LYNNFIELD — A clash between a pair of Cape Ann League foes took place at Pioneer Stadium on Tuesday afternoon when the Lynnfield boys soccer team hosted Pentucket.
The Pioneers played a hard-fought game for 80 minutes, and sweated it out on a steamy afternoon, but fell short to the Sachems in a 1-0 loss.
With the loss, Lynnfield drops to 4-2-2 while Pentucket improves to 5-1-1.
“We didn’t know anything specifically about Pentucket because we hadn’t seen them play but they’re always one of the top teams in the league and they’re off to a great start this season,” Lynnfield coach Brent Munroe said. “We figured they’d play the way they played today.”
After 21 minutes of play, the Sachems broke the scoreless tie with the game’s only goal. Pentucket junior midfielder Ryan Gallagher picked up a loose ball and tapped it past Lynnfield junior keeper Jack Campbell. Sachems senior sweeper Jake Dickson dished the assist on Gallgher’s goal and Pentucket held an early 1-0 advantage.
“One of our guys got beat on the outside and one of Pentucket’s players took a tough shot from a tough angle,” Munroe said. “The ball hit the post and they tapped it in. The tap-in was easy but the player who made the goal (Gallagher) is a pretty skilled player.”
The Pioneers had a handful of chances to even the score but none of them made it past Sachems goalie Alec Perrotti, a senior.
Lynnfield’s Jackson Cleary, a junior midfielder, found himself in a one-on-one opportunity but Perrotti came out of the net and corralled the ball before Cleary could get a shot off.
Two minutes later, junior forward Jonathan Luders took a corner kick for the Pioneers and found midfielder Jeremy Banks, a senior, on a header. Banks’ header sailed high over the net and Lynnfield remained scoreless, down 1-0, at halftime.
“We didn’t make a whole lot of changes,” Munroe said. “We just kept going and hoping that we were going to break through. I think we had a much better second half and it wasn’t from anything we did differently.”
Playing from behind, the Pioneers offense came out scampering for the game-tying goal in the second half. Lynnfield generated a number of chances but the Pentucket defense kept the Pioneers off the board.
“I thought Pentucket’s defense played really well,” Munroe said. “Jonathan (Luders) has been scoring a goal each game, sometimes a goal and an assist each game. They contained him better than anyone else has. He played well but they did a good job on him.”
Both goalies, Lynnfield’s Campbell and Pentucket’s Perrotti, were forced to make big saves in the closing minutes and the Sachems held on for the 1-0 win. Campbell finished the afternoon with 10 saves.
Despite the loss, Munroe was pleased with his team’s performance. The Pioneers were nursing a handful of bumps and bruises while playing their second game in as many days.
“It was hard today,” Munroe said. “First of all, Pentucket’s a very good team and we played yesterday in the heat. Coming back to play today in the heat again was tough. We don’t have a long bench and we have a couple kids that were banged up in yesterday’s game that didn’t play. We were a little shorter than normal but Pentucket’s a great team.
“I thought (junior defender) Mike Gentile played his best game of the season today in middle of the field,” Munroe added. “I thought he played terrific today. He was really, really good.”
Lynnfield will aim for a bounce back win on Thursday when it hosts Georgetown.
