READING — Winning a Division 2 North championship has been a long time coming for the Lynnfield field hockey team.
Riding the momentum of last Wednesday’s 1-0 upset of top-seeded Watertown, the No. 5 Pioneers took advantage of five opportunities on penalty corners in Saturday’s sectional title game at Reading High School and edged past No. 6 Gloucester, 3-2.
Senior Carolyn Garofoli scored Lynnfield’s first goal late in the first half and added an assist to pace the offense, while junior Isabella Scala tipped home senior Lily Rothwell’s shot for the winner with less than 13 minutes to play.
“It has been the ride of a lifetime,” Lynnfield coach Mamie Reardon said after her team captured its third Division 2 sectional crown and first since 2000. “It’s just glorious. They’ve worked so hard to get here. The team last year got upset by Watertown in a great (North semifinal) game with a tough call, but we got it back for them. Winning this game today and being Division 2 champs is just a dream come true.”
The Pioneers had to overcome an early deficit as Gloucester captain Mia Salah scored on her team’s second penalty corner less than 10 minutes into the game.
Goalkeeper Ava O’Brien held strong as Lynnfield faced a 1-0 deficit for most of the first half. The Pioneers were able to regroup during a timeout at about the halfway point and scored two goals in the final six minutes before the intermission.
Garofoli’s reverse shot after moving past a defender got Lynnfield on the board with 5:58 left in the first half.
“The first corner was beautiful, picture-perfect,” Reardon said. “(Carolyn) took it out and then to the left, so I couldn’t be happier with that play. It’s very hard to defend.”
Garofoli then assisted on Madison Murphy’s go-ahead goal, a shot over Gloucester keeper Mia Wheeler’s shoulder, in the final two minutes. The goal came on Lynnfield’s third and final corner of the opening half, leading to some great momentum entering the intermission.
“We knew that the game isn’t that long, so we had to act fast,” Garofoli said. “Right then, we stepped up and knew we had to get the corners. Once I scored, I think we all knew we could come back right away. We kept getting those opportunities, which was huge, and we kept putting them in.”
Gloucester tied the game just 2:15 into the back half as Cammi Cooper slotted a rebound off O’Brien’s pads into the back of the net. The Pioneers pressed for another go-ahead goal thereafter, with Wheeler making a save on Garofoli’s shot off a corner with 17 minutes left.
Lynnfield finally jumped ahead for good 4:30 later as Scala, who entered the field a short time earlier as a substitute, deflected Rothwell’s hit through the legs of Wheeler.
“I have a lot of depth, so we’re not losing any ground if I put someone in,” Reardon said. “We either stay the same or get better. That’s what’s great about this team and why we’ve been so successful.”
The Fishermen drew a back-to-back corners with eight minutes to play, but O’Brien and the Lynnfield defense allowed Scala’s goal to stand up for the victory. Prior to 2000, Lynnfield’s only other sectional crown came in 1991.
“Gloucester is a great team and they’re strong, so we knew they could put the ball in the net,” Garofoli said. “Every girl needed to get back and focus on getting that ball out of the circle because they can always come back. That’s exactly how we played in Watertown. Once we got that goal, we knew we needed to play defense.”
As a result of the win, Lynnfield will play in a Division 2 state semifinal this coming week, facing a Dover-Sherborn team that earned beat No. 1 Sandwich, 1-0, to win the South bracket.
