LYNNFIELD — Behind a strong first half in which the Lynnfield boys soccer team dominated possession and control of its home game against Hamilton-Wenham (2-1-1), Lynnfield improved to 5-0 with a 4-0 win.
The Pioneers served notice from the get-go that they had come to play, firing off six shots in the first five minutes of the half en route to a 3-0 lead at the half.
The second half, however, was a different story as neither team held an edge for the most part. While the Generals generated more chances and had a stiff wind at their backs, the Pioneers’ defense, which had not really been tested in the first half, was up to the task.
“I think the wind was a factor. I didn’t notice it as much in the beginning but I think we just stopped moving the ball and were complacent with the 3-0 lead,” Lynnfield coach Brent Munroe said. “We can’t play that way. We have to play the ball quickly and move the ball better in order to be effective and we weren’t doing it.”
“I think they got a few more chances than we did,” Generals’ coach Matt Gaurin said. “We still had to figure out a better way to attack the goal a bit more regularly.”
Lynnfield junior Kelan Cardinal earned the win in goal. He didn’t face many shots, but came up with all the plays needed, especially late in the game on a handful of free kicks.
Junior center back Chris Calnan put the Pioneers on the board in the 13th minute, scoring his first goal of the year off a corner kick taken by junior Joel Anthony. Freshman Brendan Reilly scored his first varsity goal and doubled the lead to 2-0 in the 21st minute following a nice give-and-go with sophomore Rocco Scenna down the right side. The ball ended up in traffic in the box and seemingly deflected off a Generals’ player right to a wide-open Reilly, who drilled it home.
“He’s the only freshman we have who is playing, not a ton, but he’s contributing,” Munroe said.
Allesandro Renaldi bumped the lead to 3-0 with about six minutes left in the half. The junior exchange student from Italy took a pass from junior Matt Reinhold and tapped it past Hamilton-Wenham goalie Eric Hutchinson, who had come off his line, leaving a wide-open net for Renaldi.
“That was just a great goal. It went from the outside to Matt who played it through to Allesandro who chipped it in,” Munroe said.
Junior captain Dillon Reilly capped the scoring with a goal from sophomore Rocca Senna with about two minutes to play.
While Munroe was pleased with the four-goal effort, he was most impressed by the play of the midfield and defense. He gave a shout out to junior captain Charlie Morgan, a right defensive back, junior center back Chris Calnan and defensive center mid (and senior captain) Dhimitri Dono.
“I thought he (Charlie) was our best player today,” Munroe said. “He had his best game and he was very noticeable to me today. And those three kids, for me, were all very good today. And they got us into our offense, too.”
Munroe said he was “nervous” going into the game, knowing the Generals had previously knocked off Newburyport.
“They hadn’t lost yet, so I was pretty nervous about that,” he said. “We’ve been giving up a couple of soft goals now and then to teams we really shouldn’t have. Today our defense played really terrific. I think they gave up only a shot or two and they were very good all the way through. So scoring goals was great and we’ve been scoring goals all year, but I was happier today that we were able to do it defensively.”
The Pioneers are back in action Thursday against North Reading at 4:45 p.m. It’s a big one as both teams are undefeated at 5-0.
