Sophomore midfielder Evan Pearson came off the bench to score in the 70th minute, lifting the Trinity boys’ soccer team past city rival Derryfield, 1-0, Friday afternoon at Derryfield Park.
The win was the seventh straight for Trinity, which has notched shutouts in four of their last six games.
Trinity (11-3-0) dominated much of the match against a game Derryfield squad playing without three starters due to illness. The Pioneers threw everything they had at Cougars’ keeper Logan Goldberg (17 saves), only to be stymied time and again.
The breakthrough came with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation. Forward Nate Shipman made a beautiful crossing pass to Pearson, alone at the top of the box. Pearson drew the ball to his right foot and skittered a hard shot along the ground to Goldberg’s right. The keeper dove to the ground and was able to deflect the shot with his hand, but ,not enough to keep it from trickling into the corner of the net.
“We had a lot of trouble converting in the final third (of the field) but Evan went out there and found a way to score,” said Trinity Coach Phil Tuttle. “It’s good to win a rivalry game on Homecoming weekend against a team like Derryfield. I know they’ve struggled a little this year but it’s always a tough game against them.”
Derryfield (4-9-0) had trouble generating any type of an offense against Trinity keeper Samuel Reine (5 saves). As the game progressed, Trinity seized control of the midfield area and were able to dictate pace of play.
But for much of the game, the Derryfield defense stood tall, clogged the middle and kept the Pioneers from getting quality scoring bids. Dugan Brewer-Little, Fernando Sandoval and Evan Cote each had strong games in front of Goldberg.
Playing with just a 12-man rotation, Derryfield began to show signs of fatigue in the second half and the quality of Trinity’s scoring chances improved dramatically.
“I’m not going to make excuses but we were without three starters and i was using just one sub the whole game,” said Derryfield Coach Jeffrey Cousineau. “But I thought we played really well. We played them hard and battled hard. In the second half, they started sending more longer balls and we had trouble controlling that.”
Goldberg made big saves early in the second half on strong bids by Eamon LaPalme and Quinn Booth. Later, LaPalme nearly scored with a headder off a great crossing pass by Connor Bosworth, only to be stopped again by Goldberg.
Derryfield’s best scoring opportunity came late in the first half. Midfielder Chili Cabot made a great run down the right side and centered to senior forward Kevin Adie, who put a good foot on the ball but watched it just barely sail over the crossbar.
