LYNNFIELD — It may have been a cold and blustery night, but the No. 4 Lynnfield girls soccer team was red hot Wednesday, defeating the No. 13 Rockland Bulldogs, 4-1, at frigid Pioneer Stadium in the Round of 16 in the Division IV tournament.
The win sets up an all-Cape Ann League quarterfinal match with No. 5 Hamilton-Wenham (TBD), which defeated Monument Mountain 3-0 Wednesday. Hamilton-Wenham is one of only two teams to beat the Pioneers this year.
“Hamilton-Wenham is a great team that is well-coached with good leadership,” Lynnfield coach Mark Vermont said. “They’ve been through many battles in the tournament, so I know it will be a great game. Tonight was a great win as nothing is ever easy in the tournament.”
Rockland coach Marcia Beatty said the Pioneers’ depth was a challenge.
“We didn’t have nearly as much depth as they do, but the girls played hard and fought to the end,” Beatty said. “We’ll definitely miss some of our seniors, but we have a great group and have a lot coming out, so we are excited.”
While the Pioneers held an edge in possession for much of the game, it was the Bulldogs who had the best opportunity to get on the board first when their leading scorer, Emilee Durham, slipped in behind the defense in the 4th minute, drawing Pioneers’ senior captain Ava Gamache out of the net. Durham drilled a bullet beyond Gamache’s reach, but the ball clanked off the far post.
“That was a scare early and we talked about long balls being played to her (No. 16) as she was quick,” Vermont said. “I thought Ava came out well and took some of that angle away. A good goalie will always take that angle away and make the kid shoot far post.”
Six minutes later, Lynnfield countered with two corner kicks taken by junior Emma Rose. The first sailed through the box and was deflected over the end line by a Bulldog defender. But Rose made good on the second, playing the wind to perfection with a slice under the crossbar – beyond the reach of Rockland keeper Kaitlin Asplund – to make it 1-0 with about 29 minutes left in the half.
“That was just a beautiful goal,” Vermont said. “Rosie’s been spending some time resting to deal with a few nagging things, so it’s good to have her back rippin’ ’em.”
Lynnfield doubled its lead to 2-0 with 5:13 to go in the half. Sophomore Bella Sykes found junior Clara Caulfield streaking toward the net and Caulfield buried it.
“That’s always good to get that right before halftime,” Vermont said. “That was a great goal.”
The Pioneers came out of the halftime break looking for more. Senior Catie Kampersal and senior captain Keely Briggs had quality chances. Briggs set up the Pioneers’ third goal when her shot was tipped over the end line, giving the Pioneers a corner about six minutes in. While senior captain Ally Sykes’ header ricocheted off the crossbar, the rebound found the feet of freshman Giada Antidormi. Her shot was blocked in front, but Bella Sykes got a foot on it and tapped it home.
Asplund appeared to have made the save, but the referee intervened and ruled she had made the save inside the goal line, making it a 3-0 game with about 32 minutes left in the game.
From there, the Bulldogs were content to play the dump game, playing the ball deep to Gamache (6 saves). The strategy finally paid off with 19 minutes left when Rockland’s leading scorer, junior Emilee Dunham, beat Gamache from the right side with a low shot, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
“She’s had a great year and I think that was her 29th goal of the year,” Beatty said.
The Pioneers needed only five minutes to get the goal back. And, it was a pretty one. Junior Bella Carroll stole the ball at midfield. A few touches later, the ball ended up on the feet of Caulfield. She played it through to Carroll in the box who drilled it home.
“That was really good ball movement,” Vermont said.
Vermont was pleased with the effort from top to bottom.
“(Senior captain) Keely Briggs is always such an engine for us. She played outside a little more to try to get some more attacking,” Vermont said. “Up top, Bella Carroll and Bella Sykes were just so composed and it was good to have Rosie (Emma Rose) out there again. Clara was great and (senior) Catie Kampersal was working her tail off on the right side the whole game. Defensively, Ally (Sykes) in the back, while she wasn’t at her favorite position, will do whatever it takes as everyone’s bought into that. (Junior) Arianna Guarracino and then (freshman) Avery Haney also were strong defensively, and Giada and (freshman) Kaylee Barrett also played well.”
