got a shot off to account for the first goal of the game,” said Landaverde.

That lead lasted only about 10 minutes, when sophomore Jason Santos played a precise through ball to Garcia on the left wing, who was then able to get a shot off to tie up the game.

Throughout the remainder of the second half, the Everett defense tightened up to keep Methuen at bay to earn a point for their teammates in the overall standings.

Landaverde remains confident that a turnaround is coming. “The recent results did not reflect the quality of our play in those games,” he said. “We will find an even better rhythm in future games, and will be much sharper and focused on our principles to improve on past results. I’m proud of the entire team that continues to show up each day to put their best foot forward in order to get better in their own overall games. We can’t wait to see what will come next.”

What’s coming up in the immediate future is another game under the lights at the Stadium Friday night (Sept. 26), when they play host to Somerville starting at 6 p.m. It follows a home game at 7-Acres against Lynn Classical on Sept. 23 after press deadline. Medford then comes to 7 Acres next week to take on Everett on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 4:15 p.m., followed by an away game at Malden’s Pine Banks two days later (Oct. 2) at the same time.