By Michael Letendre
BERLIN – The Bristol Eastern boys soccer program fell to 1-1 on the season after dropping a tough 4-1 decision to Berlin on Tuesday evening.
The CCC South bout saw the Redcoats (2-0) remain undefeated while the Lancers fell to .500 overall.
The match, contested from Sage Park in Berlin, saw the Kingstreeters fall behind early and simply never caught up despite putting pressure on the home team from the start.
“Berlin possessed the ball and struck quickly,” said Eastern coach Bill Sweet. “Their 1v1 skills broke us down and we were on our heels for much of the first half. Our second half was better, but we’ve got to communicate better and get into positive positions on offense and defense.”
Eastern enjoyed more of the play over the first ten minutes of the match, including three corner kicks, but could not snare any advantage from that early offense.
Berlin’s Joseph Francalangia got Berlin on the scoreboard first.
With nifty moves, beating two players and Lancers’ goalie Peyton Cummings, Francalangia scored 19 minutes into the first half to make it 1-0.
A few moments later, Berlin’s Jake Soellner kicked a free ball in front of the Eastern net as the edge reached 2-0.
And with eight minutes to play over the first forty, Berlin’s Colby Nardelli made it 3-0 after cashing in a corner kick – a score that lasted into the halftime break.
The Kingstreeters got on the board in the second half to make it a two-goal deficit.
About 14 minutes into the second, Eastern’s Connor Policarpio beat three defenders along with Berlin goalie Austin Boninsegna.
Policarpio made a hard drive to the near inside of the net, pumping the ball in to trim the deficit to 3-1.
To end the scoring, Francalangia netted his second goal – once again beating two men and Eastern’s second goalie, Carlos Portillo, late in the game with eight minutes left.
The deficit reached 4-1 by that point of the game which was simply too much to battle back from.
Eastern’s keepers made seven combined saves while Berlin’s Omar Montanez and Boninsegna scooped in a total of four.
Eastern looks to bounce back on Friday against Hall of West Hartford at 6 p.m. from. Alumni Field in Bristol.
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