The Lynnfield girls’ soccer team is 6-0-1 and playing a fast-paced style of play, but there’s one statistical category that head coach Mark Vermont believes his players are dominating that’s making all the difference.
“We definitely lead the state in number of pasta dinners,” reveals Vermont, who is now in his 25th year at the helm. “This is a tight-knit group.”
The Pioneers players certainly agree. On the pitch, they are a senior-led team that plays in a 4-2-3-1. They’re built on teamwork and a longstanding understanding of how they all play.
“I think our team has really strong chemistry, especially the starters and the seniors,” said Giada Antidormi, a midfielder who has committed to Bentley. “We’ve been playing with each other since elementary school and youth soccer. It’s all built up over time.”
The players said the bonds stretch across friend groups and in the classroom, too.
“We do the pasta parties before games, and lots of team activities,” senior Kaylee Barrett said. “We try to carpool so everyone’s together too.”
The lone blemish on the Pioneers’ schedule so far is a 0-0 draw with Hamilton-Wenham. Aside from that, the team is cruising, relying on their closeness and a dynamic attack, led at the front by Antidormi, Barrett (committed to Colby) and Ava Damiani. So far, they’ve scored 20 goals, conceding just three.
“We’re certainly an offensive team, but our defense is very strong, too,” Vermont said. “Ava, Giada and Kaylee work really well together. They’re always looking for each other. They’re very unselfish. It’s huge, because you can double team a player, maybe two, but three is really hard.
“Jordan Calichman, our senior captain, plays center back and has been a starter for three years. She has tremendous technical ability and reads the game well. She’s fast, aggressive and really is rock for us back there. Adriana Regitano is back there as well, she has excellent awareness on the field and has an ability to shut things down for us.”
Lynnfield reached the second round of the state tournament last year and is aiming high, especially with this season’s seniors feeling it’s the end of an era.
“I feel like everyone’s working their hardest this year,” Barrett said. “We want to do as much as we can for our last season.”
“Next week, we take a turn and we’re almost halfway through season,” Vermont added. “We have to keep it rolling right now.”
Thrice as nice
A hat trick isn’t the sort of thing you expect to happen in a typical soccer game. Yet, the undefeated Greater Lowell Tech girls produced one in each of their first three games this season – two from junior Talia Lowney and one from sophomore Kailynn Oliveira.
The two strikers are a fearsome combination in Div. 3, with the Gryphons cruising to a 6-0 start with 38 goals for and only two against.
“We’ve had strong goal scorers before, and of course we’ve had hat tricks,” Greater Lowell head coach Brian Martin said. “But the two of them together are pretty tough to defend.”
It’s a promising start for a team looking to return to the state tournament and win Commonwealth Athletic Conference Large Division.
Catholic Central features two unbeatens
Cardinal Spellman and Bishop Fenwick are each 3-0-0 in conference play to start the season. However, Cardinal Spellman has a stronger overall record (with two games in hand) of 5-0-1, plus an impressive goal differential with 28 goals for and only one against.
Further down the standings is Bishop Feehan, who have not yet played a conference game but are a perfect 6-0-0 with 26 goals scored and only two against.
Reigning state champions faring
Last year’s Division 2 champions, Duxbury, occupy first place in the Patriot League Keenan at 5-0-1. The Dragons are just above Hingham, who they beat earlier this month, with both sides set to play again in October.
Sutton, the champions in Division 4 last year, are second in the Central Mass Athletic Conference at 5-1-0, having scored 20 times and conceding only thrice. Sutton cruised past Doherty, 5-0, last week and plays Nipmuc Regional on Monday.
The South Shore League Tobin Division is currently led by Cohasset, who are off to a perfect 3-0-0 start in conference play as well 7-0-0 overall. That said, they have yet to play Hull, last year’s Division 5 state champion, who are currently second in the standings at 1-1-1. The Skippers have shown earlier on that they’re the team to beat, having scored 33 times while conceding only three times.
The remaining three Tobin teams are winless in conference play, which sets Oct. 19’s Hull-Cohasset game as a potential standings-defining matchup.
The Natick Redhawks (2-1-0) claimed the Div. 1 state title last year, but currently rank third in the competitive Bay State Conference Carey Division behind Wellesley (2-0-1) and Brookline (2-1-1). The Redhawks fell to Hopkinton on Monday, 4-3, after falling to Wellesley 4-1 last Thursday.