YARMOUTH, ME — As the summer offseason soccer season winds to a close, the Lynnfield boys soccer team headed north last weekend to Maine to compete in the Northern New England Champions Cup, a tournament that was founded in 1998.
The tournament features girls’ and boys’ divisions, which are arranged in four-team groups that compete in three games of pool play. The teams play two 25-minute halves with the top two teams in each group advancing to the finals. The Pioneers, who were coached by volunteer parents John Scenna, Sean Reilly and Lance Reinold, came up just short, posting a record of 1-2. They struggled to find the back of the net, scoring only two goals in three games, thanks to the Reilly brothers (Dillon and Brendan) who netted one goal apiece.
The Pioneers opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to a tough Central Catholic squad, despite jumping out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first half on a goal by Dillon Reilly. The game was evenly-played early on until Rocco Scenna got things started for Lynnfield. He flicked a pass to Brendan Reilly who, in turn, fed older brother and two-year captain Dillon Reilly, who was streaking down the left wing behind the defense. Dillon buried it from a hard angle to put the Pioneers on top.
Lynnfield held its own well into the second half. Central took advantage of a free kick at the top of the box to net the equalizer. With about four minutes remaining in the game, Central struck again to seal the come-from–behind win.
“The go-ahead goal was a strong individual play by the Central forward that created a defensive breakdown on multiple levels,” John Scenna said. “Those things happen this early in the season, especially late in the game when we were likely a bit fatigued.”
Central Catholic went on to win the championship on Sunday. Coach Sean Reilly said he felt that, despite the negative outcome, the experience was positive nonetheless.
“Central Catholic is a strong program that plays a hard Division 1 schedule consistently each year,” Sean Reilly said. “It was good to match up against that type of program.”
Another game, another Reilly goal, this time from Brendan to cap a hard-fought, 1-0 win against 2021 champion Scarborough, ME in round two. Rocco Scenna found Joel Anthony on the right wing, who beat a defender and crossed the ball into the box to Brendan Reilly for the finish.
“We switched up our formation a bit due to injury and the boys responded really well,” John Scenna said. “Our midfield played well and connected and moved the ball quickly, as did our forwards. I felt it was our strongest defensive game.”
Goalie Kelan Cardinal recorded the shutout. John Scenna said two-year captain Charlie Morgan, Matthew Reinold, and Chris Calnan also played well.
In game three, Greely wrapped up pool play with a perfect 3-0 record after a 3-1 win over the Pioneers. Greely jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, Rocco Scenna made it a 1-1 game with a penalty conversion. Scenna set up the play with a through ball to Ollie Morgan, who maneuvered his way into the box only to be fouled.
Greely regained the lead with a goal late in the first half to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. Greely added an insurance goal in the second half to seal the victory.
Cardinal, who played the first two games, and Dino Gesamondo split time between the pipes.
“It was another defensive breakdown that had everyone looking and thinking someone else was going to make the play,” John Scenna said. “It was miscommunication. In soccer, when you make a mistake on offense, you don’t score, but when you make a mistake on defense, the other team scores.”
Greely was the only team in Group E to finish undefeated.
“Greeley was very strong,” Sean Reilly said. “All of the games were our toughest of the summer program. It was very good for the boys to be challenged and they responded very well. We got better with every half. I thought Kelan had really strong second and third games in goal.”
John Scenna said this is the second year that 18-20 players participated in the tournament.
“The interest has been very good,” he said. “We give every player the opportunity to come, but they also know that as it’s a tournament, not everybody is going to get the same playing time, but this weekend everybody got in, which was good because even though the games are only 30 minutes, it can be a bit of an endurance battle. It’s also a nice social event with coaches getting to socialize and new parents getting to know each other.”
Lynnfield was one of the few teams to have parents serve as volunteer coaches. Under MIAA rules, Massachusetts coaches are limited when it comes to out-of-season involvement.
“It’s funny, because Maine’s high school season starts earlier than it does in Massachusetts, but the bottom line is: most of the teams are Maine teams and they are allowed to have their coaches coach, but we are not,” Scenna said. “We know what the rules are and we have to respect them.”