LYNNFIELD — Sometimes, you have to put your head down and finish strong. Such was the case for Lynnfield’s girls soccer team, which hosted a round-of-32 matchup in Division 4 Wednesday afternoon.
With No. 30 Advanced Math and Science in town at Pioneer Stadium, No. 3 Lynnfield sent the opposition home with a 3-1 defeat. Next up for the Pioneers is a home tilt against No. 14 Leicester (day and time TBD).
“We are 1-0 and move on. Now, we are 0-0 again – that’s all it is,” said Lynnfield coach Mark Vermont. “Advanced Math and Science Academy put up a fight all the way down to the final minutes.”
Lynnfield came out of the gates quickly with a goal from Giada Antidormi just three minutes into the action. Ava Damiani – a player all over the game’s highlight reel – picked up the assist.
The Pioneers had multiple first-half shots that were either off the post or just wide. Opportunities were being created, but not finished. The narrow 1-0 lead was brought into halftime.
And it didn’t get any easier. With 27 minutes remaining in the second half, a loose ball bounced in front of the net and Advanced Math and Science’s Ava Collins didn’t miss. Next thing you knew, it was a tie ballgame (1-1).
“Tournament soccer,” Vermont said. “We settled ourselves down and played well.”
Lynnfield responded quickly to the equalizer. Damiani tucked one off an assist from Bella Carroll to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead with 22 minutes remaining.
Then, the finishing touches, courtesy of Damiani. She took another one herself and scored to give Lynnfield a 3-1 lead with less than five minutes to go.
“I thought Ava Damiani had a couple of great goals there,” Vermont said.
From there, Lynnfield’s defense held on the rest of the way. Its ticket to the next round was punched.
“I thought we played well,” Vermont said. “Ariana Guarracino and Avery Haney in the middle there for us were great. We are moving on.”
The Pioneers upped their record to 14-3-2, while Advanced Math and Science fell to 8-9-3.
“I thought it was a hard-fought game on both sides,” said Advanced Math and Science coach Stefan Hudzikiewicz. “Nobody expected us to make it this far and they really held everything. They really did well. I mean, in the first half, we held it to 1-0. In the second half, we tied it back up and got a little bit of belief. We’ve got a lot of young kids… so this is good for the future to be able to play teams like that.”
Owen Finn is a student at Endicott College studying journalism
