Lynnfield girls soccer falls to Newburyport in D3 North semis

NORTH ANDOVER – It isn’t as if the Lynnfield girls soccer team went into Saturday’s Division 3 North semifinal expecting to lose to Newburyport. That’s not the case.But the Pioneers were undoubtedly aware that virtually anyone else with any interest in the game didn’t expect them to win.In the end, they did not. Newburyport won the game, 3-1, and the right to face Ipswich today in the D3 North final. But this was one of those times that even the vanquished team felt pretty good about itself.”We played very well,” said Lynnfield coach Mark Vermont. “We hung in there, and even got some momentum for a while.”In the beginning, the Pioneers had a lot of momentum. The defense hung in there, and threw a blanket around Newburyport’s Jillian Kinter, who did manage to score one goal on a spectacular solo effort. The Clippers have a lot of girls who can hurt you, and, as Vermont said, “If you’re going to single (Kinter) out, it’s a matter of pick your poison.”The Pioneers knew they had their work cut out for them, and played it very close to the vest in the early going. And twice, within a matter of minutes, defender Nicole Crawford made great plays that saved Lynnfield from facing a deficit right out of the gate. And for an instant, anyone not playing for Lynnfield High might have sniffed an upset.”We didn’t think that way,” Vermont said. “We went in expecting to win the game. We thought it was very possible.”But in the 26th minute, the Clippers got on the board. Micaela Hogan maneuvered her way around three Lynnfield girls and beat senior goalie Diana Triffletti just inside the left post to make it 1-0, Clippers, which is how it stayed until the break – thanks mainly to Triffletti, who made three superb saves as time waned.”That’s a senior varsity goalie right there,” said Vermont. “She was tremendous, and our defense was excellent, too.”Things heated up early in the second half, though. Less than a minute in, Kinter took a crossing pass from Taylor Bresnahan and drilled it past Triffletti’s right side, and it was 2-0. Nearly five minutes later, Lynnfield scored a goal when sophomore Jamie Harris picked up the ball from about 20 feet out and blasted it past Newburyport goalie Lindsay Tomasz to cut the deficit in half.But Newburyport got that one back four minutes later when Bresnahan picked up a deflection that came right back out to her, just to the left, inside the circle, and directed it home.Despite the loss, Vermont was happy with the way the girls played.”We didn’t quit,” he said, “and we had our moments.”We have a lot to build on, too,” he said, regarding his team’s prospects for next season.