Trahant, English girls defeat Classical

LYNN – Playing a team twice in one season is tough enough but when you have to do it a third time, strange things have a way of happening.View Photo GalleryFor the Lynn Classical girls soccer team, that was what it faced on a rainy and cold Thursday night at Manning Field against archrival Lynn English, who they had already tied and beaten this season. For the Bulldogs, the third time proved to be the charm as Emma Trahant scored a pair of first half goals and English hung on the rest of the way to post a 2-1 victory.”This game really makes our season for us,” English coach Ed McNeil said. “The first half was huge with Emma getting those goals with the wind. I didn’t think we were going to hold them off but this is great for our seniors.”To say the weather conditions played a major factor might be the understatement of the season. A driving rain and winds gusting to 35 MPH blew from the scoreboard end of Manning, giving the team who had the wind at its backs a distinct advantage.The Bulldogs had that wind at their backs for the opening 40 minutes and didn’t waste a lot of time in taking full advantage of it.Just over five minutes in, Trahant collected a pass from the midfield and was able to get a quick shot past Rams keeper Alaina Gridley to give her team the lead.English (4-13-1) continued to attack and doubled the lead seven minutes later. Once again, it was Trahant on the receiving end of a pass as she worked through the defense and slid a shot along the slick field turf to make it 2-0 Bulldogs.Trahant’s second goal seemed to be a wake-up call for Classical as they would begin to put pressure on English. It nearly paid off immediately but Kaitlyn Nadeau came out to make a nice sliding save on a bid by Rachel Jordan.Later in the half, the Rams had a golden chance to get on the board when a foul was called in the penalty area, giving Classical a penalty kick. But the shot was misfired and it stayed 2-0 with 8:00 left in the first.”That PK would have been huge,” Classical coach Justina Alicudo said. “It would have been a big change in momentum.”The Rams continued to battle and just before the break were able to convert with the wind in their face as Paige Barnard rifled home a shot with 3:29 left to make it 2-1 English at the half.Even more importantly, Classical was set to have the wind as a help for the second half. The Bulldogs decided to rely on defense to try and get them through as they played nine men back to try and shut down lanes.The move resulted in plenty of possession time for Classical, but there weren’t a lot of quality chances in front of Nadeau’s net. Classical would have eight corner kicks in the second half but each time the English defense was able to clear the ball out of harm’s way.The Rams best chance came with 11:50 to go when Briana Silva got to a loose ball but her shot was just wide of the left post. Classical had a final chance as time was about to expire but Jenn Ierardi’s free kick from the top of the box was blocked just before the whistle to end the game.”We played great defense in the second half,” McNeil said. “And I think the wind kind of hurt (Classical) a little bit because they kept putting the ball out of bounds.”