St. Mary’s girls soccer bounced by Winthrop

LYNN – It was all there in front of the St. Mary’s girls soccer team as a trip to the Division 4 North semifinals was up for the taking on Thursday night at a rainy Manning Field. The problem for the Spartans was that they ran into a No. 16 seed in Winthrop that was equally as determined.The Vikings (9-9-4) took advantage of the one quality scoring chance they got as Holli Benson scored off an errant St. Mary’s (12-7-2) clear midway through the first half to give her team the lead. The rest belonged to the Winthrop defense as they held off a furious second half charge by the Spartans to take the 1-0 win and a spot in the semifinals on Wednesday (5) at Peabody against Essex Tech.?Our defense has been so solid all year. We were in almost all of our games this season because of them,” Vikings coach Tracey Martucci said. “And what can I say about (keeper) Poli Tsiotis? She is hands-down one of the best in the Northeastern Conference for a reason.”It was a night of frustration for the eighth-seeded Spartans as they outshot Winthrop, 12-6, and did everything but tie the game in a dominant second half.?We had some great chances in the second half and couldn’t score,” St. Mary’s coach Jim Foley said. “But give Winthrop credit. “They capitalized on the chance when they got it.”Neither team came out of the gates flying as the midfields controlled the play for most of the opening 10 minutes before the Spartans gradually began to shift the play more toward the Winthrop end.St. Mary?s almost took the lead in the 14th minute when Taylor Capozzi picked the pocket of a Winthrop defender and walked to the top of the box for a shot that was stopped by a diving Tsiotis.The Vikings took advantage of the one quality chance they got in the game.Off a corner kick, St. Mary’s blocked it and had a chance to clear but fanned on it. Benson picked up the loose ball at the top of the box and whistled a shot past St. Mary?s keeper Katie Donnolly with 20:16 left to give Winthrop a 1-0 lead.?We’ve had a hard time all year finishing corner kicks but if it was going to be, this is the game that I wanted it to happen in,” Martucci said.The Spartans quickly regrouped and went back on the attack. They nearly tied it with 4:10 left but Sophia Holmes saw her shot stopped by Tsiotis. Moments later, Capozzi wheeled her way into the box and fired a shot that beat Tsiotis but clanged off the left post and was cleared away, keeping it 1-0 at the half.?Maybe if we got that one in the first half and tied it, the momentum might have been different,” Foley said.The Vikings strategy in the second half was simple: Keep everyone back and try to make Benson’s goal hold up.St. Mary’s generated plenty of pressure through the opening minutes of the second half but the Viking defense was able to keep the shots mainly to the outside so Tsiotis could make easy saves.The Spartans had their best chance of the game with just under 15 minutes left when Capozzi was fouled just outside the box and earned a direct kick. She uncorked a rocket that Tsiotis somehow punched over the crossbar.Seconds later, Kaylin Deschenes had a chance off a corner kick but she flicked a header just over the crossbar. Then, with just under eight minutes remaining, Holmes sent a shot just over the crossbar.?(Tsiotis) made a great save on that direct kick. That was a rocket,” Foley said.