NDCL staves off host Benedictine

Sam Myers scored a pair of second-half goals, the latter of which came in handy for Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin as it fended off host Benedictine, 3-2, on Oct. 12.

The Lions (7-7-2) generated seven shots on target and seven corners after halftime, but Coach Marco DiFranco would have preferred a smoother route to the result.

“I thought offensively, that was probably our best game where we were able to knock the ball and keep the ball and swing it,” DiFranco said. “I thought (freshman midfielder) Zach DeRespiris had a great game in the middle just controlling everything.

“That first half, I got on our defense a little bit. They were kind of all out of whack. But they figured it out. I was proud of them. They stepped up and figured it out in the second half and got much better.”

Locked in a 1-1 match in the 48th minute, NDCL’s Scott Randelson served a corner into the middle of the box, and Myers got a touch. Then in the 52nd, the junior striker did nicely opting for placement and not power with a slick side-foot effort for his sixth goal of the fall to open a 3-1 lead.

“I just saw the ball coming in from Scott (on the corner), and I kind of saw Sean (Kless) running in late,” Myers said. “But I was kind of able to get the deflection in. (On the second goal,) I was seeing two

Video interview with NDCL’s Sean Kless, Chris Lillstrung’s postmatch analysis and full audio interviews with NDCL coach Marco DiFranco, NDCL’s Sam Myers and Benedictine coach Miguel Cora. NEWS-HERALD.COM.

people come on me from the left, so I obviously couldn’t go there. I decided to flick it to the right.

“Overall, I think we played as a team. It was great to get that last win of the season.”

The Bengals (12-2-1) embarked on a dream start in the fifth minute when Nahun Figueroa played a first touch into space and slotted a strike near post for his 21st goal of 2017. Charlie Joyce equalized for NDCL in the 23rd before Myers’ brace. Anthony Cora gave Benedictine a lifeline in the 64th with a lovely trap and volley, but the Bengals were wasteful on set pieces late.

“We’re very athletic,” Bengals coach Miguel Cora said. “Our technical play wasn’t there in the middle for the second half so we could work the ball from side to side so we could spring our big forward (Figueroa) in there.

“A hard-fought match. My guys played with a lot of heart.”

Coming soon

For more from this match, check back in the coming days on News-Herald.com and in our print edition.