A lopsided victory over Merrimack and an overtime defeat of rival Pinkerton Academy in Mack Plaque play last week left the Londonderry High boys’ soccer squad with a 5-1-1 record.
The Lancer guys thumped the 5-2-1 Merrimack High Tomahawks – who began their season with a five-game winning streak – by a 6-0 tally in Londonderry on Tuesday, Sept. 22.
Nalen Iarribino scored three goals to lead the Lancer charge, with Nick Vanini, Griffin Cowles, and Jayden West each tallying once. Elijah Ellis assisted on two of the goals, and Tarik Dallahi, Josh Rutina, and Riley Treanor each dished out one helper.
Iarribino scored twice in the first half and Vanini and Cowles each bagged one marker during those first 40 minutes as the host Lancers carried a commanding 4-0 lead to halftime.
LHS goalies Tim McEachern and Cam Wheeler combined for five saves in their squad’s third shutout of the campaign.
“I thought we played with much more intensity today, and finished well,” said coach Todd Ellis. “We did a great job keeping the pressure on them.”
Then on Saturday, Sept. 26 in Derry, the Lancers faced off against a surging Pinkerton team that had won three of its most recent matches after starting the 2015 campaign with an 0-3-1 record.
The Lancers wound up collecting a 2-1 win in the Mack battle, but it took two overtimes to have that happen and it was anything but easy.
The host Astros netted the game’s first goal just 1:08 in and carried their 1-0 lead through halftime, having put five shots on the Londonderry net to the Lancers’ one shot on net by the break.
But the visitors knotted the score at 1-1 with 4:31 left in regulation time when
Max Hastings was tripped up by a Pinkerton defender in the box, and Hastings potted the penalty kick he was subsequently granted.
Lancer Tom Stanley then sent his team and their fans into celebration mode four minutes into the second overtime by banging a left-footed shot into the upper-right corner of the Pinkerton cage.
“I thought we played well despite giving up an early goal,” said Ellis. “The players continued to battle under tournament-like conditions and eventually got the win. Pinkerton was tougher then their record shows. They battled us the whole game.”
Lancer goalie McEachern made eight saves his contribution to the win.