LYNN — The Lynn Classical and Revere girls soccer teams went back and forth exchanging blows Monday in a 2-2 tie at Manning Field.
The draw marked the return to the field for the Rams, who fell into an early 2-0 hole but battled back against a tough Revere team.
“It was our first game,” Classical coach Mike Schena said. “We had a game plan and we stuck to it. I thought we played a real solid first half. Revere came to play. It was really evenly matched. I knew it would be, we had our opportunities and they had their opportunities.”
Plenty of those opportunities were generated by Jada Mateo, who played a great game and scored one goal. Hannah Guthrie added the second goal after a free kick late in the first half. Classical’s defense was also on its game, especially in a scoreless second half.
“Anna Flaherty played spectacular in net,” Schena said. “And kudos to Mary Collins and Ava Thurman who played great. My four defensive backs all played solid. Everybody played a solid game and that’s what I wanted. I expected this from them. They’re amped up to be playing and I thought we did really well.”
Revere also played well with two goals from Nahomy Galvez-Martinez leading the way.
“Classical gave us a run,” Revere coach Megan O’Donnell said. “They’re always a physical team. We knew that and tried to prepare for that over the break. We’re tough though. We just played four games in a row so we’re a little fatigued. We battle against a great team.”
Galves-Martinez got off to a fast start partly thanks to being in the right place at the right time. An errant pass by Classical in its own box took a bad bounce and landed right on the foot of Galves-Martinez, who scored to put Revere up 1-0 just under 10 minutes in.
Nine minutes later Galves-Martinez was fouled inside the box and awarded a penalty kick. The sophomore cashed in, beating Flaherty to the left side to stretch the lead to 2-0 midway through the first half.
But the Rams weren’t going to go down without a fight. A few minutes later Mateo lined up for a free kick just outside the Revere box and snuck a shot in on the left side of the net to cut the Revere lead to 2-1.
Then with less than five minutes to go in the half Classical lined up for another free kick, this time from midfield. Guthrie ran down a loose ball in front of the Revere net and scored to tie the game at 2-2 before the break.
Both teams went scoreless the rest of the way but it wasn’t for lack of chances. Both sides traded corner and free kick opportunities in the second half but were also backed by strong physical play from their defenses.
Revere created some pressure in the last few minutes but a pair of saves from Flaherty in net capped off the draw.
“We really wish we pulled that out at the end,” O’Donnell said. “We had a few shots but just couldn’t finish.”
Both teams are back in action Tuesday. Revere (2-1-2) hosts Medford (4) while Classical (0-0-1) travels to Everett.
“Megan is a great coach,” Schena said. “I take nothing away from her, she does a great job with those kids. But I think, being the tough team they are, we pretty much hung with them. It felt really good to see our girls out there again after a year and healthy. It was fun.”
