LYNN — The Lynn Classical girls came into Tuesday’s Lynn City Soccer Tournament opener with their eyes set on a title, and the Rams sure played like it. Behind a fast-paced offensive gameplan, Classical jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 7-0 win over Lynn Tech under the lights at Manning Field.
Classical had seven different scorers in the victory, getting one goal each from Olivia Waterman, Ava Thurman, Mea Papazoglou, Eliza Correnti, Gianna Parker, Jayda Mateo and Molly Mannion.
“That’s my M-O, I’m all about getting a lot of kids into the game and giving everyone an opportunity to get out there and score,” said Classical coach Mike Schena. “It was great to see everyone play with such urgency to start the season, and hopefully we can keep that up the rest of the season.”
For Tech, Tuesday’s opener was just the first step in a long road of team building.
“We’re obviously honored to be able to play in the Lynn City Tournament every year, and we just ran into a really tough Classical team (Tuesday),” said Tech coach Justin Barrasso. “This game is just the first step in a long process for us, and it really gave us an idea of what we need to do to improve and become a better team.”
Classical had three great scoring opportunities in the first seven minutes of the game, one coming on a corner kick and the other two on free runs in the box.
Those opportunities finally produced something at around the 10-minute mark, when Waterman found the back of the net to make it 1-0 Rams.
Thurman added to that lead just three minutes later, getting an open lane and burying a shot under the crossbar to double up the lead.
The Rams made it a 3-0 game with 22:41 to go in the first half thanks to a goal from Papazoglou, then with 2:41 Correnti put the score at 4-0 going into the halftime break.
Parker then started off the second half on a great note, getting behind the defense for a one-on-one opportunity and burying a shot in the right side of the net to make it 5-0. Three minutes later, Parker added another one for the Rams. Mateo and Mannion also added goals in the second half to round out the scoring for Classical.
Tech (0-1) takes on Lynn English in the City Tournament consolation game Saturday (TBD) back at Manning Field.
Classical (1-0) will go up against St. Mary’s in the City Tournament championship game Saturday (TBD) back at Manning Field.
“I coach about six of those girls (from St. Mary’s) in club soccer, so I know we’ll be in for a tough battle,” said Schena. “For us, it’s about building on this win and bringing our A-game to the field on Saturday.”
