LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield girls lacrosse team didn’t start its season the way it hoped Monday afternoon, falling to powerhouse Masconomet 13-1 at Pioneer Stadium. The Pioneers actually tied it at 1-1 in the early stages and made it a game for the first 15 minutes of play, but eventually turnovers and Masconomet’s strong performance turned the game into a rout.
“We knew Masconomet was very talented coming in, and they’ve always given us a tough time, but I really don’t think we played well out there today,” said Lynnfield coach Ethan Blanchette. “I was hoping that we’d be able to keep it more competitive than we did. The first five or 10 minutes were close, but in the end they just ran over us.”
Junior Tori Morelli scored the lone goal for the Pioneers in the loss.
One of the biggest issues for Lynnfield Monday was turnovers. No matter what the Pioneers did on defense to take the ball away from Masconomet, they would turn the ball over on the offensive end with bad passes and bad catches.
“We turned the ball over so many times today,” Blanchette said. “Even some of our players who are some of our strongest ball-handlers were dropping balls and missing passes. So it just wasn’t there for us today.”
It was Masconomet that got the scoring started, with Tara Gallagher scoring just 49 seconds into the game to give the Chieftains a 1-0 lead. It took just over four minutes for Lynnfield to respond, which it did when Morelli got a clean look in front of the net and buried her opportunity to tie the score at 1-1.
Even when Emma Flynn scored 51 seconds later to give Masconomet back the lead, it was still very much a game at 2-1. The next goal wasn’t scored until almost 10 minutes later, when Issy Verrier made it 3-1 Masconomet. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, Verrier’s goal kicked off a 5-0 run for the Chieftains to end the half with a 7-1 lead.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half, as Liv McCarthy scored two goals in the first three minutes of play to extend the lead to 9-1. Masconomet would score four more goals over the next 10 minutes to run away with the big win.
For Lynnfield, the loss shows that there is still plenty of room to grow. The good thing is, the Pioneers don’t have another game for eight days.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re going to get better for sure,” said Blanchette. “I’m hoping that we just take this effort and continue to improve, because we have another tough game when we get back at it.”
Lynnfield will face off against Manchester Essex next Tuesday.
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BOYS LACROSSE
Bishop Fenwick 15, Manchester Essex 9
Stefano Fabiano and Diego Alvarez-Segee scored an impressive six goals apiece to help lead the Crusaders to a season-opening win Monday afternoon. Nick Muzi, Derek DelVecchio and Kobe Estes each had one goal in the win. Muzi and DelVecchio each dished three assists. The Crusaders (1-0) host Newburyport Wednesday afternoon (4).
Lincoln-Sudbury 6, St. John’s Prep 5
Michael Ott’s two goals led the St. John’s offense. Michael Kelly scored one goal with one assist. Dan Keefe and Dan DeLaus each scored one goal.
Craig Yannone was 8-for-15 on face-offs. Alex Kreher had 15 saves on 21 sog.
The Eagles (1-1) visit Malden Catholic Thursday (6:30).
Peabody 13, Lowell 8
The Tanners pick up their first win of the season at Lowell. Connor McCarron, Colby Therrien and Nick Patturelli each scored three goals. Jack Houlden scored two goals. Ryan Fera and Trevor Smith scored one goal each. Goalie Austin Leggett made eight saves. Patrick Russo went 13-of-21 on face-offs.
