North runs win streak to three in 17th Agganis Men’s Soccer Classic

LYNN – With the score deadlocked at the half in the 17th edition of the Agganis All-Star Men’s Soccer Classic, it could be assumed that the game would come down to the wire. After all, in its 16 previous years of existence, the series was knotted at 7-7 with two draws.However, Danvers’ Jon Amico, representing the North squad, had no such intentions of letting the game’s result become a guessing game. The Falcons forward led the North to a second-half surge and a 6-3 victory Tuesday evening at Manning Field in Lynn.Click here for a photo gallery.Just 2:47 into the second half, Amico created a scoring chance for himself but was unable to pull the trigger with the net open. However, teammate Ryan McManus (St. John’s Prep) was able to bail Amico out, taking the ball from him before hitting the open net, giving the North a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.With his team up one, Amico wouldn’t miss his chance again, scoring on a rocket to the top left corner off a bouncing pass from Woburn’s David Cooper at 33:26. Just over two minutes later, Amico took another feed from Cooper after a long run down the right sideline, before hitting the open net.It didn’t stop there for Amico as he polished off the hat trick with 1:55 remaining, following the North’s fifth goal from Colin Mahoney of Peabody, assisted by Tanners teammate Michael Chiappini. The three-goal, one-assist game was more than enough to earn Amico North MVP honors while McManus was named Offensive MVP, finishing with two goals for the winning side.The South was thoroughly dominated in the early going, falling behind 1-0 on McManus’ first of the game at 37:46. The game turned into a defensive chess match until there was just over 10 minutes left in the half. That’s when the South got things going.St. Mary’s forward Pedro-Lucas Ferreira (South MVP) scored on a shot from about 50 yards out, beating North goalie Eric Martin.”It felt good scoring a nice goal with all the great talent out there,” said Ferreira of the goal.The ex-Spartan will attend Bridgton Academy in the fall.Two minutes after Ferreira’s tally, the South took the lead on a header from Billerica’s Chris Sanchez (Offensive MVP) off an assist from English’s Jefferson Fobellah. Whittier’s Felip Guimaraes tied things up with 3:55 remaining on a wide-open tap-in following a slick feed from Fenwick’s Chris Poirier.Although the South never would get things going in the second half besides a lone goal from Masco’s Chad Burke, head coach Mike Collins (Salem) was very happy with the effort, and aware that winning isn’t the important thing.”The most important thing in a game like this is that these kids get to play with each other one last time before going to college,” Collins explained. “I have had two sons play in this game now, and both times the competition was phenomenal. To be able to coach the upper-echelon level of local kids is really a dream come true for me.”Visit itemlive.com/tournament often for the latest coverage. Submit your photos of the tournament to [email protected]