ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
South’s Michael Coffey (Swampscott) scored the lone goal in Wednesday’s Agganis game.
By HAROLD RIVERA
LYNN — On a warm Wednesday afternoon at Manning Field, the area’s best talents came together for the 22nd Agganis All-Star boys soccer game. After the game was pushed back to Wednesday due to Tuesday night’s rainstorm, take two proved to be a successful go.
In what was set to be a closely contested match-up between the North and the South, two rosters that consisted of top local soccer players, it was the South stars that walked away with a 1-0 win.
Swampscott’s Michael Coffey scored the lone goal, breaking the scoreless tie in the 18th minute. Coffey was named MVP of the South team, while Central Catholic goalkeeper Justin Dansereau was the North’s MVP.
A total of four Lynn players took part in the game, three representing Lynn Tech in goalie Isaac Perez, midfielder Santiago Zuluaga and forward Armando Jimenez. The fourth Lynn representative was St. Mary’s Christian Couillard, a defender. All four played for the South team, which was coached by Masconomet’s Jared Scarpaci and Tech’s Jeremy McKeen.
Seeing three of his own players, who were all key contributors to a Tech team that turned its 2016 fall season around in time to earn a berth in the state tournament, served as a proud memory for McKeen.
“I loved that I got one last chance to coach my guys,” McKeen said. “Isaac’s going to train to play professionally in Spain. Armando’s going to play in Mexico and Santiago’s going to play at Suffolk.”
McKeen added, “I’m blessed with burden of talent. These guys are so dedicated to soccer. They play with club teams and they train in the offseason. These guys are models for my younger guys and I have a lot of young talent. It keeps me on my toes.”
Given that both rosters were packed with local talent, McKeen, making his first coaching appearance in the Agganis game, added that he had fun seeing the area’s best on the field at once.
“Today was no headaches,” McKeen said. “Today was pure fun. These kids are the best of the best. These guys are phenomenal. It was the best coaching that I didn’t really have to do.”
The contest was a defensive driven match from the start, with all three goalies offering clinics in net. The Swampscott duo of Coffey and Jack Herlihy tested North goalie Dansereau all throughout the afternoon. Dansereau’s lone blemish was Coffey’s 18th minute goal.
On the other side, North goalies Isaac and Rafael Perez (Tewsksbury) were equally impressive. Isaac Perez subbed in at goalie in the second half and denied a pair of shots within his first few minutes of action in net.
“The goalies were phenomenal,” McKeen said. “Rafael was phenomenal. I’d take two of him every four years if I could. We gave the North’s goalie (Dansereau) a run for his money.”
McKeen added, “We found a formation that fit this talent and some of these guys played positions that they hadn’t played all season, but they figured it out and they did it.”
