MANCHESTER, NH — A talented soccer team can generate a number of scoring chances during the course of a match.
A winning soccer team turns those opportunities into goals.
The inability to convert scoring opportunities continued to haunt Memorial High, Tuesday night, in a 2-0 loss to visiting Londonderry.
With the loss, the Crusaders dropped to 3-4-4 on the season. The team is averaging just 1.4 goals per game and has been shut out five times.
”We’re just not scoring enough goals,” said Memorial Head Coach Jerold White. “Not to take anything away from Londonderry. They’re a good team and they outplayed us. But the game was back and forth all night. We just didn’t finish our chances.”
Londonderry (7-2-2) grabbed the early lead, when junior Ryan Pasternak converted a feed from freshman Andre Sandu in the 17th minute.
Memorial responded well, taking the attack to Londonderry. Javier Alvarenga and Frank Tessier generated scoring bids but were denied by Lancer keeper Collin Phillicrantz (8 saves).
The second half featured even more scoring chances for Memorial, as the hosts controlled much of the midfield play and drew several fouls. In fact, Memorial enjoyed five direct kicks in the attack zone, along with a pair of corner kicks, but were unable to beat Philicrantz.
The best chances of the half were created by junior Dylan Merchant and senior Yahir Tinajero. Merchant made a strong run down the left wing before trying to beat Philicrantz to the short side.
Tinajero created a scoring chance with a spectacular individual effort in the right corner. He dribbled through and around a Londonderry defender, then curled a perfect cross in front of the Londonderry goal.
But Phillicrantz had a clear view and a clear path to dive forward and punch the ball away.
“We’ve had some injuries and that’s hurt our depth,” said White. “We had a lot of guys playing all 80 minutes, so we had some tired legs out there.”
Londonderry didn’t have many scoring bids in the second half, but the Lancers didn’t need many chances to extend their lead.
In the 45th minute, Lancers’ Senior captain Koi Totten corralled a pass about 30 yards in front of the Memorial net. Totten turned and immediately spotted a seam left unmarked.
Totten broke in alone on Memorial keeper Brayden Yianakopoulos (5 saves). The senior made the initial save but the ball pounced past. Totten followed his shot and easily knocked home the rebound to make it 2-0.
With five games remaining in the regular season, Memorial is still in decent shape in terms of a playoff berth. But the Crusaders need to start stringing some wins together.
That road will begin Thursday, 6 pm on the road at Spaulding.