NORTH READING — The Lynnfield girls soccer team came up just short Saturday afternoon, falling to rival North Reading, 1-0, on the road. The Pioneers couldn’t quite continue the momentum it built up from its season opener (a 1-0 penalty-kick win over Manchester-Essex), failing to find the back of the net.
“I thought for the most part we played really well out there, especially on the defensive end,” said Lynnfield coach Mark Vermont. “It’s still early in the season and we haven’t had much time to work in practice, so every day we’re just trying to get better and get back in the swing of things.”
Senior Julia Colucci played well in the loss.
The Pioneers are returning an incredibly veteran group this season, with 19 of the 22 players on the varsity roster in either their junior or season year. Lynnfield went 13-3-3 and was the No. 2 seed in the Division 3 North tournament in 2019.
Leading the way for Lynnfield this season will be its group of 10 seniors — Colucci, Lauren Braconnier, Ashley Mitchell, Lauren Mitchell, Jenna Brodigan, Kiera Burns, Emily Goguen, Michelle Miller, Lindsay Nardone and Erin Sharkey. Colucci, Braconnier, Ashley Mitchell and Lauren Mitchell have been named team captains for the 2020 season.
For Vermont, having such a veteran group that has experience playing together is a huge bonus in a season with a shortened preseason and limited practice time.
“Having that experience in place is definitely a huge help,” said Vermont. “These girls have played a lot of games together at this point, so a lot of that camaraderie is already built in from previous years. Obviously it’s always great to get out and practice and build more chemistry, but a lot of that is luckily in place for us already.”
As for how the season has started off, Vermont knows his team is far from a finished product. But he has confidence that things will fall into place quickly.
“The most important thing is that the girls are just so happy to be out here competing and playing games this season,” said Vermont. “We’re just going to keep getting after it every day in practice and keep trying to be the best we can be.”
Lynnfield (1-1) is right back in action Monday morning (10) with a road game against Cape Ann League foe Ipswich.
