Saturday’s Boston City League boys’ soccer championship game seemed destined for penalty kicks, but in the 98th minute senior Jean Robens Destin found the back of the net, giving TechBoston the title, 1-0, over Latin Academy.
The thrilling finish started with a free kick by junior Berry Bernard on the right side. Destin controlled the ball in the box and sent one on the ground just to the right of Dragons goalie Sebastian Patino, who was phenomenal in the semifinals and the final before
finally surrendering a goal as TechBoston (10-5) rushed the field in celebration.
“I was thinking if I could get behind [my] player I could hit it,” Destin said. “That’s what I did. I just had to focus on the game . . . the goalie couldn’t do anything about it.
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“Four years I’ve been fighting for that trophy. I started in ninth grade . . . We’re all happy for our team to win this trophy because we’ve been fighting for a long time. A lot of players have come and gone.”
Patino had to jump to make a save early in the second overtime and that was the only other shot on goal in the frame. In the first OT, the closest call was a TechBoston shot that went just high and right of the upper right corner.
Late in regulation, Bears goalie Kervenslee Blanc made a huge save to keep it scoreless. Dragons junior Fabrizio Zuluaga Duran made some nifty moves and forced Blanc to dive to his left to make the save.
A goal by Dragons sophomore Barra Ryan early in the first half was negated because of an offside call.
TechBoston defeated Latin Academy, 2-0, on Oct. 16, but got all it could handle Saturday from the Dragons (10-4-4).
“The were even stronger,” Blanc said. “They were 10 times better than the last time we played them. But we kept on fighting and went to overtime two times and we kept going until the game was over.”
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Girls’ soccer
O’Bryant 1, Latin Academy 0 — A penalty kick from sophomore Mila Lloyd in the 33rd minute held up as the lone goal as the Tigers captured their first Boston City League title since 2016, capping a 10-6-1 regular season in intermittent rain showers at Northeastern’s Carter Field.
O’Bryant junior Jane Yannis was named game MVP and junior Lavinia Gomes, who this season played goal for the first time, made six saves to preserve the win.
Lloyd’s opportunity came when she chased down a ball that went into the box and was tripped as she was reaching the ball. She converted on the penalty kick with a shot to the left.
“I was scared that I wasn’t going to make it,” Lloyd said. “[Afterward] I felt really happy.”
It was key for Lloyd to capitalize because O’Bryant did not have any other shots on goal in the first half. Latin Academy had two.
The Dragons (8-7-4) got another shot on goal early in the second half and the Tigers followed with their only other shot on goal of the match. The next three shots on goal came from Latin Academy and the last of those forced Gomes to move to her left to make a great save.
“Lavinia is a really good goalie and we’re proud of her for stepping up this year,” Lloyd said.
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Latin Academy was awarded a series of corner kicks in the final five minutes and got dangerously close to a few good looks, but there were no more shots on goal.
“I actually did get nervous,” Gomes said of the ending. “But I had a little bit of faith in my team and myself and everything played out OK.”