Sports 10-01-2015

CHS Roundup

CHS boys soccer team wins three, now 8-0

The Chelsea High boys soccer team swept aside three more rivals this past week to increase their record of perfection to 8-0 as the Red Devils approach the halfway mark of the season.

Coach Mick Milutinovic’s Red Devils opened the week with a 4-1 triumph over Shawsheen Tech on the Chelsea High field Friday afternoon. Carlos Cruz got Chelsea on the scoreboard with a goal at the 10-minute mark of the first half, assisted by Yefferson Padilla. Shawsheen brought the contest to level with a goal at 28 minutes, but the Red Devils unleveled matters just three minutes later when Humberto Suarez converted a nice crossing pass from Hector Andino-Garcia to take a 2-1 lead at the intermission.

Carlos Cartagena gave Chelsea some breathing room with a goal midway through the second half, assisted by Melvin Godoy, and Suarez notched his second goal of the day, assisted by Derilson DePina, with 14 minutes to play for some added insurance.

The Red Devils next took the measure of non-league foe New Mission High, 3-0, in a rematch of the teams’ season-opening contest. The outcome was not as close as the final score might indicate. Chelsea controlled play throughout and Milutinovic liberally used all of the players on his squad.

Still, it took the Red Devils a while to get rolling, but when they finally did, they struck with sudden quickness to break the game open. Cruz provided the lethality for Chelsea, striking for a pair of markers at 32 and 35 minutes of the opening half. Bryan Chirinos and Andino-Garcia earned the assists.

The Red Devils tacked on one more marker in the second half, with freshman Dan Sabu reaching the back of the New Mission net, assisted by Derilson DePina, with about five minutes left in the game.

“We had a lot of opportunities, but couldn’t finish,” noted CHS assistant coach Evan Protasowicki. “It was good to give everybody a lot of playing time, because as we get into the latter part of October, we know that injuries and other factors will play a role and everybody on our bench will be needed.”

Keeper Cruz Barrientos earned the shutout in goal for the Red & Black.

Chelsea made the trek Tuesday to Northeast Regional Vocational School, typically Chelsea’s biggest rival in the Commonwealth Athletic Conference, and came home with an uncharacteristically easy 4-1 triumph.

Captain Eric DePina gave Chelsea an early lead at the 12 minute mark when he trapped a clearing ball by Northeast just outside the box, settled it with a touch, and drilled a perfect shot that cleanly beat the NE keeper.

“Eric plays defense for us, but both he and fellow defender Hector Andino-Garcia push the ball forward so well, and that gives the opposition a lot to deal with,” said Protasowicki. “They both have great speed and stamina, so they have the capability to get back on ‘D’ after making an offensive push.”

Derilson DePina gave Chelsea a 2-0 advantage when he headed home a crossing pass from Kevin Umanzor, who had taken a short corner kick from Padilla and sent a perfect ball into the middle of the box.

“Derilson and Kevin worked that set piece beautifully,” noted Protasowicki. “They recognized the opportunity to take a short corner and they made it happen.”

Cartagena, who was being marked closely by Northeast all game, finally found some space early in the second half and broke free to create his own shot that upped the count to 3-0. Although Northeast was awarded — and converted — a penalty kick (PK), the Red Devils got the lead back to three goals when Eric DePina notched his second goal of the day for the 4-1 finale.

Keeper Angel Figueroa provided the solid play for Chelsea in goal. Figueroa, Barrientos, and the Chelsea defense have yielded only five goals in the eight games, of which three have come via PKs.

Milutinovic and his crew were set to travel to Whittier today (Thursday) and will host Lynn Tech Monday. The Red Devils then will make the short trip across the Parkway Wednesday evening to take on Everett under the lights at Everett Stadium.

Becerra finishes first for CHS girls vs. Whitter

Chelsea High senior captain Wendy Becerra came across the line in first place in a time of 22:45 over the 3.1 mile course at Admiral’s Hill to lead the Lady Red Devil cross-country team to a 24-31 victory over Whittier last week.

Sophomore Clarissa  Sosa was the next Chelsea runner, taking fourth place in 24:02. She was followed by teammate Melanie Nguyen in fifth place in 24:51, which was a personal record (PR) for the junior. Freshman Jocelyn Poste also turned in a PR clocking (by more than four minutes) with a time of 25:31 for sixth place in what CHS head coach Don Fay termed a “gutsy” effort.

That set the stage for senior Cynthia Guzman to clinch the meet for Chelsea, which Cynthia accomplished with an eighth place finish in 25:57, which was a PR mark for Cynthia.

“Coming into this meet, we knew it would be a very competitive race,” said Fay. “We finished strong in most of our races and most of the girls had a significant personal best.  Whittier is a good barometer for us and hopefully we can continue to get stronger and faster.”

On the boys’ side, which was a tri-meet with Whittier and Lynn Tech, the Red Devils ran well, but came up short to both opponents, falling to Whittier, 23-33, and being nipped by Tech, 26-29.

CHS senior Jose Aguiar ran a PR of 19:21 to finish second overall in the tri-meet.  Senior captain Johnny Gomez finished fifth overall with a PR of 20:05.  After this point, three Lynn Tech and three  Whittier Tech runners finished before the next Chelsea runner, ultimately leading to defeat for Chelsea.

Jansel Claudio was 12th overall in a PR of 20:42.  Jose Cintron was 13th in 20:51 and Adriel Cedano was 15th in a PR clocking of 21:17.

“We ran much better than last week and I was very happy with the effort that we put out there,” said Fay. “As a team though, we need to run and stay together as a pack to win these close races.  That is something that we have been woking on in practice.”

The Red Devils were set to host Northeast Regional and Minuteman yesterday (Wednesday) at Admiral’s Hill. They will trek to Essex next Wednesday for a tri-meet with the host team and Mystic Valley.

Red Devil gridmen host Gr. Lowell Friday night

The Chelsea High football team, which had a bye last week, will return to action when they host Greater Lowell in a Friday Night Lights encounter at Chelsea Stadium. The Red Devils (0-2) will be seeking their first win of the season against Greater Lowell, which stands at 2-1.

Kick-off time is 7:00.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *