The Londonderry High boys’ soccer squad’s 2-0 Mack Plaque victory over the Pinkerton Academy Astros on Saturday, Sept. 24 left the team with plenty of reasons to feel good about themselves.
That victory stretched the Lancers’ undefeated streak to four games (3-0-1) and made the LHS booters a strong 5-2-1 overall on the 2016 campaign. But in the immediate aftermath of that major success, the Lancers suffered back to back home losses to Salem and Timberlane of Plaistow last week to slip to 5-4-1 in tough Division I.
In the 4-1 defeat at the hands of the 4-4 Salem High Blue Devils at LHS on Tuesday, Sept. 27, the visitors potted their first three goals in the first 25 minutes of play to race out to a commanding lead. But Londonderry grabbed a handful of the momentum in the 37th minute of play when Zack Deleo scored.
However, the Blue Devils potted their fourth tally seven minutes into the second half to reach what would be the final score of 4-1.
“How we can play with so much passion on Saturday and so little today is troubling,” said coach Todd Ellis. “I don’t care who you play, you can’t give up two goals in the first 10 minutes and then another to start the second in the first seven minutes. The only way to make up for today’s loss is to put forth a good effort against one of the better teams, Timberlane, this Friday.”
Ellis ended up being far happier with his charges’ performance in that match against 10-1 Timberlane, but the Plaistow-based crew netted two unanswered goals in the first half and ended up winning by a 2-1 score.
The Owls scored both of their markers in the final five minutes of the first half, and Londonderry’s lone goal was netted by Luke Cava in the 47th minute of play. Lancer goalie Cam Wheeler turned aside five shots in the contest.
“We played much better today than on Tuesday,” said Ellis. “The effort was there. Unfortunately we gave up a couple of late goals in the first half. We did what we wanted to and cut the deficit in half in the first 10 minutes of the second half, we just couldn’t get the equalizer. I thought it was a well-played game on both sides.”
Caption: Joshua Ryan and the Lancer soccer crew had something of a letdown last week, suffering two defeats.