LYNN — The Pioneers couldn’t overcome a tough opponent in Wayland as the Lynnfield boys soccer team fell in the Division 3 North final game 3-1 Sunday night at Manning Field.
Lynnfield allowed all three goals in the first half and couldn’t dig themselves out of the whole despite coming out strong in the second.
“They were better tonight,” Lynnfield coach Brent Munroe said. “This is a really good team and I don’t think we have faced anybody all year that has as many people coming forward that were dangerous.
“In the first half they capitalized on the chances they got and I think they played well,” Munroe added. “They didn’t have a ton of chances but they took advantaged and capitalized on the some good ones they did get and put them away. We came out in the second half hard and played as hard as we could but we just lost to a better team tonight.”
After a defensive battle for more than 20 minutes Wayland was able to capitalize on a scoring chance with 16:55 remaining in the half. Devin Wong won a battle out front of the net and scored on a high shot to put Wayland ahead 1-0.
Less than four minutes later Wayland found the back of the net again. This time Christian Kiernan ripped a shot from the left side of the box that put Wayland ahead 2-0.
With just over two minutes to go before half Wayland’s offensive attack was still relentless. Rafael Chavez ripped a shot from the top of the box that rang off the top cross bar. Zachary Campana played the rebound perfectly and finished the play to put Wayland ahead 3-0 before the half.
The Pioneers weren’t ready to quit down by three scores but struggled to capitalize early in the second half.
Lynnfield eventually got on the board when Jonathan Luders sent a free kick just outside the box in front of the Wayland goal and Nathan Bass finished the play to cut the Wayland lead to 3-1 with 19:31 to play.
The Pioneers had some close chances on some possessions and set pieces in the final minutes but were unable to capitalize.
“We could have maybe added another goal at the end but to be honest they missed some at the end too so it could have been just as easily a different score,” Munroe said. “The score aside I loved the way we played especially in the second half. I don’t think we were quite ready for their speed in the first half. This team plays at a higher speed then we are used to seeing.”
With the season coming to a close earlier than desired Munroe is still proud of what his team, led by a hard working senior class, was able to accomplish.
“It was an amazing year,” Munroe said. “We were here at the North final, we haven’t been here in seven years. This group deserved to get this far, it wasn’t a fluke. It has been awesome, it’s been probably the funnest group that I have had. They work hard, we had some good players and we got some good results. It was all good.
“This is a really good group of seniors,” Munroe added. “They were all on at the end, most of them play all the time anyway. It’s going to be a really tough class to move on without.”
