LYNN — The Lynn Invitational Soccer Tournament is unique when it comes to citywide athletic events.
“It’s the only one of these city tournaments that happens at the beginning of a season,” said Jeff Newhall, athletic director at St. Mary’s High School. “The others come at the end of seasons, except for the Boverini (basketball), which is a Christmas tournament.”
Not only that, said Newhall, but the soccer tournament is, in most year, this one included, the first varsity action of the new school year.
“When they play this tournament, it means the school year has begun,” said Newhall, whose predecessor, Paul Athanasiadis, began the tournament 15 years ago, “and it won’t end (in Lynn) until the Clancy (baseball) and Holland (softball) in the spring.”
The boys will get the ball rolling Tuesday at Manning Field, with Classical playing Tech at 5 and English facing St. Mary’s at 7.
The nightcap features a rematch of the city championship game a year ago, which the Bulldogs won in an upset, 3-1. In that game, keeper Billy Allen held off a frenetic last-minute rush by the Spartans to preserve the win. It was English’s first victory in the tournament since 2010.
For his play, Allen received the Arthur J. McManus Most Valuable Player Award. The trophy is in honor of the late McManus, a former head girls soccer coach at Lynnfield High who, after retiring, serve as The Item’s soccer correspondent.
The girls will play their preliminary game Wednesday with the same pairings at the same times.
The consolation and championship games are next Saturday. The girls consolation is at 9 a.m., followed by the boys at 10:45.
Before the championship games can go off, English and Beverly will play a football game at 2 p.m. Then, the girls championship game will be at 5:30, with the boys to follow at 7:30.
The Spartans won the girls championship game last year with a 5-1 victory over the Bulldogs. MVP Codi Butt scored twice for the Spartans.
In both the girls and boys tournaments, English, Classical and St. Mary’s have each won championships. Neither Tech’s boys nor girls have won the title.
A portion of the proceeds for the tournament have always gone to a charity. Last year’s went to the North Shore Cancer Walk.
This year, Newhall said that while a charity has not been picked he would like to find a school in Houston that might benefit from the money in light of Hurricane Harvey.
