'Our boys played really well': Undefeated Durfee boys soccer holds off Bridgewater-Raynham
FALL RIVER — It was too close for comfort for Tiberio Melo and the Durfee boys soccer team on Tuesday.
The Hilltoppers scored three goals in the first 26 minutes before Melo decided to pull his frontline starters and goalkeeper for other players to see varsity action.
That was all winless Bridgewater-Raynham needed to get its confidence flowing sky high.
"Those things happen," said Melo after Durfee hung on to beat the Trojans 3-2. "Everyone, all around should have done a better job. But kudos to them. [B-R] worked hard until the very end. They were down 3-0 and could have easily packed it in. But they did a good job and kept fighting. Once they got that first goal, it excited them a little bit."
With the victory, the Hilltoppers remain unbeaten on the season (5-0-2) and in league play (2-0-2).
"[Our] boys played really well," Melo said. "I'm not going let what happened at the end [bother us]. The first half could have been 6-0. We missed two breakaways and could have scored three more. It was still comfortable and the ball moved very well.
"I wanted to get everyone in and playing because they deserve it. I don't like the way the game ended. It could have been better for us and a little more focused. But I'll take the win."
Trojan head coach Jason Hammond, whose team dropped their record to 0-8, said he has a great group of guys.
"It's funny about having a young team," he said. "They don't know that with a 3-0 lead, you should not come back. So they play, and they play. They love to play and they play hard. It's easy to coach. We'll definitely build on this. It's better than driving home with a 3-0 loss."
How it happened
The Hilltoppers wasted little time, scoring the first goal of the game at 7:13 mark. Lens Boursiquot scored on a feed from Dominic Esteves to give Durfee a 1-0 lead. Boursiquot nearly made it 2-0 but missed a shot on a breakaway.
Boursiquot made up for it at the 18:41 mark by tapping in pass from Gilberto Correia to make it a 2-0 advantage. Landon Medeiros booted in a goal on a nice pass from Gabriel Ferreira to give the Hilltoppers a 3-0 lead with 14:01 left before the intermission.
The Trojans finally got on the board in the second half on a goal by freshman Banks Beckwith on an assist from senior captain Tyler Moreira.
Sophomore Kyle Perez Magee cut Durfee's lead to 3-2 with 5:41 remaining in the game on an assist from sophomore Andrew Cullinane. But it was too little, too late for B-R.
Trojans goalie Connor Nichols played a solid game in net. The junior netminder stopped seven shots. Hilltopper goalie Xavier Inacio collected the win in net. Backup Durfee netminder Matthew Boner saw his first action of the season between the pipes.
The Hilltoppers outshot B-R, 13-5, in the first 40 minutes.
Up Next
Durfee travels to Seekonk on Thursday while the Trojans host Xaverian on Thursday.
Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette sports editor Steven Sanchez can be reached at ssanchez@heraldnews.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Chezsports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Boys soccer: Undefeated Durfee holds off winless Bridgewater-Raynham
