LYNN – On a beautiful, sunny ? yet muggy and warm ? evening at Manning Field, 28 of the area?s best soccer players took the field for the Agganis All-Star girls? soccer game. Some of the players included Peabody?s Sarah Godschall, who will be attending Villanova University this fall, and Sam Rizzo of Swampscott, who is going to Colby College, on the North team. Sophia Holmes of St. Mary?s, who is headed to Boston University, and Jenny Nasser of Bishop Fenwick, who will go to Roger Williams University, represented the South team.
The North team was coached by Swampscott?s Ken Leeder, while the South team was coached by Austin Prep?s Tim Phelan.
Lynnfield was the well-represented, with four players on the South team. St. Mary?s and Saugus each sent three players, while Lynn Classical and Lynn English sent two apiece.
Alyssa Hachey of Somerville was awarded the MVP of the North, while Lynn?s and Bishop Fenwick?s Jackie Edgett, who is headed to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, took home MVP honors for the South, as the Southe beat the North, 4-1.
The South dominated the ball for the most part early, but the North settled down and made it a very back-and-forth match. The South got on the board on a goal at 25:15 by Winthrop?s Amy Sena, who is headed to Hofstra University.
The North responded with a couple of good scoring chances, but nothing came of it.
After the first half, the score remained 1-0 South.
But it didn?t stay that way for long. The North attacked right out of the gate and got a great goal from Hachey to knot the score at 1-1.
The North got another great chance a few minutes later, but once again came up empty.
The South answered right back to take a 2-1 lead at 32:25 when Edgett broke through a hole in the defense and knocked one into the net.
Edgett, who was playing with Fenwick teammates Nasser and Emma Harrington (Xavier University), was glad she got one last run in with her old teammates.
?It?s really nice,” Edgett said. “I thought the last time we played would be it. But it was great to be able to play with them one more time.”
The South may have had a couple more goals if not for the great play of Rizzo in net. Joining the game in progress after playing in the All-Star softball game at nearby Fraser Field, Rizzo made several big saves to keep the North right in the game in the second half.
The North had a great opportunity to tie the game up with under 10 minutes left, but came up short. The South was able to run down the rest of the clock and walk away with the win.
?It was a fun time tonight,” said Leeder. “The kids played hard and had fun. Most of the kids haven?t done anything in a few months, so you didn?t get their A-game. But it was fun.”Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @m_alongi.
