The Saugus girl’s soccer team (6-2-1) defended home field and defeated Swampscott (4-1-3) on a cool Wednesday evening, 2-1.
One reason that Christie Serino Jr. Memorial Stadium was built: soccer during New England evenings. With the warmup music blasting and bright lights shining, two stellar teams with a combined 9-3-4 record faced off for the first time this season.
Right from the get-go, Saugus’ Shayln Sewell captured the all-important early momentum — bolting to a loose ball to retain possession for her team.
During the first four minutes of play, the referees established the physical tone that was allowed to be played — three collisions occurred during that span and no stoppages were held.
Seven minutes in, Saugus’ Madi Femino sliced her way through two Big Blue defenders, only to be denied by the last member of defense before she could get a shot off.
Four minutes later, gasps arose from the crowd as the Sachems’ Lexi Rais fired a deep attempt that almost passed Swampscott goaltender Lillian Gosselin’s outstretched hands — only to just miss wide left.
After dominating the first 20 minutes in both possession time and scoring chances, Saugus found twine with Veronica Ortega blooping a shot over Gosselin to give her team the early lead. A passionate group celebration ensued.
With less than four minutes remaining in the opening half, the lead was extended. Saugus’ Madison Botta found space right in front of the goal’s center, sending a shot past Gosselin on the ground.
The halftime score read 2-0, much to the delight of Saugus Head Coach Chris Coviello.
“That’s the way we’ve been playing. We possess the ball well,” said Coviello. “We control it, and we try not to just kick the ball out.”
Swampscott came out with a newfound energy during the opening minutes of the second half. Mia Schena impressed on the offensive end, weaving her way through multiple defenders. She was taken down by a double team moments later, however.
Despite flashes of Swampscott surges, the Sachem defense kept the opposing pressure away from the goal — disrupting passing lanes and pecking away at opposing dribble attempts.
The home crowd nearly erupted at the 29:15 mark of the second half, with Botta nearly connecting on a rainbow kick through the air. The ball dribbled just wide.
Minutes later, Femino received the ball on a perfect lead pass, but missed just high over the crossbar for Saugus. Despite the miss, the passage of time helped the team recollect after Swampscott threatened to tilt momentum.
With less than 15 minutes remaining, Schena submitted a goal of the year candidate for Swampscott, spinning away from her defender and blasting a shot through the mesh.
There was some controversy from the crowd after a Saugus header resulted in a close call on the goal line. That being said, no goal was recorded and the scoreboard remained still.
Despite the Swampscott surge, the team failed to tie the game, and Saugus picked up win number six on the season.
Although the score didn’t favor the Big Blue, Head Coach Ken Leeder said he was happy to see his team improve in the second half.
“We made a little bit of adjustments, but a lot of it is just playing harder and taking it to Saugus a little bit. Because in the first half, they were the aggressors,” Leeder said. “We did okay in the second half; we’ve got a lot of things to work on.”
Next on the schedule for Saugus is Winthrop on Friday, Sept. 30 at 4:30 p.m. as the team looks to defend home field once again. For Swampscott, they take on Wayland at Blocksidge Field on Saturday, October 1 at 1:00 p.m.
Joey Barrett can be reached at [email protected].
