Burlington Boys Soccer falls in Season Opener to Lexington

The boys’ soccer team fell to Lexington 3-2 on a dreary Wednesday afternoon at Varsity Field.

The game was tied 2-2 in the late stages of the contest until Lexington’s Stefano Gambino fired a shot past Burlington goalie Joe Renaud with about seven minutes left in the game.

“I thought we played really well,” Lexington coach Dan Rudolph said. “Burlington is a really strong team, particularly up the middle, so this was a good win. I thought it was a really well played game, great back and forth action.”

Burlington had the first couple scoring chances of the game in the opening minutes of play. On their first time in the attacking zone Burlington was awarded a free kick and nearly converted it but the ball went just over the crossbar.

A few minutes later Burlington captain Derek Skinner was awarded a penalty kick, but Lexington goalie Joe McWeeney was up to the task as he made a pivotal save to keep the game tied a 0-0.

Lexington got the first goal of the game in the 23rd minute when Matt Edmonds shot a ball that bounced off the crossbar, putting the Minutemen up 1-0.

Burlington tied the game up late in the first half when Matt Ackerman got the first Red Devil goal of the 2011 campaign. Ackerman outraced two Lexington defenders to the ball and then shot it past McWeeney to tie the game.

The game would go to the half tied 1-1 and would remain that way for much of the second half. That changed in the 27th minute when Lexington junior forward George Velonias scored to break the tie.

The lead was short lived as Burlington answered back just a few minutes later to tie the game 2-2. Coming out of a timeout Adam Bonfilio managed to get a shot past McWeeney, which appeared to give Burlington all the momentum in the game.

However, Lexington would not be deterred as they scored again in the 33rd minute to take the lead for good. After a huge save by Renaud, Burlington tried to clear the ball down the field but Gambino stole the ball back and shot a laser that found the back of the net for the winning goal. Renaud would finish the game with 12 saves while his counterpart McWeeney stopped seven shots.

After the game Burlington coach Matthew Jackling was pleased with how his team played despite the loss.

“I was happy with our effort today,” Jackling said. “We are still coming together, we had a lot of new faces out there. Hopefully with more time and experience that’s a game we keep later in the year.”

It was each team’s first game of the season so Lexington is now 1-0 on the year while Burlington is 0-1. Burlington will look to get its first win of the year on Saturday afternoon when they visit Reading. Lexington will look to continue its winning ways on Saturday when they host Wilmington.