Forti stars as North women win Agganis soccer match

LYNN – Megan Forti, who played girls soccer at English, stood at the entrance to Manning Field on what turned out to be a rainy Tuesday evening.She held the latest addition to her collection of honors: The game MVP trophy for the North in the 15th Agganis All-Star Women’s Soccer Classic.Click here for a photo galler of last night’s soccer actionThe North won 7-1, thanks in part to Forti’s two goals. Yet Forti was modest about her recognition, praising the teammate who assisted on her scoring, Lucy Gildein of Masconomet (who got the North game ball).”(Gildein) set me up perfectly,” Forti said. “That was the hard part. All I had to do was tap each one in. It was a great game. I know a lot of players from clubs and districts.”Forti was even philosophical about the weather, which prompted more than a few umbrellas in the stands of Manning Field.”It was fine,” she said. “It cooled it down a bit.”Meanwhile, the North was on fire in the second half, breaking open a 2-1 halftime score.”We really came together,” said North coach Jess Doyle (Salem). “After not playing in a while, we did good things tonight. We all pushed up. There were a lot of good players all over the field ? We had a lot of offensive attack.”The scoring started when the North’s Abby Tobin (Lynnfield) found the net in the 27th minute of the first half for a 1-0 lead. The South, however, tied it on a goal from Lauren Donati (Saugus) off an assist from Erin Langan (Swampscott) in the 16th minute. After the game, Donati got the South game ball while Langan earned South MVP honors.The North moved back in front, 2-1, in the 11th minute off a scrum in front of the South net.In the second half, the rain started midway through, but the North scoring started faster than that. Forti put her team up 3-1 on the first of her two tallies, taking Gildein’s pass and making the English fans in the crowd cheer in the 34th minute.Three minutes later, the same scenario occurred: Gildein to Forti for a score. This one put the North up 4-1 after a defender couldn’t clear it.Jamie Harris (Lynnfield) also recorded a multi-goal game for the North, which now leads the all-time series 10-3-2.It was a frustrating game for South coach Jim Foley, although he had words of praise for Forti and for his St. Mary’s players on the roster – Michelle Macchione, Briana Marotta and Courtney Winters.”In Megan Forti, you see a great player,” Foley said. “She suffered a knee injury in her senior year, but she (went) out on a (good) note.”Courtney Winters, what can you say? Her athletic career is probably unrivaled in terms of St. Mary’s won-lost record in high school. Michelle Macchione is my cousin. It was an honor to coach her for four years. Briana was our other captain. She was hurt most of last year, but she got out there and battled, which was good to see.”