LYNNFIELD — The Pioneers shut out the North Reading Hornets 2-0 at Lynnfield High Thursday with the help of a dynamic duo.
Lynnfield’s Dillon Riley and Alex Gentile each scored in the win. The two also assisted in each other’s goals, which made for a lethal connection to carry the Pioneers to victory.
While the Pioneers ended up triumphant, the game did not start well. Lynnfield seemed so discombobulated that Head Coach Brent Monroe called a timeout merely minutes into the game.
“We just came out really flat – it was not anything tactical. We were like sleepwalking, and this team is too good for that – they could have put one in in the first minute, and we would have been in trouble,” said Monroe.
“I felt like I needed to yell at them, to be honest,” Monroe added with a laugh.
The players certainly got the message from their head coach because shortly after the timeout, with around 30 minutes remaining in the first half, Lynnfield drew first blood to take a 1-0 lead. Gentile fed Riley a beautiful ball that he finished to give the Pioneers’ fans in the stands something to cheer about.
North Reading kept the pressure on Lynnfield’s defense as the first half drew on. Every couple of minutes, a Hornets player would launch a through ball almost half the pitch’s distance, and more often than not, Josh Stanieich was there to try and finish it.
Unfortunately for North Reading, Stanieich was unable to score, whether it was from excellent saves by Lynnfield’s goalkeeper Kellen Cardinal or even nice hustle by other players. Lynnfield’s Charlie Morgan had a great effort play on Stanieich in which he knocked away what would have been a beautiful scoring chance.
Before the first half concluded, the Pioneers had a couple of big chances to extend their lead. Namely, when Joel Anthony shot a rocket of a ball that the Hornets’ goaltender bobbled. When the keeper finally got control of the ball, he was seemingly in the net, but the referees ruled it no goal.
“North Reading had a lot of the play in the first half – they had a lot of play in our end. I mean, we scored a goal sort of against the run of play,” said Monroe
“We have a really dangerous player upfront in Dillon Riley, and he scored a great goal and kind of flipped the game a little bit,” he said.
In the second half, the Pioneers were steadier on defense and limited North Reading’s offensive opportunities. Down to the final eight minutes of the game, this time, it was Riley’s turn to make a great pass, and he did to Gentile, who scored and essentially iced the 2-0 victory.
“We were defending a lot, and then I think we were playing more even after that, and then we got another one, and that was pretty much it. The two goals were big for us because we did not have a ton of chances, but our defense played really well, I thought,” said Monroe.
The victory brings Lynnfield to (2-0) on the season, and even so, Monroe indicated that his team is still looking to improve.
“We are looking pretty good. I mean, there are things we can do a lot better, but I think we have some talented kids,” said Monroe.
Michael Coughlin Jr can be reached at [email protected]
