COSMOS B FALL TO BOSTON CITY FC 3-2

Defending National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) Champion New York Cosmos B were handed their second defeat this season, losing 3-1 against Boston City FC at Hofstra Soccer Stadium in Long Island Wednesday evening.

“I think we really felt the rigors of a third game in five days. And you could see it in our legs,” said Coach Fernando Barboto following the match.

Possession went back and forth in the first fifteen minutes of the match until Boston City’s Jhonta Batista capitalized on a slippage from Cosmos B goalkeeper Kevin Tenjo to knock home the opening marker of the game before Tenjo could recover.

“We weren’t as sharp as we were the other games. We put ourselves in a bad spot in the first half,” said Barboto.

Cosmos B had some opportunities to equalize within the next 20 minutes to follow, earning multiple corners and free kick opportunities but they were not able to capitalize on the chances.

The first half was also defined by cautions as three yellow cards were issued to each Boston City FC and Cosmos B. “[Calls like these] tends to happen but I’m glad both teams came off with zero red cards,” Coach Barboto said on the officiating.

In the 35th minute, Johnata Batista had an opportunity for a brace, but he mishandled the pass. But Batista was able to recover and pass it to John Bustamante to make it 2-0 Boston City.

New York would answer in stoppage time in the first half as Franklin Castellanos put in a cross to find Ivan Berterame to cut Boston City’s lead in half to make it 2-1.

In the second half, Boston City FC made an important substitution as Yaw Addow came on. He was flagged for offsides a couple of times on some promising attacks for Boston City but his third run into Cosmos B territory yielded results as he fought through defenders and put in a cross to Homero Morais, who netted it home to make it 3-1 in the 68th minute.

Heading into the second half, New York was looking for the equalizer and potential match-winner as Coach Barboto made numerous tactical changes to put some fresh legs on the pitch to formulate attacking chances.

“We needed to try to get more depth in our attack. We looked to get in behind. I thought we created those chances, it’s just we didn’t score,” Barboto said of his decisions.

Cosmos B’s only goal of the second half came right before the full time whistle blew as halftime substitute Shaun Russell scored but it was all for not as Cosmos B fell by a final score of 3-2, snapping their six-match undefeated streak.

On the upcoming schedule, Coach Barboto views the future with much optimism. “I think we’re going to rebound real well. This was the first game we really lost. We’ll battle back.”

Next for Cosmos B is a Sunday night matchup with the Brooklyn Italians at LIU Brooklyn Athletic Complex. Kick-off is slated for 6:30 pm ET.