Big Blue boys defeat St. Mary’s 4-1

LYNN – In a 5:30 p.m. game under the lights at Manning Field, with rain falling occasionally during the game, the Big Blue used their speed to defeat St. Mary’s, 4-1.Click here to see a photo gallery from this game.Swampscott, coached by Mike Chase, the former boys coach in Danvers, has speed from the keeper on out to the strikers. On top of the speed, the mid-fielders and attackers have excellent foot skills and make through ball passes with either foot. After seeing them, you would know why they are in first place in the NEC South.Al Jackson is winding down a solid career as the leader of the Spartans boys team. Job commitments have forced the elder statesman of Lynn soccer to hang up the cleats after the season. The Spartans have already qualified for the states with a record of 8-5-1 in the Catholic Central Large. In addition to a solid defense in front of keeper Nico DiSalvo, St. Mary’s boasts the top two scorers in the league. Midfielder Alex Glover has 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points while striker Eric Donaghy has 14 goals and 9 assists for 23 points. The St Mary’s coach was anticipating a good game.”We are both good teams,” Jackson said. “(A) break or two will make the difference.”The game was barely five minutes old when St. Mary’s struck. A give-and-go between Shaun Borders and Donaghy put Donaghy in alone on keeper D.J. Marquis. Like most good goal-scorers, Donaghy picked his corner and blew the ball past the keeper. The Spartans jumped out in front, 1-0.The Big Blue evened the score 15 minutes later when Ben Wollerscheid picked up a rebound that the Spartans failed to clear and put it through a screen of players, finding the low left corner past the Spartan keeper, DiSalvo, to tie the game at 1-1. There was little action for the rest of the half.However, in the 27th minute, Donaghy went down without being hit. He landed awkwardly on his right foot. After medical attention at the sidelines, he was taken to a hospital.In the second half, the number 8 must be the lucky number for the Big Blue. Swampscott scored in the 48th, 58th, and 68th minutes to put the game away.In the 48th minute, co-captain Matthew Gateman took a through ball on the left wing from Chris Nenshati, cut into the area and beat Spartan keeper Di Salvo to the right corner. This goal put the Big Blue ahead to stay, 2-1.Ten minutes later, Gateman and Nenshati combined for the third goal. Nenshati took the shot from the top of the area, hit the right post and bounced across the goal mouth to the left post, where Gateman tucked it in the corner. This pushed the score to Swampscott 3, St Mary’s 1. In the 68th minute, Swampscott was fouled about 35 yards from the Spartans’ goal. Big Blue midfielder Ethan Scott took the dead ball kick and put it in the top right corner over the keeper’s hands. This made the score 4-1. In the 72nd minute, both coaches put in new keepers and emptied their benches.After the game, Jackson was worried about his injured players. He had very little to say except, “We will be ready next Wednesday, when we go to Braintree to play Archbishop Williams.”Swampscott will finish the NEC season next Monday, when it plays Marblehead.