Fernandes rescues NS
Lions left frustrated after 80th-minute goal
NORTH SMITHFIELD — After the North Smithfield boys soccer team scored in the 80th minute against his squad for the second straight season to earn a 1-1 tie Friday night, Lincoln coach John D’Aloisio found a positive.
“We’re getting better. We’re definitely getting better,” D’Aloisio said. “The kids are disappointed they tied, which is a big step for this team. Now, hopefully they can put some wins together – and I think they can. Now is the time for us to start winning. Fortunately, you learn from the losses and we’ve had a lot of learning because we’ve lost five games.”
Lincoln (2-5-3 Division II) was just one minute away from its second victory in three days when North Smithfield’s Michael Fernandes found a way to earn a home point.
After Fernandes’ initial effort to get the ball to a teammate in the box failed, he opted to take a speculative shot with his weaker foot.
“I tried to head the ball to Kyle (Alves), but the defenders cleared it,” Fernandes said. “I realized there wasn’t much time left, so I just took a shot to see what would happen. It was a good feeling when it went in. I don’t use my left foot a lot, but I did that time and it paid off.”
“I’m definitely happy with the point,” North Smithfield coach Eric Korytkowski said. ‘This is definitely the worst game we’ve put together from start to finish. {Lincoln) looked like they wanted it more. You can’t teach that. Some nights you come out and you just don’t have that fire. We had it the last two minutes, but 99 percent of the time that’s too late.”
North Smithfield (3-1-4 Division II) has now gone six straight games without a loss, but three of those contests were ties. The Northmen are fighting for a home quarterfinal with defense, as senior Adam Blakemore has now allowed just two goals during the unbeaten run.
Friday’s goal frustrated Korytkowski because it came just two minutes into the second half. Blakemore rushed off of his line to try and catch a long throw in, but her ran into a couple of players and the ball bounced to the top of the box and right to the feet of sophomore midfielder Armen Emdjian.
Emdjian spotted Blakemore out of position and curled a shot into the opposite side of the goal to give the visitors a lead they worked hard for in the opening 40 minutes.
“It was the most frustrating thing because at halftime we talked about them not beating us to balls,” Korytkowski said. “I thought that was the only difference in the first half was them being more aggressive and winning 50-50 balls. We came out flatter than I’ve ever seen us come out.”
If the Lions want to return to the playoffs they will have to take down at least one team battling for a home quarterfinal. The Lions, who went on a nice run at the end of last season, play Mount St. Charles Tuesday and Wheeler Thursday before playing struggling West Warwick and Toll Gate.
“They scored a nice goal, but at some point you have to give up a goal like that and you score two,” D’Aloisio said. “What kind of team do we have? There’s only three seniors. We’re still a young team, but that’s not an excuse. They’re learning and hopefully we can see that we’re starting to get better.”
The Northmen, who earned a win last season at Lincoln on a Jacob Palmer header in the 80th minute, avoided their second defeat of the season thanks to Fernandes.
The sophomore nearly created the gametying goal in the 58th minute when his 25-yard free kick bounced awkwardly in front of goalie David Leonardi, but no Northmen player was on hand for the rebound.
Lincoln created the more dangerous opportunities over the final 20 minutes before Fernandes secured the point.
“I wanted to win really bad and we were playing really good at the end, but to get a point is good,” Fernandes said.
Follow Branden Mello on Twitter @Branden_Mello