This story originally ran in The Standard-Times on Oct. 15, 2002.

By Nick Tavares
Standard-Times correspondent

NEW BEDFORD -- The New Bedford boys soccer team won on a late goal last night, pulling out a tough win on a cold night at home against Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech.

New Bedford (6-4-4) had originally taken a 1-0 lead midway through the second half, when Luis Sousa took a pass from Steve Colon across the net and stuck a right-footed shot past Voc-Tech goalkeeper Mike Melo.

The Bears (4-5-4) got their first quality chance of the half about six minutes later when midfielder Jason Ferreira had a direct kick sail wide of the net.

In the 73rd minute of the game, however, a scuffle in the front of the Whaler net resulted in New Bedford keeper Nick Sullivan receiving a red card. This led to Voc-Tech's Jacob Borges scoring on a penalty kick.

But New Bedford reclaimed the lead in the 76th minute as Nate Rebello fed a pass to Colon who scored to seal the victory for the Whalers.

"Well they definitely outshot us," said Voc-Tech head coach Frank Cunha on the loss, "but I had some kids go out and play real hard and we kept ourselves in it. New Bedford's a good team and today they just wanted it more."

In spite of the win, New Bedford head coach John Macaroco saw a definite need for improvement in his squad.

"We haven't been stepping up to play consistently, and we haven't been coming out with what we need to put games away," he said. "They've been telling me that they're ready to play, but they haven't shown it. We outshot them and we held possession longer, but we really didn't control the game, and that's something we have to do."

Scoring chances were limited in the first half, with Voc-Tech only getting three shots off with one on net and New Bedford with six shots maintaining control for most of the half.

The beginning of the second half saw New Bedford's Jose Sindo with a quality header in the corner of the Voc-Tech net, but Melo was there to block the shot as the Voc-Tech defense led by Mason Souza and Jason Rocha were able to clear the ball out of harm's way.

New Bedford outshot the Bears 16-7 for the evening, with a 10-4 advantage in the second half.

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on October 15, 2002.