LYNN — Saturdays tend to be a favorite day of the week. They’re even better when they come with two city championships.
The City of Lynn completed two soccer tournaments at Manning Field with each ending the same way: St. Mary’s hoisting a gold trophy.
The boys captured their second consecutive city title with a 5-1 win against Lynn Tech. Anthony Gomez scored two goals en route to a Most Valuable Player nod, while Eider Solis, Hakeem Akande, and Tarik Khemmich rounded out the scoring.
On the girls’ side, St. Mary’s cruised to a 5-0 win against Lynn Classical. Sophie Skabeikis was named MVP after a two-goal performance. Izzy Skabeikis, Georgia Allaire, and Bella Owumi also found the back of the net.
Consolation games came with action, too. The Lynn Classical boys took care of Lynn English, 1-0, to snag third place.
Edison Chacon was the game’s lone goal-scorer. His strike came after Classical defended well in English’s half before an interception led to a breakaway chance for Chacon, who scored near-post.
“Santos Alavarez recorded his first shutout of the season and defensively, the team held strong against a quality English team,” said Classical coach Eric Moreno Jr.
English coach Valdrim Xhemajli said, for the most part, it was an even game.
“We just couldn’t capitalize on our chances and they were able to score from our mistake,” he said.
In girls’ action, Tech took down English, 3-2, for a well-earned consolation victory.
The Tigers spent lots of time in their offensive zone through 40 minutes, but struggled to find quality opportunities. And, just like that, it was 2-0 English.
But according to Tech coach JD Perry, his players “upped their intensity” through strong communication en route to three second-half goals.
Daisy Lopez came up clutch, tucking two late goals with another coming from Emily Zacarias.
“Zacarias received (Melissa) Garcia’s pass and deftly led Cindy De Leon toward the left corner goal line, where she took a smart shot on net that passed the goalie and was then poked into the net by Lopez, who was crashing the net for her second goal of the game,” Perry said of Tech’s final goal (8:00).
