Published October 14, 2020
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — The Samantha Pindara era as the new head coach of the Lynnfield High field hockey team began on Oct. 8 as the Pioneers hosted Manchester-Essex in the season opener. Lynnfield dropped an exciting first game, 4-3.
Last fall was a special one for the Pioneers as they reached the Division 2 state semifinals before being edged, 2-1, by eventual state champ Dover-Sherborn.
Lynnfield, under head coach Mamie Reardon who just retired a few months ago, finished at 16-5 overall and 12-4 in the league as they came in second place in the CAL Kinney division behind Masconomet who is now moved on to the Northeastern Conference.
Eight seniors from that squad graduated but Pindara welcomed back 17 veterans when camp started a little over a week ago.
“It has been going really well,” said Pindara, about the preseason. “It is a different year and we are trying to figure out what is going to work for us.”
The two senior captains are forward Maddie Murphy and goalie Ava O’Brien. Last fall, O’Brien went 16-5 in net as she had an .830 save percentage and was named a Cape Ann League second-team all-star.
Other key seniors back are Grace Klonsky (midfielder), Bella Scala (forward), and Jeanne Carpenter (defenseman).
Anna Kaminski (midfielder), Georgia Milne (forward), and Jacqui Carbone (midfielder) are three returning juniors Pindara is counting on.
Defenseman Ava Marotta heads up the sophomore class.
Due to the coronavirus, it will be a CAL league only schedule this year and the season will run until nearly Thanksgiving with no state playoffs. There will be 12 games as the Pioneers will play each school just once with six home goals and six road games.
There will be a league tournament to wrap up the season.
Also, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) has implemented modifications this fall for safety reasons.
Players will be reduced from 11 to seven per team, one of whom must be a goalie.
All players must wear a mask and bench players must be at least six feet apart on the sidelines.
There will be no penalty corners, instead fouls in the circle would be 25-yard hits. All players must be five yards away on free hits, and there will not be any bully’s, instead it will be alternating possession.
There will be four 12:30 quarters instead of two 25-minute halves.
There won’t be a pregame stick inspection by the officials as the coaches will be responsible for making sure all of their players’ equipment is legal. Officials also cannot use traditional whistles. Electronic whistles and air horns are allowed.
“We have to adapt to the new rules and implement what we have done in practice in the games,” pointed out Pindara, about the rule changes. “The scores should be higher with less players out there.”
After the Manchester-Essex game, Lynnfield tied North Reading 4-4 at Pioneer Stadium on Friday. Their first road game was scheduled for Tuesday in Amesbury. Lynnfield will host Ipswich on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. and travel to Hamilton-Wenham on Friday at 3:45 p.m.