Mariner senior Marcello Afonso (18) and his fellow Triton defenders helped shut out Barron Collier in a 1-0 win Thursday night. FILE/MICHAEL PISTELLA

The Mariner boys soccer team got back to its winning ways Thursday night, ending a three-game skid with a 1-0 victory over visiting Barron Collier (6-5-3).

Sophomore Marcel Tovar scored the lone goal for the Tritons (12-5-2) a little over four minutes into the match. That was all Mariner needed as the Tritons controlled the majority of the tempo and possession, save for a few moments towards the end of regulation.

Head coach Martin Cardenas was certainly glad to get back in the win column, as well as see a solid performance without their top two players in Nicco Gerke and Sean Paul Negron.

“The win today was really good for our team with all of the substitutes we played and we decided to try something new with our formation, and it worked out, “ Cardenas said. “It actually allowed us to defend a little better than we have been lately and gave us a few opportunities. Credit to their goalkeeper who did an outstanding job. But overall, happy with the effort. Today they came out and played hard.”

Tovar’s goal was set up by a nifty play from senior Santiago Guerrero, who, with his back to the goal and a defender on his hip, flicked the ball behind him, spun and made a run down the left side before centering to Tovar who finished the play.

Defenders Owen Osgood and Marcos Grimado were stalwarts the whole match on the back end, squashing most opportunities from the Cougars and getting the ball up field and to the attack.

Tovar’s speed was on full display, as he and Guerrero created most of the Tritons’ scoring chances. Sophomore Dominic Shannon also stepped in and played solid up front for Mariner.

Cardenas said such play by Tovar is a welcomed sight.

“Today was a stellar performance by (Tovar) and we’ve been getting on him lately,” Cardenas said. “Today, before the game we reminded him he needed to step up and he did. He’s so quick and when he wants to be aggressive he makes people look slow and he created a lot of opportunities today and that’s because he was going after it. If we can get that type of performance from him more often, it’s definitely going to create more opportunities for the team to finish.”

The Tritons gets back to work tonight as they take on Port Charlotte (2-12-2) on the road at 7 p.m.

— Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj