This story originally ran in The Standard-Times on Sept. 19, 2002.

By Nick Tavares
Standard-Times correspondent

NEW BEDFORD -- Forward Nathan Medeiros felt the highs, lows and ultimately the in-betweens yesterday as GNB Voc-Tech played to a wild 3-3 tie yesterday against Dighton-Rehoboth.

The Falcons had rallied back from a 2-0 deficit with goals in the fifth and eighth minutes of the second half, when a botched clear by Medeiros playing out of position at sweeper resulted in an own goal that put D-R (5-0-1) up 3-2 at 9:36.

Medeiros answered back with five seconds to play when he beat a defender from the right to get a shot that cut across the net and settled in the corner.

"I got a little confused whether the goalie was coming out or not," said Medeiros, "but luckily I made up for it later with the goal."

"Well, he had tried to finesse it out and clear it," said Voc-Tech head coach Frank Cunha, "and then afterwards I put him back at position and it worked out great."

D-R (1-0-2) got the first chance of the game early when a shot bounced off of the crossbar.

Joshua Cardoso scored the first goal of the game two minutes later when he beat a D-R defender to put in a pass from Cliff Sousa.

The Bears scored again at 36:19 by way of a penalty kick, which Jacob Borges was able to put in the lower left corner.

D-R put the pressure on throughout the game, winning battles in the air and gaining control in the middle.

"D-R definitely controlled the game, and they're an excellent team," said Cuhna. "We capitalized on their mistakes."

Dighton-Rehoboth's goals were all in close on the net, with the first coming off of a Tim Pacheco header and the second when Tim Hatton put in a rebound off of the crossbar about 2 feet outside of the goal.

Voc-Tech goalkeeper Mike Lopes played well, particularly on a beautiful cross-body save towards the end of the first half that ultimately meant the game, as well as a diving stop in the corner of the net earlier.

Sweeper Derek Tiago also had a strong game, helping contain the D-R attack, especially off of corner kicks and battles in front of the net.

"As far as I'm concerned, Derek was the player of the game," said Cunha.

This story appeared on Page B1 of The Standard-Times on September 19, 2002.