Nashua North's Arjun Khatiwada battles with a Londonderry player during Friday's game at Stellos Stadium. For more photos, go to the Photo Album.
NASHUA – The goal was unbelievable.
Not unbelievable in the sense that it was a spectacular move, but more because it happened in the blink of an eye.
It was so unbelievable that one Nashua High School North boys soccer player held up his hands, looking to an official, figuring that something had to have been done wrong. Another just fell to his knees, as much out of surprise than anything else.
The goal scored by Londonderry’s Kyle Willis came off a corner kick a little more than five minutes into the second half and broke a scoreless tie. The Lancers would make the score stand up to beat the Titans 1-0 Friday at Stellos Stadium in the Division I opener for both teams.
Andre Simmond got an assist on the goal, as he took the corner kick and just tapped a low drive toward the near post. Willis used some fancy footwork to redirect the ball as he did a spun around and sent the ball past a diving Kevin McAleese for the only score of the game.
“It took one good touch to beat our goalie,” North coach Rick Carvalho said. “We gave up one too many corner kicks in the end. Londonderry is a good team. They beat us. This is going to be one of the teams in Division I, and one of the best teams that we play all year. We’re pretty happy, not with the result, but with the way we played.”
While Londonderry controlled the tempo for most of the game, North found ways to keep the Lancers from getting many quality scoring chances.
[For more photos from this game, click here.]
“We were kind of unfortunate to not finish a couple of chances,” Londonderry coach Shawn Diaz said. “I think their two center backs did a real good job of clogging up the back and not letting us get in behind. When we did get in behind, they always got pressure. We never had a lot of chances to take shots.”
When the Lancers were getting shots off, McAleese was either in position to make the save or they were missing the net completely.
After having just 10 days from the start of the season to the first game, both coaches were happy with what they saw from their teams.
“We did a good job controlling the pace, but give credit to North,” Diaz said. “For us to come to Stellos and get a good result, we’re really happy.”
Despite the loss, Carvalho thought it was a result on which the Titans can build.
“I think it was good for us to put it under our belts and get it passed us,” Carvalho said. “We stayed really strong. They showed that they weren’t going to give up. Our guys made a decision to not get beat, or at least not to beat ourselves, and we didn’t.”
The Titans return to the field on Tuesday, when they travel to face Concord at 4 p.m.