LYNNFIELD ― The seniors on the Lynnfield Pioneers’ girls soccer team rose to the occasion on Wednesday night as they defeated the Georgetown Royals 6-1.
Lynnfield head coach Mark Vermont said after the match that his team met the challenge on their home pitch.
“We put it all together tonight so it was a good night to put it all together on senior night,” he said.
Prior to the match, both sides’ seniors were honored. Lynnfield will be saying goodbye to nine seniors at the end of the year as Samanth Bunar, Adriana Parisi, Lexi Veglia, Abby Adamo, Marissa Corvi, Lanah Rosenwald, Anna Radulski, Lucy Cleary, and Mariella Calvani will all be graduating.
Vermont said that this group of seniors was made up of some great kids.
“It’s been a long haul, last year was crazy with COVID and this year we are starting to put it together so we will keep it rolling hopefully and they worked hard for it,” he said.
Georgetown seniors Rebecca Doucette, Casey Mahoney, Lauren Bartlett, Maggie Jackson, Megan Skahan, Allison DeLuca, and Emma Olsen were honored before the match as well and head coach Kevin Fair said that he has a great group of seniors this year.
“I have great senior leadership, two wonderful captains in Rebecca Doucette and Casey Mahoney,” he said. “They are great leaders on the field (and) in the classroom. (I’m) very blessed to have a great senior class and what was great is I got such a young mix and they are great role models for the younger kids.”
The excitement of senior night was evident as both sides were energized to start the match, but struggled to control possession.
Senior captain and goalkeeper Samantha Bunar showed her prowess early as she made a great save after coming off her line and nearly left the box in the ninth minute. Bunar was great throughout the match, knowing just when to come off of her line and be aggressive.
The Pioneers nearly found the back of the net courtesy of a beautiful lofted shot from Anna Radulski, but the shot graced over the crossbar in the 11th minute.
Nearing the midway point of the first half, Lynnfield created a flurry of chances but was not able to find the back of the net.
The scoring finally arrived in the 27th minute as Parisi found the back of the net, but the Lynnfield lead didn’t last for long as sophomore Olivia Hilts tied the game up for the Royals with a goal less than a minute later.
Parisi found her second goal of the match in the 36th minute as, even with a Georgetown defender dragging her down, she was able to power the ball into the bottom of the net to give Lynnfield a 2-1 lead that they would carry into the second half.
The senior nearly had a hat trick as she burst away from defenders in the 67th minute, but Georgetown goalkeeper Mary Surette made an impressive diving save.
The Pioneers were able to rack up five corner kicks in the first ten minutes of the half, but it took until the 50th minute for them to convert; freshman Emma Rose found the ball at her feet in the box and she was able to make it a 3-1 lead for Lynnfield. Lynnfield wasn’t done scoring, as it found the net in the 60th minute and Calvani later scored in an almost identical situation. Corner kicks actually ended up being kind to Lynnfield, helping the team score four of its six goals off of set pieces.
Adamo put the game away in the last 10 minutes with the fifth and sixth goal of the match going to the Pioneers in what would cap a very successful senior night for Lynnfield.
Lynnfield (4-3-1) hosts Newburyport Monday (5:45).
