Southeast Conference soccer action is in full swing this week. On Tuesday, Brockton and Bridgewater-Raynham squared off, as did Durfee and Dartmouth. In both cases, all school’s teams came away with splits.
In the Dartmouth and Durfee match-ups, the Durfee boys posted a 2-0 victory, while the Dartmouth girls were able to squeeze out a 1-0 win in their hard-fought battle with the Hilltoppers. The Bridgewater-Raynham girls posted a 2-1 win over their Brockton counterparts, while the Brockton boys were simply too much for the the Trojans, posting a dominating 11-1 victory.
In the Dartmouth-Durfee boys match-up, it was a case of not being able to finish for the Indians. Dartmouth outshot the Hilltoppers 6-1 in the first half but the game remained scoreless at the break. Early in the second half, Durfee was awarded a penalty kick and Landon Medeiros made good on the bid, giving the Toppers the lead. Thomas Gonsalves notched a last-minute goal for Durfee to ice the contest. Durfee goalie, Xavier Inacio finished with nine saves in posting the clean sheet.
With the win, Durfee remains undefeated on the season with a 4-0-1 mark. The Hilltoppers, 1-0-1 in the SEC, are tied atop the conference standings with Brockton, with whom they played to a draw last week. Dartmouth meanwhile, falls to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
The girls match-up was another evenly-fought affair with both teams taking turns with dangerous attacks. Dartmouth scored the game’s only goal about five minutes in and held off the Toppers throughout. Durfee actually had more high quality scoring chances but Indian goalie Alexandra Cojocaru made some nice stops, including one diving save. Durfee also had a couple of direct kicks from just outside the box and several times got behind the Dartmouth defense but repeatedly failed to put the ball on frame.
With the win, the Indians improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Southeast Conference. Durfee meanwhile is 3-3 on the year with all three losses being one-goal margins. The Toppers are 0-2 in league play, having dropped a 4-3 heart-breaker to Brockton last week.
In the B-R-Brockton girls match-up, the Trojan’s goals were scored by Lily Ford and Willow Forbes-Smith. B-R goalkeeper Cori Cahill stooped eight shots. The Boxers got their lone tally on a penalty kick inside the final 10 minutes. The Trojans are now 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the SEC. Brockton, meanwhile, suffered its first loss of the year, dropping to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in league play.
With its easy win over Bridgewater-Raynham, Brockton improves to 2-1-2 overall and 1-0-1 in the SEC. The Trojans meanwhile, have lost their first five contests to open the year, including a 0-2 mark in the conference.