By Michael Letendre
MERIDEN – After shutting out Platt last Thursday, the boys soccer program over at Bristol Eastern went for a Meriden sweep on Tuesday – battling Maloney in a CCC South entanglement from Falcon Field.
The Kingstreeters tallied single goals over both periods against the Spartans as the Lancers came away with a big 2-0 victory to get back to .500 (3-3 overall).
Eastern, on a two-match winning streak, performed well all-around while Maloney fell to 2-4 overall.
Eastern’s offensive standouts Eddie Ansah and Connor Policarpio each plunked in a goal to spur the victors.
The Bristol program is just one victory away from equaling last season’s win total, showing drastic improvement from season to season.
The Lancers went 4-11-1 in 2021.
Policarpio, notching the squad’s first score of the day, tallied his team-leading fifth goal of the campaign over first half play.
Maloney controlled the first ten minutes of the match, but the Lancers brought balls to their feet and began finding open, moving men.
For most of the first half, Eastern was near or over half field attacking Spartan territory.
And that persistence eventually paid off just before intermission.
With 7:58 remaining over the first forty, Ansah directed a clever pass to Policarpio going to goal.
Policarpio then sliced through two Maloney defenders and beat Spartan goalie Aiden Valerie (nine saves) with a hard shot, making it a 1-0 contest.
“Once we began to win 50-50 balls and [went to] our midfielders Ty Borry, Liam Sanchez-Barreto, and Cody Greger, our game picked up,” said Eastern coach Bill Sweet. “Valerie made some nice saves and some of our shots went wide of the goal, but we were knocking on the door.”
The Spartans opened the second half in a more direct and aggressive style which did not allow the Lancers as much ball control as they enjoyed over the opening half.
“Our backs had more pressure, but kept the Spartans, for the most part, out of the penalty area,” said Sweet. “Sam LaMar, Connor Cyr, Jeshua Portillo, Rio Fernandez, and Landon Gawl were steady in limiting Maloney’s shots,”
Eastern keeper, Peyton Cummings (eight saves), helped keep the shutout intact with two excellent saves when the ball found a crowd of Maloney players deep into the second half.
The Lancers regained more of the play over the last twenty minutes and were rewarded with 18:57 remaining.
Gawl sent a ball through Maloney defenders to Ansah who was already in motion.
After beating his man, Ansah hit a sharp ground shot that went in just off the left side of the Spartan net as the visiting aggression scooped up a 2-0 cushion.
Following the goal, Eastern began applying more pressure offensively.
Over the last seven minutes, the Lancers just missed out on three goal scoring opportunities.
One attempt went high, Evan Prince’s shot just went wide, and a blast by Rocco Barbino was snared by Valerie.
In the end, the Kingstreeters got to the pay window via the 2-0 triumph.
Eastern is now home for three straight matches, starting with Windsor on Friday at 3:45 p.m.
From there, New Britain comes to town on Monday (6 p.m.) and then – in a special Saturday challenge – Eastern tangles with Bristol Central.
That crosstown CCC South confrontation commences at 5:30 p.m. from Alumni Field.
BRISTOL EASTERN BOYS SOCCER – CCC South Action
BRISTOL EASTERN 2, MALONEY 0
from Falcon Field, Meriden
Scoring 1 2 – F
Bristol Eastern 1 1 – 2
Maloney 0 0 – 0
Halftime Bristol Eastern led 1-0
Goals – First Half
33rd minute – Connor Policarpio (Bristol Eastern), Eddie Ansah assist
Goals – Second Half
62nd minute – Eddie Ansah (Bristol Eastern), Landon Gawl assist
Saves: Peyton Cummings (Bristol Eastern) 8; Aiden Valerie (Maloney) 9.
Records: Bristol Eastern 3-3 overall; Maloney 2-4
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