LYNNFIELD — Luck was on the Lynnfield boys soccer team’s side Monday.
The Pioneers found the back of the net on a pair of favorable bounces en route to a 2-1 win over Cape Ann League rival Hamilton-Wenham at Pioneer Stadium.
To Lynnfield’s credit, the Pioneers boasted an active attack and put themselves in position to find the back of the net.
“We certainly had more chances than Hamilton-Wenham did,” Pioneers coach Brent Munroe said. “We were pretty luck to get both goals. Offensively we worked hard but we didn’t finish very well. Sometimes working hard is good enough.”
Junior Matheus Saramento put the Pioneers up 1-0 out of the gate. Senior Fadi Dhahib added to Lynnfield’s lead in the second half.
Junior goalie Dante Gesamondo made four saves.
“He’s had a great year for us,” Munroe said. “He had a terrific game for us (1-0 win) against Bishop Fenwick (last) Friday night. We count on him. I thought defensively we did a great job (Monday) until he saved a couple balls for us.”
The Pioneers came ready to play from the opening whistle. It only took them six minutes to cash in on a Hamilton-Wenham miscue. Saramento sent a shot on net that found its way through the hands of Hamilton-Wenham’s goalie for a 1-0 Pioneers lead.
The Generals found their footing on the defensive end from there but were down 1-0 at halftime.
It was only a matter of time before Lynnfield’s aggressive attack stretched its lead. After a few near-misses, Dhabib scored a crucial insurance goal on a nifty shot from 25 yards out with 12 minutes to play.
But it wasn’t over yet. The Generals closed the gap to 2-1 on junior forward Tobin Clark-Goldfield’s goal with 2:27 left in the game. Lynnfield’s defense held tight through the next few minutes to close the 2-1 victory.
Munroe said there weren’t any changes after Hamilton-Wenham made things interesting.
“We had been subbing pretty regularly in the second half and continued doing that,” Munroe said. “All the kids that had been playing at the time of the goal are kids we count on all the time anyways.”
The Pioneers (3-3) are now in the meat of their CAL schedule. They travel to Newburyport Wednesday afternoon (3:45).
“I feel pretty good,” Munroe said. ” I think we have a couple difficult games coming up, probably more difficult than what we’ve had. We’ve also been really beaten up at the beginning of the year. We’ve missed three key players the first five games of the season. Being 3-3 and getting some of those guys back makes me feel pretty optimistic.
“We haven’t played some of the tougher teams in the league yet. I know they’re tough and I know if we don’t play better than we’ve been playing, we’ll have a hard time. But I think we’re in a good position to play better soon. We have some key guys coming back and we have so many young guys that I think they’re going to improve really fast.”
