Soccer season starts with girls doubleheader in Lynn city tourney

LYNN – Just as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano in California every March 19, when Labor Day arrives in Lynn, it is the signal for the start of the soccer season. The beautiful game arrived Tuesday with the opening games in the Lynn City Tourney.The English girls soccer team defeated Tech, 6-0, while the St. Mary’s girls defeated Classical, 5-0.Click here for a photo gallery.Even though the four schools are in three different leagues, the games count towards qualification for the state tournament in November. There is only one slight change. The MIAA does not allow overtime in the regular season. In order to have a team move on to the finals or win the final game to be the city champion, there will be a shootout if the game ends in a tie. The game will be counted by the MIAA as a tie game.The girls took center stage Tuesday evening with Tech playing English at 5 p.m., followed by St. Mary’s and Classical at 7 p.m. Wednesday night, the boys take over with Tech and English opening up at 5 p.m. and Classical and St. Mary’s playing the second half of the doubleheader at 7 p.m. The consolation games and the championship games will be played on Saturday.Tech girls coach Jeremy McKeen, who was coaching his first varsity game, only had 11 players for the game, four of whom had never played the game before. The bright star for Tech was the keeper, Mah Weah Weah, who had 32 saves.The English offense was outstanding. Briana Moreno, Abbie Martocchio, Alex Henry and Brianna Goulet played well. Coach Ed McNeil was pleased overall. He said, “We could have finished better but we got everyone into the game for long periods of time.”Shawna Henry, the All-League sweeper for English, said, “We want to make the tourney . This is the best team we have had in my four years. We should do very well this year.”McKeen said of his team, “They won me over. They are my heroes. They never quit.”In the second game, Classical played St Mary’s even for the first 20 minutes. Then experience and speed took over and the Spartans unleashed a barrage of shots on Classical keeper Mackenzie Coppinger (23 saves).Maggie Carey had two goals, Rachel Stueve had two goals, and Brianna Anderson rounded out the scoring for St. Mary’s.Classical coach Kerri Altieri was thrilled with the Rams’ performance. She said, “We hustled the whole game and never quit. The keeper was great. We will be ready on Saturday for Tech.”The winning coach, Jim Foley, was pleased with his team.”We did the right things on defense and made our passes on time,” he said. “Our speed was the difference.”The girls’ consolation game between Tech and Classical will be at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The championship game between English and St Mary’s will be at 1 p.m.