Classical defeats Pope John in girls consolation game 2-0

LYNN – In the first of four straight games at Manning Field, the Classical girls came to play the game. Coach Marcy Durgin had them all fired up. She said, “We play five games in nine days and we are ready to win our first game of the year.” Durgin’s words were prescient: Classical defeated Pope John, 2-0, in the consolation game of the Lynn City Soccer Tournament on Saturday.After losing Tuesday to St. Mary’s and tying Revere with a goal in the last minute of the game, the Rams were ready for a win.From the opening whistle, Classical was all over the Tigers. The ball never came out of the Tigers’ end. Every time the Pope John players tried to clear the ball, the Classical defenders fired it back into the area.At the 10-minute mark, two Classical freshmen teamed up to score the first goal for Classical. Yasmin Badr penetrated into the top right corner of the area and pushed the pass out on the right wing. Jennie Erekson fired the ball from a nearly impossible spot down near the end line, and it beat Tigers keeper Katie Demirdjian and went into the net over her hands.The best defensive play of the game was in the 31st minute, when a Pope John striker came in alone on Rams keeper Sochitta Men. She came off her line and the Tigers striker shot the ball towards the net. The ball was just about to cross the goal line when sophomore defender Christine Francois cleared it before it went into the net.Five minutes later, Francois fired a shot on Demirdjian in the Pope John net. The keeper made a great save and the rebound bounced to freshman Erin Walters, who put the rebound in the net. This made the score Classical 2, Pope John 0. The first half ended with the same score.The second half started with a new keeper in the Classical net. Freshman Mackenzie Coppinger played the net for the entire second half. Classical played a defensive game for the entire half. Neither team had any good opportunities to score and the clock wound down to zero.Classical came away with its first win of the year and its record stands at 1-1-1. Durgin was pleased with the play of the whole team.”We hustled the whole game and we were looking for the open players to pass to,” she said. “And our defense played better than in the first two games.”The backpack and ball, donated by Neatco, were won by Kelly Deveny for her outstanding play on defense.