By Michael Letendre  

BRISTOL – The Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern boys soccer teams were in the midst of an entertaining 1-1 stalemate on Sunday afternoon when the Lancers were awarded a corner kick with about four minutes gone in the second half. 

And that play led to the game-winning goal for the Kingstreeters. 

Eastern went to an old bread-and-butter play as Lucas Tylicki blasted a cross into the goal area and Landon Gawel headed the ball by Central keeper Harry Ross for the game-winner – propelling the Lancers to a 2-1 triumph in a CCC South tilt at BCHS. 

Eastern (6-3) kept its collective feet on the gas the entire outing, pressuring up top over the entire 80-minute slate. 

“That’s a potent attack and I think we frustrated them really well,” said Eastern coach Bill Sweet. “We moved the ball at our feet as much as we played it in the air. We did have it at our feet. I wish we played it more at our feet, but we got them frustrated and they couldn’t connect their passes.”  

It was a very physical game, exactly what a city series showdown should be, as both squads had a chance to win the match in the end. 

Central never wavered but after scoring late in the first half, a follow-up score became elusive.  

“I give a lot of credit to the Eastern team in general,” said Central coach Nate Jandreau. “Those guys played hard. They played for each other, and they did everything their coach asked them to do. That’s why I thought they were able to hold on to that win.”  

Both Ross and Eastern keeper Peyton Cummings played tough in their respective nets. 

Ross came out to stop multiple attacks while Cummings (five saves) dipped, dove and ducked – making several big stops while crashing on the turf to preserve the win.  

“Peyton in the goal was excellent,” said Sweet of his keeper.   

Eastern dominated over the first half while the Rams, behind some stellar play from Frank Palma and Rafael Antonio Jr. up front, gave the home team a real chance to steal the game away once Eastern had the lead. 

“We had a couple chances there but Eastern had much more effort in those plays and those scenarios, so they were able to clear the ball when it was bouncing out of the box or the goalie knocks it down and we’re not going after the ball,” said Jandreau.  

“I think that’s why Eastern deserves credit for the win and we played terrible today.”  

And the Lancers got their mission accomplished without generating a goal from the high-scoring Eddie Ansah. 

Central paid extra attention on Ansah but Sweet and assistant coach Bunty Ray moved him all over the field, playing a little defense at the end to take advantage of his vast skillset. 

“They moved him around in the first seven minutes of the game,” said Jandreau of Ansah. “The kid played like three different spots. Again, they did what they wanted Ansah to do. They dropped him back into the midfield and he started to win the ball in the midfield. We didn’t let him run free too much outside of the beginning of the first half, but they really didn’t need him to after that. Once they got the [game-winning] goal, they brought him back and the kid was a rock for them today.”   

Eastern’s defense, led by Rio Fernandez, Jeshua Portillo, speedy Leslie Adzo, Gawel and eventually Ansah, gave the visitors a nice wall in front of Cummings. 
Lancers’ Rocco Barbino and Liam Sanchez-Barreto kept the ball moving throughout first half play and with 8:02 gone in the game, Eastern hit the pay window first. 

Off a long-looped ball by Gawel, Sanchez-Barreto broke away from the defense, steadied and fired in a goal from the left side as the visiting aggression secured a 1-0 push. 

The play went back and forth from there but with 10 minutes before the half, Central started to dominate the ball. 

And with 4:13 left in the first half, Palma tied things up with a tremendous score. 

Antonio flashed in a ball from the left side of the Eastern box to find Palma – kicking in a goal from the right – to tie the match up at 1-1.   

“Palma, he’s a force,” said Sweet. “He’s in the right spot, he puts pressure on us. But I thought we did a good job covering up.”  

The 1-1 deadlock was the score at the half and once the game resumed, the programs were battling again, looking to notch a game-winning goal. 

Central had an early corner kick which was neutralized by the Eastern defense and moments later, the game winning goal came and went. 

Tylicki kicked it in from the left side via the corner kick and the cross went deep to Gawel. 

His header led to his first ever goal – propelling Eastern to a 2-1 edge.  

“Coach Ray put that play in,” said Sweet of the game-winning goal. “We’ve used that play for many years.”  

Cummings took several chances out of the box to snare the ball away and off a play when the keeper was once out of position, sophomore Ledio Thanasi made a big stop to keep the game-tying score from scoring midway through the second stanza. 

Ansah, now playing in the back row, slowed Palma and the offense a bit while Sanchez-Barreto and Rocco kept the pressure on up top.  

“The guys listened,” said Sweet. “We were able to play different guys in different spots. We pulled Eddie Ansah back. He’s a forward ]and] he likes to score goals. But we needed somebody to be able to get the balls and cover up from behind. And he won a lot of balls, and he frustrated a lot of people.”  

“Rocco and Liam up front were really sharp I thought.”  

Defensively for Central, the combination of Nate Pirog, Mason Allan, Riley Caudill, and Mark Palamar stopped additional chances but on the flip side, Antonio and Palma were stopped by the defense.   

“I think if we had played smarter, we probably could have had more chances from other guys on the field because they did a really good job just marking out Frank and Rafael,” said Jandreau. “If those guys had moved around and other guys took advantage of some opportunities and we were smart enough to find that, then I think we could have got some better chances on goal because Frank’s going to draw a lot of eyes.”  

“He’s got a ton of goals. He got one today but as a team, you’ve got to kind of recognize what the other team is doing and then be smart enough to adjust and I don’t think we made the right adjustments and that’s on me partially.”   

There was tremendous back and forth play over the final twenty but neither team could find any additional scores. 

But Central, eventually sending down Ross to put another big body in the Eastern goal area, ran out of time as the Lancers moved to 6-3 with a huge 2-1 victory over the Rams.  

“They did push up guys in the end,” said Sweet of Central. “We were able to take the ball, move the ball, and I’m really pleased.”  

Bristol Eastern Boys Soccer – City Series Bout 

BRISTOL EASTERN 2, BRISTOL CENTRAL 1 

from the turf field at BCHS  

Scoring                       1 2 – F   

Bristol Eastern (6-3)     1 1 – 2   

Bristol Central (4-5)    1 0 – 1  

Individual Scoring – First Half  

– Liam Sanchez-Barreto (Bristol Eastern), 8:09   

– Frank Palma (Bristol Central) from Rafael Antonio Jr, 35:47 

Individual Scoring – Second Half   

– Landon Gawel (Bristol Eastern), from Lucas Tylicki, 44:02   

Shots: Bristol Eastern 10; Bristol Central 9. 

Saves: Peyton Cummings (Bristol Eastern), 5; Harry Ross (Bristol Central) 3. 

Corner Kicks: Bristol Eastern 4; Bristol Central 2. 

Records: Bristol Central 4-5 overall; Bristol Eastern 6-3.