LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield girls soccer team has just one thing on its mind this year.
“We are not going to let what happened last year happen this year, when we lost in the first round of the tournament,” said Lizzie Shaievitz, who will serve as captain of the team with fellow seniors, Hannah Filipe, Sydney Santosuosso and Kate Mitchell. “We have the chemistry, we have the will to win and will be giving 150 percent every practice and game and plan to go out on a high note.”
With 14 seniors, the Pioneers know a thing or two about what it’s like to win. But last year, the No. 8 Pioneers (10-7-2) made an exit in the first round of the North Division 3 Tournament, losing to No. 9 Stoneham at home, 3-2 in overtime.
This year’s team lost just three seniors to graduation, but all of them were multi-year starters. Gone are the likes of CAL First Team all-stars Christa Romano, a defender, forward Liz Reed and defender Caroline Buckley.
The good news is 18 players with varsity experience are back, including eight starters.
Leading the way up top is a talented and deep group of forwards and midfielders.
“Lizzie Shaievitz will be up top again, with Kate Mitchell at outside mid and senior Gracie Sperling up top and also at midfield, and those three can generate a lot of scoring chances,” said Pioneers coach Mark Vermont. “Kate is just so bloody fast, as is Lizzie, and Gracie is just fast and explosive.”
Senior Olivia Smyrnios and sophomore Liz Sykes will likely see action at outside mid, while sophomores Anna Maria Ferrante and Tori Morelli will man the midfield in the middle.
“Anna and Tori are both very physical, aggressive and have great size, which is something we have not had in recent years,” said Vermont. “Anna came up to varsity about two-thirds through last year, and Tori just fits in so well even though she is new to varsity.”
Also in the midfield mix are seniors Christina Benvenuto and Brie Giamarco and junior Emma Montanile.
Lynnfield has depth defensively with several starters back and, according to Filipe, is loaded with experience.
“So far, our focus has been on working to get our shape back, to get the communication going so that there are no gaps in the transition from the back to the midfield,” she said. “We lost Christa (Romano), but we have a ton of experience coming back and with Sydney moving back from the midfield. I think that once we have a little more time in the preseason to gel together, we will be pretty strong defensively.”
In addition to Filipe, the defensive unit includes Santosuosso, Juliana Passatempo and senior twin sisters Christina (who is sidelined with an injury) and Olivia Montanile. Junior newcomer Olivia Sarni will also see time in the backfield.
“Hannah is just a beast, she is so fearless and plays a smart game,” said Vermont. “We also have moved Syd back from midfield to defense to help with out depth. Juliana may be little, but she is so fast and skilled on the outside and we also have Olivia, who is very tall and a big presence back there.”
Now in their third season in the CAL Kinney Division, the Pioneers have a challenging league schedule with home-and-away series against perennial powerhouses Newburyport, the defending Kinney champions and winners of three of the last four CAL Kinney titles, Masconomet and archrival North Reading, who will host the Pioneers Friday at 4:30 in the season opener for both teams.
“Fourteen seniors is a lot for any team, but so far they have responded to the challenge,” said Vermont, who led the Pioneers to back-to-back state titles in 2003-2004. “The goal is always to make tournament, but we don’t don’t even talk about winning anything until we have a shot at the North title.
“To do that, we need to play more consistent soccer, I think that caught up to us last year. This year, we need to be more patient, we need to possess the ball and patiently play to feet instead of just kicking the ball downfield.”
Vermont said the biggest surprise of the season has been chemistry and communication.
“We are only a couple of days into the school year, but everyone is so happy,” he said. “The team chemistry already is very good, much more so than I have seen, so that is a very good sign for us.”