Let’s just say nobody – and I mean nobody – saw this one coming.
In a dominant performance, the No. 4 Lynnfield girls soccer team avenged its only Cape Ann League loss of the season and punched its ticket to the Division IV Final Four, scorching the visiting (and, until Saturday, undefeated) No. 5 Hamilton-Wenham Generals 4-0 in the Elite Eight Saturday at Pioneer Stadium.
Lynnfield will take on No. 1 South Hadley at Doyle Field in Leominster Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Junior Bella Carroll, the 2023 CAL Kinney Division Player of the Year, was on fire, scoring two goals and notching an assist. Junior Emma Rose chipped in a goal and an assist, while senior captain Keely Briggs also scored. Junior Clara Caulfield and freshman Ava Damiani joined the party with one assist each. Senior captain and goalkeeper Ava Gamache didn’t face many shots, but was unbeatable when she was tested.
Hamilton-Wenham came into the game having allowed only four goals the entire season. But the Pioneers ripped the Generals’ defense to shreds early, scoring three goals in 29 minutes in the first half to pretty much put the game in the books.
“We just wanted to get out and play our game,” Lynnfield coach Mark Vermont said. “We had a good game plan going in and the girls executed it. It was just about getting out there and playing our game. Everyone who came in off the bench was awesome and that third goal just before the end of the first half was huge. To go into the half after that and then to get that fourth goal had to be a back-breaker for them. They’re a good team and they still could have hung up a couple of goals to get right back into it. The girls did a great job.”
The Pioneers came out hot early, scoring the eventual game-winner in the 11th minute. Junior Clara Caulfield threaded the ball into a crowd in the box to Rose, who drilled it home. With seven minutes left in the half, Carroll found Briggs, who beat Generals’ keeper Stewart Bernard from 30 yards out. Three minutes later, Gamache made the defensive play of the game, robbing the Generals with a punch-save off the crossbar. After that, the offense took over. With less than two minutes left in the half, Damiani picked a ball out of the air and fed Carroll, who drilled it far post to make it a 3-0 game.
“Ava didn’t have a lot of action, but when she needed to, she was there,” Vermont said. “That would have changed the game.”
If Hamilton-Wenham had any thoughts of a second-half comeback, they didn’t last long. Six minutes in, Rose floated a corner kick into the box where Carroll fought off a crowd to make it 4-0.
“Bella received the game ball, but the whole team, from the defense, which was in lockdown, and Ava with that save and our midfield locked it down,” Vermont said.
But while the game was full of offensive fireworks, Gamache said it was all about the defense.
“Our defense just never lets up. I rarely ever get shots at me because they always work so hard in front of me. They didn’t let anything by them the whole game and they really played an amazing game,” Gamache said.,
Senior captain Ally Sykes credited the entire team.
“The whole team from the bench to on the field, from midfield to Ava and up top, everyone played their hearts out,” Sykes said. “They left everything out on our field today. It wasn’t just one player. Everyone brought the energy today. The whole team was amazing. Everyone, including the freshman who saw time on JV last year as eighth-graders has come in and seems like they’ve been here for years. They’re really killing it.”
With the win, the Pioneers’ attention turns to the Final Four. Lynnfield last advanced to the Final Four in 2014 when they defeated Dedham 2-0 in the Division III semifinals only to lose to powerhouse Nipmuc 5-0 in the final.
Briggs said the team needs to take it one game at a time.
“I’m so excited to be holding this trophy but we need to leave today behind and be confident. We need to think only about the next game, one-and-O, one-and-O,” Briggs said. “Everyone all year has been held accountable on every touch of the ball at every practice. They all worked so hard and I am so proud, but we’re not done yet.”
Vermont agreed.
“They’ve all been talking about this since preseason,” he said. “The goal is to be one-and-0, especially in the tournament, you don’t look ahead. We need to focus on the day and enjoy the moment and be ready for the next one.”
