Lynnfield soccer stopped cold by Clippers

LYNN – Newburyport High girls soccer coach Rob Gonnam didn’t have to send out a scouting team to know the key to stopping Lynnfield was finding a way to contain Jamie Harris.Click here for a photo gallery from the game.Harris has racked up 31 goals between the regular season and the first two tournament games, but the Clippers kept her and the Lynnfield attack frustrated from start to finish in a 1-0 win Thursday in the Division 3 North semifinals at Manning Field. Newburyport will play the winner of Greater Lowell-Bedford in the North final.Both teams play in the Cape Ann League, with the Clippers, who are the Division 3 defending state champions, playing in the large division and the Pioneers in the small. They met once during the regular season and the game ended in a 2-2 tie after the Clippers came back from a 2-0 deficit.”There were no surprises,” Gonnam said. “They know who to watch on our team and vice-versa.”Newburyport’s Taylor Bresnahan was given the daunting task of marking Harris, and she more than rose to the occasion.”That was two good players going at each other,” Gonnam said about the Harris-Bresnahan matchup.The game was scoreless at the half, and it looked like overtime might be a possibility, but the Clippers had other plans. With 3:52 left, Laura Muise got off a chip shot from about 15 yards out that just found its way under the crossbar, out of reach of Lynnfield freshman goalie Nareh Sahakian. Sahakian came up big several times in the second half to keep the Pioneers (15-3-3) in the chase.If it’s any consolation to the Pioneers, they aren’t the only team to fall victim to the stingy Clipper defense. Newburyport has 15 shutouts this season, including a 10-0 trouncing of Nazareth in the first round of the tournament and a 2-0 win over North Reading in the quarterfinals. Newburyport goalie Lindsay Tomaszi faced one shot in the first half and pretty much nothing in the second half.The Clippers had a couple of players who threatened, including senior forward Jillian Kinter, who kept the Lynnfield defense busy all night. Kinter rung one shot off the left post with about 16 minutes left in the game.Gonnam said the two teams have a nice rivalry going, in part because he coached in the Lynnfield youth program for 17 years and has known many of the players who have come through the high school program.Gonnam said both schools always seem to have quality teams and both seem to find their way to the North semifinals or finals on a regular basis. The Clippers sent Lynnfield packing in the state tournament last year with a 3-1 win in the semifinals.”It was a great game,” Lynnfield coach Mark Vermont said. “The kids worked really hard.”Vermont said his team struggled getting its passing game together and he thought his team could have had a little more control in the midfield.