The Enterprise of Brockton, Mass.
www.enterprisenews.com
For some high school teams, their home field suits their style of play.
That's the case with the Brockton boys soccer team and the turf at Marciano Stadium.
The Boxers used their team speed for a 4-0 win over visiting Bridgewater-Raynham Thursday night.
In Brockton's season opener, the Boxers edged the Trojans, 2-1, on the Trojans' grass field.
"They're a good squad, but on a different field, they give us a lot of trouble," Brockton coach Rick Robens said of the Trojans.
"If we want to play the ball on the ground, it (the turf) helps us a little bit more. But if you're playing on a raggedy field, the ball is all over the place."
B-R coach Jon Levesque knew about Brockton's speed and tried to slow down the Boxers with a different strategy.
"We tried, tactically, to make them put the ball in the air more," Levesque said. "We're pretty big in the back and we thought that might work.
"They play the ball on the ground and they're quick to it. It's a footrace at that point and their going to win a lot of footraces out there."
The Boxers (6-2) kept the ball on the turf and dominated possession, allowing their speedy forwards to set up quality scoring chances.
The Trojans (3-1-2) threatened first when Drew Larson sent a long pass intended for John Madden. The ball pulled Brockton goalie Damice Ricoldson out of position, but it rolled harmlessly past the end line.
The game stayed scoreless until Brockton sophomore forward Moises Alves scored 16 minutes into the first half.
Alves stopped the ball on the left end line and, without any defensive pressure, put a sharp-angled past goalie Tyler Waterman.
Classmate Edmilson Timas recorded the assist.
"They are both talented, play quick and they have some nice touches," Robens said of the sophomore duo.
In the final minutes of the half, Alves threatened again, unleashing a blast from the middle of the field, but Waterman made the save diving to his left.
The stop kept the deficit to just a goal heading into the half. Brockton outshot B-R, 7-2, at the half.
The Boxers added another goal 10 minutes into the second half. Junior Jorge Corraliza took a shot from 25 yards out and placed it into the top left corner. Michael Gomes picked up the assist.
Four minutes later, Brockton found the back of the net again.
On a throw-in by Greg Dean, defender Peter Veiga played up in the box and put a shot into the bottom left corner.
Veiga joined the attack throughout the game, but picked his times carefully.
"I have to be smart with it, Veiga explained, "either to go up at times or stay back, so they don't run down the field on a counterattack."
The Boxers' final goal came from senior Carlos Andrade, who put home a rebound.
The Trojans set up a few scoring chances later in the game, but the Brockton defense, backed by Veiga, Joseph Wegener and Chinu Yang, held strong.
"We just tried to push some kids up through the middle," Levesque said. "I think our work rate was a little bit better.
"They knew they had to go for it. Our defense played OK. We just made some mistakes"
One negative for Brockton was that it lost its leading scorer and captain, Jordan Branco, to a strained medial collateral ligament (MCL).
"We'll see," Robens said. "But something like that might be difficult to come back from real soon."
The Boxers need three wins to clinch a spot in the Div. 1 South Sectional Tournament.
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