SWAMPSCOTT— With just six minutes remaining, Mia Schena shocked The Lynnfield Pioneers as she scored the game’s lone goal, leading her team to a 1-0 victory at Blocksidge Field in the first round of the MIAA Division Four State Championships.
Once the ball found the back of the net, the bleachers erupted with cheers as Schena sprinted towards midfield and was swarmed by her teammates.
Jess Ford assisted on the goal, feeding her a pass that cleanly got past Lynnfield defenders in the penalty box, and Schena did the rest.
But the scoring chance was all started by senior Laine Foutes. At midfield, with the game clock draining, she decided to take a chance. Foutes sent a booming kick that amazingly hit the middle of the crossbar and was inches away from dipping over Lynnfield goalie Ava Gamache. The ball bounced Swampscott’s way however, and that’s when Ford was able to find Schena.
“I was overwhelmed with happiness,” Schena said in response to the late goal. “We needed that goal just to pull through and to bring us all back together, it was just really nice.”
Swampscott was able to snatch victory despite conceding the majority of possession to Lynnfield. It was all Pioneers in the first half.
A number of Lynnfield jerseys crashed the net at the 22 minute mark and got multiple chances to get a ball on net before being awarded a corner kick. Lynnfield had a great chance off the kick, and for a moment, the ball appeared to have bounced high enough to get over Swampscott goalie Lillian Gosselin’s head, but she was able to extend her arms over her head and corral the ball calmly.
Roughly six minutes later, Swampscott senior Thea Spellios had a shot at an open net with only one Pioneer defender in her way, but the ball sailed wide right.
After that chance, Lynnfield’s offensive pressure grew stronger, but The Big Blue were up to the task defensively. Lynnfield sent a blazing kick towards the net, but Victoria Quagrello blocked the shot with her leg, likely saving a potential goal.
Schena’s goal was ultimately the deciding factor, but the star of the game was Gosselin. Big Blue’s goalie was under duress all night from Pioneer pressure. Nonetheless, the rock-solid senior gave her team a fighting chance.
Gosselin was aggressive in terms of playing the ball in order to cut off Lynnfield’s scoring chances and her timely saves and decision making kept Lynnfield off the board.
Gosselin says she did her homework on Lynnfield, and it paid off.
“I know a lot of their players. When they took the big touch, I was ready to come out on the slide tackle, I was ready on the corner kick,” she said. “It was definitley a heavy thinking game.”
With 16:04 to play however, Gosselin and Lynnfield’s Bella Carroll collided as the Swampscott goalie came out of her net to try and stop Carroll’s break away. The crash resulted in a penalty kick for Lynnfield, and Blocksidge field collectively held its breath, awaiting the kick.
Emma Rose took the shot for Lynnfield and drove the ball hard with her right foot, but the ball sailed over the net. It was relief for Swampscott, but devastation for Lynnfield.
Lynnfield Head Coach Mark Vermont knew his team dominated the match, but couldn’t put the ball away when they needed to.
“We dominated play, we dominated possession,” he said. “They got one opportunity and they put it away, so we move on and we learn from it.”
After the goal, Lynnfield made multiple desperate attempts to dump the ball into Swampscott’s defensive zone, hoping for a lucky break. But the whistles eventually blew, and as Swampscott Head Coach Ken Leeder notes, luck was on Big Blue’s side Sunday night.
“We just need luck. Today we got it,” he said. “Lynnfield played great, they had more opportunities, but we found a way to get one in. Kinda the way soccer is sometimes.”
With the win, Swampscott advances to the round of 16 where they will face No.1 seeded South Hadley and hopes to use the same defensive formula to earn another miraculous win and make it to the state quarterfinals.
