Published October 7, 2020
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — Last season was another memorable one for the Lynnfield High boys’ soccer team as the Pioneers reached the Division 3 North Final before losing 3-1 to Bedford to end the year at 12-9-1. It was the second year in a row they reached the North Final as they lost to Wayland 3-1 two seasons ago.
Five seniors from that team graduated and another one was an exchange student as the team lost six players from that squad heading into this fall.
Due to Lynnfield being a “Red” town, the team started fall practice less than two weeks ago while other Cape Ann League teams stated back on Sept. 18.
“We started late but I don’t think that should affect us too much,” said Pioneers’ 20th-year head coach Brent Munroe, who returns 14 veterans.
The three senior captains this year are Luke Martinho (center back), Jack Bird (forward), and Dante Gesamondo (goalie). Martinho was a CAL All-League player last season.
The other key senior back is defenseman Jack Zalvan.
Three juniors that Munroe is expecting a lot out of are Dom Ferrante (center-midfielder), Ben Sykes (outside-midfielder), and Jake Mallett (outside-defenseman).
The sophomore class is led by Alex Gentile who is the team’s top returning goal scorer from last fall. Other important returners are Drew Damiani (outside-defenseman), Henry Caulfield (midfielder), and Owen Klee (midfielder).
“We lost a lot of goal scorers from last year so we have to find players who can replace that offense,” said Munroe.
Due to the Covid-19 crisis, there will only be league games and no state tournament. The Pioneers will play six home games and six road games and play each team only once regardless if they are in the Kinney or Baker Division.
At the end of the season there will be a league tournament and they will separate the Kinney and Baker Divisions for that.
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) has implemented some new rules for this fall due to the coronavirus. First of all, players will have to play with masks and intentional contact will result in an indirect kick for the other team.
While corner kick will still be allowed, there will be no throw-ins as the ball will be kicked in instead.
Goal keepers are not allowed to kick the ball past midfield unless it rolls over after a bounce.
A rule which Munroe pointed out will be big, is that you cannot head the ball.
There will also be eight balls around the field so, when it goes out of bounds, the closest ball will be put in play while the ball that went out of play is sanitized and put back in place on the sideline.
Instead of two 40-minute halves, there will be four 20-minute quarters with no timeouts allowed. Players on the bench must be six feet apart for social distancing.
“It will be tough adjusting to the new rules,” admitted Munroe. “We have not had any scrimmages so we will see how the game is called.”
The Pioneers are slated to open the season on Oct. 8 (provided no COVID issues) as they host Manchester-Essex at 7 p.m. They will then welcome rival North Reading on Oct. 10 at 3 p.m