Lynnfield boys soccer coach Brent Munroe has plenty to be optimistic about as the Pioneers prepare for the new season.
After a strong campaign that saw Lynnfield go 10-7-1 last fall, including an appearance in the Division 4 North state tournament, Munroe and the Pioneers are back and ready to pick up where they left off.
“We’re pretty optimistic,” Munroe, in his 17th season at the helm of the program, said. “We returned a lot of skill players from last year’s team. We’re young, still, but I think we’re looking good. The kids worked really hard in the offseason, a lot of them played four days a week in the summer. I’m really optimistic.”
The core group of key returners for the Pioneers this fall will be led by the team’s three captains in senior defender Matthew Ricciardi, junior midfielder Nathan Bass and junior forward Jonathan Luders.
Munroe’s also happy to return a pair of promising sophomore midfielders in Thomas Buston and Thomas Hauser.
In net, the Pioneers will rely on junior goaltender Jack Campbell.
“Jack had a great year for us last year and he’s looked really good this summer,” Munroe said.
Munroe’s confident that his returning players have both the necessary experience and talent to lead Lynnfield to a big season. Although Lynnfield boasts a fairly young roster, a handful of the underclassmen on last fall’s team were able to receive a good amount of varsity minutes.
“We have a lot of good returners,” Munroe said. “Most of them were starters last year. The ones who didn’t start got significant time. We’re returning a really big group. We started a lot of sophomores last year and a couple juniors. We had freshmen, who are sophomores now, that I think are ready to step into big roles. We’re really optimistic.”
Munroe also noted that he’s impressed with the levels of commitment shown by his players. Many of them played soccer all throughout the summer in preparation for the upcoming fall season. By seeing that type of commitment, Munroe feels his program is building a solid foundation for years to come.
“I’m not looking past this year at all,” Munroe said. “We have really high hopes but most of these players will be back next season. It’s a group that has taken things very seriously. They’ve put the effort and the time and they know how good they can be. It’s a committed group. A lot of them played soccer in the summer and that commitment is showing.”
The biggest focal point for improvement this season, Munroe noted, is the offense. Although Lynnfield was solid on the defensive end last fall, the team struggled to generate scoring opportunities throughout the season. Munroe’s hoping the Pioneers can change that in 2017.
“Last year we had a really good year as far as winning 10 games in our league,” Munroe said. “We didn’t have too many players who put the ball in net frequently. That’s one of the biggest differences I’ve seen in the preseason. We’ve played 2 1/2 games thus far and we’ve scored eight or nine goals. That’s an area that we need to do better in this year and I think we’re in a position to do so.”
Given the number of state tournament mainstays in the Cape Ann League, the Pioneers have their work cut out for them in the conference. Lynnfield will have to battle game in and game out if the team wants to make it back to the state tournament.
“Our conference is really good,” Munroe said. “Masco’s the top team in the conference almost every year. They’re always a handful. Pentucket, North Reading, Newburyport, Triton, are all solid teams. It’s a difficult group, it’s hard to come out of this group. We’ll have to play hard to get into the state tournament.”
Lynnfield opens the new season on September 8 when the Pioneers host North Reading.
