LYNNFIELD — In the sport of soccer, all it takes is one play to change the outcome of a game, and that’s exactly what happened Tuesday evening at Lynnfield High School in a game between the Pioneers and visiting Marblehead.
The game was scoreless for 77 minutes, with both teams having great looks to break the tie throughout. As the game went on, tensions grew, and the pressure to score mounted on both sides.
Refusing to allow the game to end in a tie, Marblehead junior Cait Mullins decided to take matters into her own hands, or feet, in this case.
With just four minutes remaining in the second half, Marblehead’s Cait Mullens rushed in toward a ball that had been crossed perfectly into the center of the penalty box, stuck her right leg out, and sent a shot whizzing by Lynnfield goalie Ava Gamache.
That’s all it took as Marblehead was able to survive a late, desperation push by the Pioneers and close out the victory with a one-to-nothing score.
“I knew they were playing on the back, and it just came at me in slow motion,” Mullins said. “It’s really stressful when it’s zero zero at the end of the game, but you really have to keep the composure.”
With this being the opening game of the season for both teams, the intensity was high throughout the match and continued to rise as the game went longer and longer without a score.
Marblehead looked like the faster team from the jump and had a few opportunities that they failed to capitalize on early.
“I think in the beginning of the game, we had a few more opportunities,” Marblehead Head Coach John Dormer said.
It was a different story in the second, however, as Lynnfield began to put pressure on Marblehead’s defense. Dormer decided to play two goalies in the contest, with Rachael Albert starting in net in the first half, followed by Kate Burns coming in to start the second. Dormer noted that the reason he played both keepers was due to the fact that the competition for the starting job was so close that he has yet to make a decision and allowed both to get playing time.
Albert had a solid start in net but was not tested as much as Burns was in the second. Although Burns saw many more shots come her way, she was able to stop all of them to keep Lynnfield off the board, to which Mullins gave Burns, as well as the rest of the defense, credit for keeping them in the game.
“I have a lot to owe to our defense because they really held it down with those long balls,” she said.
As for Lynnfield, Head Coach Mark Vermont said he was proud of the way his team played, even with conceding a late deciding goal.
“I thought the girls really battled hard,” Vermont said. “It was a great game, just a little unlucky, we’ve got a younger squad, but we’ll get after it tomorrow and keep moving.”
The Magicians couldn’t have asked for a more exciting opening to their season, and they can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store.
“We started our season right,” said junior Talia Shelby. “That’s how it’s going to go for the rest of the season.”
Ryan Vermette can be reached at [email protected].
