Lincoln earns tie
The Lincoln boys soccer team battled back to earn a 2-2 tie with East Greenwich in Division II.
LINCOLN – Lincoln coach John D’Aloisio didn’t have much to tell his Lincoln High squad following its 2-2 Division II stalemate with East Greenwich at Ferguson Field on Wednesday night other than, “OK, we were much better in the second half, and I’ll take it.”
His Lions had squandered a 1-0 cushion early on and entered the break trailing 2-1. They did, however, assemble a more consolidated psychological and physical attack over the final 40 minutes to improve to 6-3-2 in league play.
Lincoln outshot its foes, 4-3, in that stanza, and did so for a few reasons.
“We held the ball much longer than we did in the opening half, and we were more patient,” he stated later. “We had more guys focused on their roles, and it made more the difference. I thought we created more chances to win in that half, but we couldn’t convert them.”
Actually, LHS did knock in one, and that came with 24:47 left in regulation. It also came from an awkward position on the field. Stationed deep down the left side, perhaps a step outside the penalty box, senior forward/midfielder Alex Lopez smoked a 19-yard shot over senior keeper Jack Silverman and inside the upper far corner of the cage to seal the tie.
Freshman Tom Corcoran had given the hosts the early lead when he converted a feed from senior David Chatty just 6:03 after the opening pass. Exactly 4:22 later, it looked like the Avengers would knot it after sophomore midfielder Sam Lewis flew down the right side and launched a missile off the right post.
EG finally scored the equalizer with 17:36 elapsed, that after Lewis gained possession of a loose ball, spun around and fired a try at senior netminder Tim Cullen. The latter made the initial save, but it caromed off him and inside the left post.
With only 21 ticks remaining before intermission, sophomore Ethan Fain accepted a pass from Lewis outside the left hashmarks and drilled a high liner over Cullen to snag the 2-1 advantage.
D’Aloisio opted to replace Cullen with fellow senior David Leonardi in the final stanza, and he proved perfect in it, though that’s because his defense played with more aggression. Solid defensive efforts were registered by seniors Noah Furtado and Nick Albanese, not to mention juniors Josh Jahnz and Chris Accardi.
Following Lopez’ pivotal tally, it looked like the Avengers might regain the lead with 18:20 left; that’s when sophomore defender Aydin Kocak rifled a 34-yard direct kick at the right post, but Leonardi hustled over and made the sprawling stop.
Outstanding defense for the visitors came from senior Justin Grenier, Fain, senior Mike McEwen and frosh Carson Paull. Silverman closed with seven saves for EG (5-2-3).