LYNN — You could say, it sure looked to be a shutout loss to open the season.

Lynn Tech’s boys soccer team won a thriller in PKs to take down Lynn Classical at Manning Field. Despite a tie in the standings, it was a tale of two halves for the Tigers, who came roaring back after halftime to overcome a 2-0 deficit and advance to Saturday’s city championship game (TBD).

Two quick goals ignited Lynn Classical early, courtesy of junior Edison Chacon and senior captain Chris Galvez. It looked like things were smooth sailing in Ram land, but coach Brianna Moreno said Tech’s coaching staff “tried to get everybody fired up.”

“We were missing a lot of starters, a lot of injuries happened, so we did not have a lot of important players,” she said. “Heart is what is going to win this game and believing in themselves and giving them confidence – and that’s what they did. I’m speechless.”

Speechless, indeed. On a free kick to start the second half, junior Anthony Zavala of the Tigers bounced one over the outstretched arms of Classical’s goaltender from near midfield and put it in for Tech’s first strike of the season (2-1).

Then, with five minutes remaining – in a game that, frankly, looked like it was wrapping up – Tech sophomore Alan DeLeon put the equalizer in the back of the net (2-2). 

Fast forward to PKs. It came down to the last kick for the Tigers when sophomore Nixon Ochoa tucked the game-winning goal to secure a nail-biting victory for Tech.

“Dominated the game from start to finish. Unlucky goal that bounced around and went in, then the second one, a set piece,” said Classical coach Eric Moreno. “We will take the tie on the record, but it’s really hard to dominate the game and go out like that… Those set pieces and those mental errors really kill you, and that set piece came from a bad decision to tackle when we didn’t have to do it. The anxiety sometimes gets to players, unfortunately.”

Brianna Moreno applauded her Tigers for having “so much heart.”