Lynnfield girls soccer off to state final

BROCKTON – Lynnfield High girls soccer fans who traveled to Rocky Marciano Stadium in Brockton Wednesday to see the Pioneers battle Dedham in the Eastern Mass Division 3 state semifinal may have thought their GPS led them astray.
The team’s traditional navy jerseys had been replaced by neon green pinneys with the numbers taped on the back. A miscommunication on the Lynnfield end had resulted in both teams having white so something had to give.Given the results, maybe green will become the new blue.
The Pioneers defeated Dedham, 2-0, to earn a trip to the Division 3 state final where they’ll play Nipmuc Friday at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Nipmuc, the Central Mass champ, defeated Wahconah, 5-0, in the other state semifinal game.
The bitter cold did not seem to faze either Lynnfield or Dedham. The only good thing that could be said about the weather was that there was no wind and it wasn’t Buffalo.
Lynnfield came out swinging and for the better part of the first half, the Pioneers had the Marauders pinned in their own end. The Pioneers drew first blood 17 minutes into the game when Katie Scanlon knocked one in off a corner by Emily Scollard.
But Dedham started to to make some noise in the last few minutes of the half.
The scariest moment of the game for the Pioneer faithful came with 10 minutes left in the first half when Dedham was awarded a penalty kick. Lynnfield keeper Hannah Travers rose to the challenge, batting away the shot and then making another save when Dedham got the rebound.
“On a penalty kick, for a goalie, you get on your toes and you take a guess. I guessed right,” Travers said after the game
Lynnfield coach Mark Vermont, who was a goalie back in his playing days, was in awe of his keeper.
“She’s just a tremendous athlete and a tremendous player. I’m so proud of her. That was just fantastic,” Vermont said.
To have an experienced player like Travers, who had 11 saves, in net with an excellent defense in front of her was key, Vermont said.
Dedham turned up the heat offensively in the second half, forcing Travers and the defense, led by senior Abby Peras, to come up big.
“I was just trying to get to the ball early and keep some of the pressure off the defense,” Travers said. “We know this is a momentum team … If we let them get open in the box, they were going to finish.”
Lynnfield finally gave itself a little breathing room when, with about six minutes left in the game, Liz Reed hit a chip shot off a pass from Jess Duhaime that found the net. The Pioneers only put two shots on net in the second half.
“That second goal was huge,” Vermont said. “Dedham never quits. We knew they weren’t going to quit. I think that second goal took some wind out of them.”
Vermont said it was just an “awesome, awesome” game.