Every competitive coach wants to win, there’s no doubt about it.
Sometimes, however, a tie can be very satisfying for a soccer coach. Bristol Eastern boys soccer and head coach Bill Sweet experienced that feeling on Monday night when they came away from their match against Wethersfield at home with a scoreless deadlock.
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| Bristol Eastern talks it over at halftime on Monday night. |
The teams played 90 minutes, including two, five-minute mandatory overtime periods, and neither team could break through.
The Lancers entered the match at 2-1, but were coming off of a disappointing 1-0 loss at New Britain. On the other side were the Eagles, who came in with a 3-0 record and hadn’t been scored upon while tallying 10 goals of their own.
On paper, it looked like a Wethersfield win. Instead, Eastern outwilled its opponent, and if it wasn’t for an incredible save by Eagle senior keeper Jimmy Slaton on a Mitch Roy header with 1:15 left in the second half, the Lancers would have been celebrating a 1-0 victory.
“Nobody has scored on them, but we had a chance to,” Sweet said. “To be honest with you, I thought we were the better team in the second half and in overtime. In the first half, they had the better of it.”
Senior captain and defender Darin Mar was tasked with shutting down junior Lukas Szymecki, and he did so, with help from his teammate at times.
“I thought we negated Lukas up front,” Sweet said. “Darin was just outstanding.”
A few other players in particular stood out for Sweet. One was the senior midfielder Roy, who put pressure on Wethersfield’s defense with some strong runs.
“He’s come on, he had a good game against New Britain the other day,” Sweet said.
Another was senior Jared Rokosa, a captain and midfielder/forward.
“He came back to the ball, won the ball and distributed it,” Sweet said.
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| Bristol Eastern’s Jeremy Mosieur (26), Joey Lombardi (8) and Shane Caggiano (6) create a wall on a direct kick attempt by Wethersfield. |
When junior Gian Constantiello left with an injury, Rokosa switched back to sweeper, where he played last year. Rokosa was up to the challenge.
Tom Tefoe, just a sophomore, has been progressing in goal.
“Tommy did just enough in the goal,” Sweet said. “He’s a sophomore, he’s coming along.”
Sweet said he played about 20 guys, including some younger players.
Don’t be deceived, Sweet wanted a win on Monday.
“I thought we should have won it in the second half or overtime,” Sweet said he told his team.
Sweet, however, was pleased about the effort from his team.
“We got good play from everybody,” Sweet said.
Eastern stands at 2-1-1 after the tie against Wethersfield. The Lancers play Hall on Friday at 3:45 p.m. at the Bristol Soccer Club on Emmett Street.
