LYNN — Shots came early and often for the Classical girls soccer team Friday, as the Rams rolled to a 3-1 win over Everett at Manning Field.
After Everett took a quick 1-0 lead, the Rams turned up the heat and dominated possession, taking a 2-1 lead into the half and tacking on an insurance goal early in the second half.
“We did a lot of work this week on our passing, and we were putting together some good combinations,” Classical coach Mark Ierardi said. “I was very happy with our passing, we worked very hard on it, and we talked to the girls about being prepared right from the start of the game. It was a good effort all around.”
Izzy McGaughey had the first solid scoring chance for Classical in the first few minutes of the game, pulling Everett goalie Giselle Sanchez out of the net, but Sanchez got a piece of the ball and tipped it out of bounds.
The Rams earned four corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of action, but unfortunately for Classical, it couldn’t convert the kicks to goals. Mary Collins got off a shot on the third corner, but it sailed over the crossbar.
Everett grabbed possession and got down to Classical’s defensive end in a hurry, and Samantha Perkins found the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game with 24:28 to play in the half.
Classical wouldn’t stay down for long, though. Just three minutes later, Fatima Girdia found Abbey Ierardi with a centering pass (her first of two assists on the evening), and Ierardi got the job done, tying the score at 1-1.
The Rams were right back at it a minute later, as the ball took an awkward bounce in front of the net and McGaughey tried to one-time a shot, but it went wide. With 11:28 to play in the first, Girdia made another perfect pass to the middle where Collins was waiting, but Sanchez made the save.
Finally the Rams broke through again with 11 minutes to play in the half. McGaughey one-timed a cross to the middle and hit the ball just right, knocking the shot past Sanchez’s lunge.
McGaughey wasted no time adding an insurance goal after halftime, scoring in the first two minutes to make it 3-1 Classical.
Both teams had chances throughout the second half, but the Rams kept the Crimson Tide defense very busy. Both Girdia and Julia Jordan had opportunities midway through the half as Everett struggled to clear the ball out of its defensive end, but the attempts were fruitless. Abbey Ierardi also created an opportunity late in the half, intercepting a goalie kick and lofting a shot that Sanchez had to stretch to save.
The Crimson Tide had its chances as well, but Rams goalie Carly Mendonca had a strong game between the pipes and squashed anything Everett got going. The Classical defense, which has been a strength of the team all season, helped keep the ball on the other side of the 50 and limit Everett’s opportunities.
“We’d like to bury a few more, but we’ll take a win any way we can get it,” Mark Ierardi said. “I’ve liked our defense all year long, and if we can start scoring a little more consistently, we’ll have a shot.”
The Rams (4-3) will look to keep the momentum going at Malden Tuesday afternoon.
