City soccer tournament starts today

With city bragging rights at stake, boys and girls teams from Classical, English, St. Mary’s and Tech will compete in the Lynn City Soccer Tournament starting today at Manning Field.In boys soccer, English and Tech will square off today at 5 p.m., while defending champion St. Mary’s meets Classical at 7 p.m.Tomorrow, in girls soccer, the same schools will face each other, although at different times. Defending champ St. Mary’s plays Classical at 5 p.m. while English and Tech play at 7 p.m.The consolation and championship games for both boys and girls soccer will take place on Saturday.”It’s a really great way to kick off the soccer season,” St. Mary’s athletic director Jeff Newhall said on Monday, adding, “I don’t think there’s a reason there shouldn’t be crowned a city champion in all sports.”Now in its eighth year, the tournament has seen the St. Mary’s girls win it six of seven times, and the Classical boys take home five championships.However, Newhall said, “I think it’s one of those things where, unlike maybe the basketball and baseball tournaments, any of the four schools, especially on the boys side, it’s very hard to predict the winner any year.”He added, “It has been very competitive with one-goal games and shootouts and everything else.”Newhall mentioned two individuals for specific praise: John Kasian of the Office of Economic and Community Development, who runs Manning Field; and Roy Condon, who assigns referees for two high school leagues, the Catholic Central League and Northeastern Conference, and who selects refs for the city tourney.”We work hand-in-hand with John,” Newhall said. “He blocks off Manning Field and we work on a rotating schedule.”As for Condon, Newhall called him “a huge help.”The forecast for rain today and Wednesday does have Newhall a little concerned. However, he said, “all the proceeds go to charity. No matter who shows up, there will be some type of donation.”Some of the players in the tournament might well continue playing sports in college. Classical alumna Paula McGinn went on to play softball at Endicott, while St. Mary’s graduate Kerri Domohowski received a soccer scholarship to Merrimack, and Spartan alum Amanda Webster received a full scholarship to Providence. Newhall said that of the players in the tournament, Webster is the only one to have received a Division 1 scholarship.As for the performance of the athletes in general, they have Newhall’s full respect.”I think the hardest thing, early on, especially for soccer, is that they have basically 10 days to prepare for the season off the summer,” said Newhall, himself a former St. Mary’s soccer player. “Some are coming off running or conditioning, but they’re not really at game shape. The tournament is early and is on turf. You run the risk on Saturday, if it’s 85 degrees and sunny, of it being 95-100 on turf.”It’s extremely, much more difficult to play. There’s so much ground, there’s extreme adversity, there are game difficulties. Some teams can be overwhelmed. But it’s part of competition. The team that is best at overcoming adversities is the team that wins.”Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].