By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The second game of a three-contest homestand for the Bristol Eastern boys soccer program last week saw the locals drop a tough 4-1 decision to Farmington on Tuesday.

The showdown, played from Alumni Field in Bristol, saw the River Hawks move to 3-0-1 overall while the Kingstreeters fell to 1-3.

However, it was a good showing against one of the state’s best despite the setback.

Farmington was led by Danny Simeone and Isaac Coello with two goals apiece as the River Hawks flipped ahead early. 

Just 7:58 into the match, Farmington’s Kit Scudder headed a corner kick over to Simeone who drilled home his first goal that made it a 1-0 match.   

However, the Eastern defense held for the remainder of the first forty as Farmington was clinging to a 1-0 push.

The Lancers responded early in the second tilt to tie things up at 1-1.

Eastern’s Landon Gawl found Connor Policarpio on the left side of Farmington’s penalty area.  

Policarpio then cut inside and sent a ball over the head of Farmington’s goalie Dante Fierro to knot the score at 1-1.   

However, the visitors posted the go-ahead and insurances goals to salt the event away.

Simeone hit a hard shot to the far side of the Lancers’ goal just two minutes later as the River Hawks went in front 2-1.

At the ten minute mark, Eastern had a Rocco Barbino goal called back that would have tied the score again.

And with 7:45 left, Coello scored from a free kick that he re-directed into the goal for a 3-1 Farmington advantage.   

To ice the event, Coello scored once more with sixteen seconds left to play as Farmington won 4-1. 

Fierro made four saves for the visiting aggression while Eastern’s Peyton Cummings tallied nine over a very good effort.

“Farmington enjoyed a lot of the possession, but we were able to frustrate them around our penalty area for much of the game” said Eastern coach Bill Sweet. “We’ve gotten better at communicating with each other and now we have to improve our passing, especially to feet. I didn’t like the score, but I liked our effort against a top-ten Class LL team, the reigning state champions.”

Eastern breaks three game losing streak with ‘W’ against Meriden foe

However, it was back to the pay window on Thursday when the Lancers posted its first shutout of the campaign over a slick 5-0 triumph against Platt in Bristol.

The Kingstreeters moved to 2-3 overall while Platt fell to 1-4.

The CCC South confrontation saw the duo of Eddie Ansah (two goals, assist) and Policarpio (one goal, two assists) play extremely well for the victors.

Ansah notched both his scores over first half play.

His first score came as he collected a Policarpio shot that rebounded to him and knocked the scraps home at the 24:40 of the half.

And with 17:28 to play over the first forty, Policarpio found Ansah all alone as he cut to goal.

He canned a quick shot past a diving Platt goalie, Gabriel Dushi, as the home team led 2-0.

“We stifled Platt’s attack at midfield and kept our passes on the ground,” said Sweet. “Players moved off the ball and supported each other as we got our offense rolling.”

The Lancers’ first goal of the second half came early as Cody Greger cut to the left, took an Ansah pass, and hit a drive to the upper corner of the net just two minutes in for a 3-0 cushion.  

Then with 28:37 to play, Rio Fernandez sent a ball to Policarpio driving down the middle and Policarpio knocked it home for the 4-0 edge.   

Finally, Justin Sanchez closed out the scoring with less than a minute to go as he beat two defenders and slotted a goal into the far left side of the net as Eastern won 5-0.

Dushi made 11 tough saves for Platt while Lancers’ Peyton Cummings and Carlos Portillo each tallied a save.   

Next on the docket, Eastern hits the road on Tuesday for a CCC South match-up against Maloney.

Game time is at 6 p.m. from Falcon Field.

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