LYNN — Jay Dunn has been coaching Lynn Youth Soccer for a decade, and while he started out as a teacher of the game all those years ago, lately the roles have been reversed.
“I’ve coached my son Ryan’s team since he was four years old,” Dunn said. “It’s always a similar group of core kids playing so I’ve had that group for around a decade. It’s been amazing.
“It’s funny, they’ve grown to the point now where when I’m coaching I learn more from them,” Dunn said. “They play on various club teams and they know the game well which is awesome. You can put them out there and talk about what we’re going to do and how everything is going to work.”
Things worked better than they ever had this summer, with Dunn and his team of eighth graders cruising through its competition in Essex County and advancing to the state finals in mid-June.
“It was great,” Dunn said. “I’ve had some of these kids since the U8 level and seeing them grow into young men is awesome. We had some tough games with each other all season and seeing them get over each challenge this season it was like each one was a building block to getting better.”
Dunn and his team had made it to the Essex County Youth Soccer Association finals, also known as the Pingree Tournament, in the past but had never broken through before this summer.
“For this group, we have had four opportunities to try to go into the Pingree Tournament and compete,” Dunn said. “Pingree has always been our top goal and we’ve made it to that point three of four seasons. But this year was our first year winning the tournament and getting to represent the ECYSA.”
Lynn proved to be a step ahead of the competition, allowing just one goal in three games of the Pingree Tournament, something Dunn didn’t expect going in.
“I know we always have a chance to compete every year in Essex County,” Dunn said. “Obviously all these kids have grown and they get better every year. We knew we had a special team but I didn’t go in expecting to win the tournament. It was special and after we actually won it was like, ‘now what do we do, do we celebrate?”
Getting to represent Essex County in the state finals was a true team effort with contributions coming up and down a roster including Bryton Osgood, Ryan Dunn, Andrew Freger, Zakaria Faris, Derrick Garcia, Jack Mancaniello, Gabriel Mieses, Nick “Tricky” Miller, Tyler Bobbit, Marcos Weber Jr., Michael Anderson, Angel Lopez, Danny Lopez, Fiter Nolasco and Dario Gomez.
“Jack Mancaniello is our keeper,” Dunn said. “Obviously letting up one goal in the Pingree Tournament was huge. I’ve had him for six years. Ryan Dunn is one of our fastest defenders. Derrick Garcia is key at center back, Andrew Freger, really everyone helped us get to where we were.
“It’s also great to have assistant coach Jason Osgood,” Dunn said. “I actually took a season off in the past for pop warner so he stepped in for that season too. We coordinated really well together and it made the whole thing more enjoyable.”
Lynn moved on to play in the state finals in Lancaster in late June and, with a high level of competition, finished fourth in the state with a 2-0 loss to Acton-Boxboro ending the season.
“It was a great experience,” Dunn said. “The best competition we saw. I told the kids going in, ‘Every team that won their county, there’s a reason these teams are here.’ We lost to Acton-Boxboro but it was on
