LYNNFIELD — This one was a real nail-biter.
For nearly 78 minutes, the undefeated Hamilton-Wenham and Lynnfield boys soccer teams went toe-to-toe at Pioneer Stadium, with each giving as good as it got and the game knotted, 1-1, and likely headed to overtime.
But in the end, the Pioneers’ Nate Zalvan was in the right place at the right time, buying a feed from Rocco Scenna and scoring with 2:09 remaining in the game.
The Pioneers’ defense and goalie Dino Gesamondo took it the rest of the way, repelling every Generals’ attack – including a wild scrum in front of the net just before the buzzer – to seal the win and remain undefeated at 4-0-2.
“It was a great game,” said Lynnfield coach Brent Munroe. “Just a hard-fought, good game by both teams. This was definitely a good one for us. Dino did a great job with a couple of key saves and the defense held up, especially during those last few minutes.”
Gesamondo agreed.
“When you’re up, 2-1, in the last two minutes, you know they are going to give it everything. Credit to my back line. They were ready for everything today,” Gesamondo said. “Jaden (Ing) had my back on one of those clears. It was a cross that deflected right in the middle and they could have buried it, but Jaden cleared it out. Ben Clancy had another one. Their guy was ready to bury it, but Ben was able to clear it out wide. We’re not winning this game without them.”
Hamilton-Wenham coach Matt Gauron said the Generals have “nothing to hang their heads on.
“That was fun to watch,” Gauron said. “It was a cleanly-played game. I thought we created chances the whole game – especially in the closing minutes. We just couldn’t quite finish it off. I thought we played well enough to win.”
The Generals struck first. Nick Stein drove down the left sideline and worked his way toward the net deep. He found Gus Tratnyek on the far post, who slid the ball into the back of the net and put the Generals on top, 1-0, early in the first half.
The Pioneers’ Mohammed Ayari knotted the score at 1-1 with a little more than 20 minutes to play in the half. Ollie Morgan placed a corner into the box to Zalvan, who played it to Ayari, who buried it.
“We, kind of, just got the ball in the right spot on that one,” Zalvan said.
Both teams had quality chances to score in the second half. Lynnfield’s best chance came with about 14 minutes to play when Morgan launched a bullet at Hamilton-Wenham goalie Rowan McConnaghey, who robbed him with a diving save to his left.
“Rowan is new to us. He’s small, but he’s quick,” Gauron said. “That was a great save to keep them off the board – a huge save for sure.”
With about 2:30 to go, Lynnfield was awarded a corner kick. Morgan placed the ball in the box, where it ended up on the foot of Scenna, who played the ball to Zalvan at the top of the box on the right side. Zalvan drilled it home, beating McConnaghey to his left.
“It just rolled right out to me and I had an opening,” Zalvan said. “That was definitely one of my better shots. That was one gritty game, so I’m happy we held on for the win.”
Munroe highlighted the play of Morgan, Gesamondo, and defenders Adam Ayari and Ben Clancy.
“Ollie has been great all year, both Adam and Ben had solid games, and Dino came up big – especially in the last minutes,” Munroe said.
Hamilton-Wenham (4-1) is back in action Thursday at Ipswich (4 p.m.).
The Pioneers’ next game is Thursday at undefeated North Reading (3-0-1) at 6 p.m.
“That’s definitely going to be a tough game, like Newburyport in the first game,” Gesamondo said. “Hopefully, we are ready for it.”
“North Reading has been killing everybody, but we’re getting some good results. North Reading is always a good team,” Munroe said.
