LYNN — St. John’s Prep proved again why it’s the No. 1 seed in Division 1 soccer. The Eagles faced No. 13 Concord-Carlisle at Manning Field Monday evening and advanced to the state championship game with a 4-2 win.
Throughout the season, the Eagles have rarely trailed, but against the Patriots, they were down early.
In the 10th minute, Concord-Carlisle’s Ben Hackman was sent through on goal. Hackman got behind St. John’s Prep’s defense and was one-on-one with the keeper. He slotted a shot into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
Fourteen minutes later, St. John’s Prep equalized through senior midfielder Finn McCabe. Off a corner, the ball bounced around the box before McCabe reacted first and smashed one home to tie the game 1-1.
When asked about going down early, McCabe said he never lost confidence that the team would respond.
“I had no worries at all. Usually at practice, we do the starting lineup against the scout team, and we go down all the time,” McCabe said. “We’ve got a really deep roster, so I wasn’t worried at all. Last year, we were in the same situation. Last year, we went down early, so most of our guys have been there and we weren’t worried at all. We knew we could bounce back.”
Eagles’ coach Dave Crowell liked his team’s chances.
“They got the first one, but that might have been their only shot of the half. Maybe they got a couple toward the end. Once we started creating all those chances in the first half, it was only a matter of time before we were going to break them down,” Crowell said. “We have too much quality not to start putting the ball in the back of the net and we did.”
Five minutes into the second half, the Eagles took the lead. Off another corner, the ball bounced around the box before falling to James Minor, who buried it (2-1).
When asked if corners are a staple of their attack, Crowell said they work on them constantly.
“I’m not sure the last time we scored off one, but we practice corners every day – every day,” he said. “Those weren’t the traditional corners when you hit it and the kid heads it. It’s one of those ‘bounces around’ plays, but we have guys in certain positions, so we try to get the positions covered and if it pops out to somebody, they should be there. That was the case both times.”
In the 60th minute, senior Michael Hutchinson produced the goal of the game. On his weaker foot, Hutchinson curled a left-footed shot into the top corner to extend the lead to 3-1.
“That left-footed shot was a high school bomb. Well, that’s a bomb anywhere. And he’s not left-footed,” Crowell said. “You knew the minute he got that ball, he was shooting. He never even thought about passing. He had all the confidence in the world. I think he just picked his head up, saw that corner, made his one move, and knew where he was going. Great goal.”
St. John’s Prep’s All-American scored the Eagles’ fourth goal. A chipped pass from Owen Beeny found Garrison Murphy, who finished into the bottom corner to make it 4-1 in the 63rd minute.
The Patriots scored a consolation goal in the 84th minute on a strike from Max Hepworth.
Hutchinson said the team knows its work is paying off, and he wants to finish the job.
“It all starts in preseason this summer with all that hard work — day in and day out. We deserve this and I believe that we have a good shot to win it all,” Hutchinson said.
St. John’s Prep will play in Saturday’s state championship game at Doyle Field in Leominster at 12:15 p.m. An opponent wasn’t confirmed by press time.
