Bristol. 

 In a Friday night match on Bristol Eastern’s Senior Night, the Lancers (2-8-4) and Lewis Mills (6-5-2)  tied, 1-1. 

 The Lancers honored were 4-year players Lucas Tylicky and Sam LaMar and first-year seniors, Edy Hernandez, Matais Basantes, and Aaron Boateng.

The game was a physical one throughout with stoppages of play, tough one-on-one battles, and three yellow cards.   

Mills jumped to an early lead as Robby Rubbo took a corner kick and hit a hard shot into the Eastern net at 33:48.   Mills continued to attack and use their quick ball movement to put the Lancers on their heels.

As the first half went on, Eastern began to get some attacks into the Spartans’ last third, especially by Leslie Adzo who stretched the Spartans’ defense.   

“Mills was a veteran, strong team that pushed their will early,” said Lancer coach Bill Sweet.  “But all year, we’ve responded to challenges and while we don’t have the wins, we’ve never quit.  Tonight was no exception”

In the second half, Eastern evened the game at the 33:18 mark after Hunter Scott intercepted a ball and sent a pass down the right side to Matt Cabrera.  Cabrera’s defender managed to knock the ball over the end line and that resulted in an Eastern corner kick.   Tylicky hit a low drive across the Mills’ penalty box that a charging Landon Gawel was able to head directly into the Spartans’ net.

Eastern had a few more shots and Mills put pressure on the Lancers’ defense.  Eastern goalie Connor Murtaugh had to make 5 sharp saves in the final twenty minutes to maintain the tie. In all, Murtaugh had 9 saves while Mills goalie Marek Nardi had 5.

Eastern hosts Middletown on Sunday at 1 p.m. and travels to Bristol Central for a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday to wrap up their season.