LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield field hockey team has been an offensive juggernaut this season.
Monday afternoon at Pioneer Stadium, the Pioneers (5-2) turned to their defense to get the job done. The defense responded, holding the line against a tough Pentucket team en route to a 2-1 win.
“I was really happy with our defensive play,” said Lynnfield coach Mamie Reardon. “Lauren Kustka played well. She had several plays late to break up plays and played well. Jenna Freni got the ball out a lot and our go-to girl on the left, Grace MacDonald, took care of things on the left.”
The defense was tested from the opening whistle as the Sachems came out on the attack and controlled play in the opening minutes.
In the fifth minute, Lynnfield missed a huge chance when Maddie Murphy, Lily Rothwell and Olivia Ventre broke in alone, but Pentucket goalie Charlene Basque broke up the play and cleared.
Seven minutes later, Rothwell made good on the Pioneers’ next chance, taking a feed from Ventre and slamming the ball into the net just inside the far post left to make it 1-0 at the 12:31 mark.
Pentucket amped up the pressure late in the half. With under five minutes to go, Tess Beech broke in alone of Lynnfield goalie Ava O’Brien, but O’Brien broke up the play and covered up to keep the Sachems off the board.
Lynnfield came out aggressively in the second half. Off the opening faceoff, Rothwell slipped through and got off a shot but was denied by Basque. Pentucket grabbed the rebound and countered all the way down the field where Beech finished off a cross from Meg Freiermuth to make it 1-1 with 28:54 to play.
Lynnfield stepped up its play over the next 20 minutes, generating several scoring opportunities.
Its efforts finally paid off with a little more than 11 minutes left, thanks to a Sachems’ defensive miscue. Rothwell slipped the ball from the right side toward Bella Scala on the left. Basque came off her line to cut down the angle, leaving the goal wide open. Her calculated move was in vain when the ball popped over Scala’s stick to the far post, where Anna Kaminski was camped out alone. She one-touched the ball into the net to make it 2-1 Pioneers with 11:20 to go.
“Their second goal was a complete mental mistake on our part,” said Pentucket coach Ruth Beaton. “We needed to stay on that post. They are young kids, but someone needed to be on that post. Our goalie played a great game and did exactly what she needed to do on that play, but they just were in the right place and we were not.”
Pentucket stepped up the pressure over the last six minutes and had several good chances, the best by Beech, but O’Brien came up with a huge kick save.
With less than three minutes to go, O’Brien covered up in a dangerous scrum. With under a minute left, Freni and Kustka broke up a couple of shots and cleared to keep Pentucket off the board.
Reardon said it was a good win, thanks to several players.
“Ava came out and challenged and did an amazing job. I was so proud of her. She has really been a key player for us, this is her win,” she said. “And the girls on offense were great, too. Anna Kaminski played well and Maddie Murphy played out of her mind. Lily played one of her best games this year. She was tenacious and had good control of the ball. She plays to the best of her ability every single game. This was a good team win.”
Lynnfield’s next game is against Newburyport at home Thursday (3:45).
