Carolyn Lane | McClelland Miscellanea

Brookline captains Hallie Friedman, Alexa Ribatt, Katherine McElroy with trophy

Lexington captains Awani Kabra, Sheyda Hershberger, Reina Ades, Abigail Donaghy, Coach Alex Caram

Brookline extends their undefeated streak to nineteen games.

(Lynn MA) Nineteen straight games without a loss.

Brookline put the 19^th together this afternoon defeating Lexington, 2-0, in the Division 1 North finals at Manning Field.

Junior Maya Leschly paced Brookline with an assist and a goal.

The Warriors (15-1-5) will be back in Lynn on Wednesday in the D1 state semi-finals.

Their opponent will be determined in the D1 South finals between #1 Newton South and #10 Natick on Monday.

A win by Natick would lead to an interesting rematch with Brookline. Both teams are in the Bay State League and Natick has a win and a tie against the Warriors.

I saw Lexington put plenty of pressure on North Andover in their semi-finals victory. Not today. The Warriors did an excellent job of containing sophomore Aleia Gisolfi-McCready and freshman Kirsty Carnan.

“We haven’t been here before,” said Lex coach Alex Caram, “and they have. I think experience really played a factor.”

That lack of experience put Brookline on the board (24:49) in the first half.

Unable to clear, the Warriors had time to send the ball from the right to an uncovered Maddie Priebe.

Maddie Priebe (6) about to kick a bouncing pass

Maddie Priebe (6) gets her left foot into a shot

Shot on the way

The BHS junior put a strong left foot into a bouncing pass and beat Lexington goalie Eliza Stokes with a shot just inside the near post.

“Maddie is one of our smartest players,” explained Brookline coach Robert Sprague post-game. “She’s not a big player but she knows where to be to get that type of shot. She’s scored a handful of goals like that this season.”

Junior Maya Leschly had the assist: “We have been working a lot this week on getting wide and crossing it into the box. I did my part and Maddie had a great finish.”

In seeing Brookline for the first time, I hadn’t witnessed Katherine McElroy (Warriors goalie) in action. I had read about her, recruited by D1 Michigan, but hadn’t seen why. Now I know.

Goalie Katherine McElroy about to take a free kick.

Katherine McElroy

On Brookline free kicks, it was Katherine taking them. The first one I saw her take traveled over fifty yards! She took at least seven of them and they were all landing in the box area with plenty of pace on them. The only exception was a kick from straightway (I have a picture of it.) that went just over the crossbar. Credit Lex goalie Eliza Stokes for handling everything Katherine sent her way. What a weapon!

“We were prepared for her kicks and Eliza did well against them,” said Coach Caram. “We just couldn’t get behind the defense to really test her.”

Brookline’s one-goal lead carried into the second half.

Lexington, despite some good midfield play by Carolyn Lane, could not mount an attack with the formation they were using. Desperate times require desperate maneuvers.

“We went to three in the back,” said Coach Caram. “It was a chance we had to take to push our numbers forward.”

With fewer players defending, the Warriors collected the back-breaker at 7:39. Sophomore Sam Friedman raced down the right side and had time to send a pass to a wide-open Maya Leschly breaking down the middle. Brookline 2, Lexington 0.

Sam Friedman (19) about to get an assist on Brookline’s second goal

“We’ve been working on that back-post cross for about half the season,” recalled Coach Sprague. “Maya was in the right spot and took a nice touch on it. She made it look easy but in a big game like this it wasn’t really that easy.”

Maya Leschly: “Sam (Friedman) was so selfless. She saw me and passed it where I could shoot. It was a great pass.”

That was it for Lexington (11-7-4).

“No one expected us to even be here,” said Coach Caram. “I think we really elevated our play in the tournament and surprised a lot of people. We had great leadership and I’m so proud of these girls.”

The sun was shining but it didn’t fool anyone at Manning Field. There was a breeze that felt like the next season we experience in these parts.

Brookline has given up only eight goals in twenty-one games. They’ve scored thirty-nine goals.

Brookline is in the Bay State League while Lexington is in the Middlesex League.

Coach Caram: “We’re a really young team. Now we have experience for next year. Hopefully we can get back here again.”

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Brookline raises the trophy

Aleia Gisolfi-McCready chases down a loose ball

Brookline team with trophy

Carolyn Lane

Erin O’Brien (3) and Maddie Priebe (6) celebrate first goal

Jen Fiore (9) and Maya Leschly (17)

Lexington team with finalists trophy

Maddie Priebe chased by Carolyn Lane

Sam Friedman (19) and Sheyda Hershberger (2)

Sheyda Herschberger (2) and Avani Kabra (8)

Maya Leschly (17) seeks out Sam Friedman after 2nd goal

Maya Leschly in front and Isa Lundstrom Svahnqvist in back.

Lexington and North Andover wait on a corner kick

Aleia Gisolfi-McCready had the only goal of the game.

(Lowell MA) Wait until she gets the hang of it!

Lexington’s Aleia Gisolfi-McCready admitted afterwards that she’s scared of heading the ball and doesn’t do it very often.

It showed.

With just over two minutes left in the first half, teammate Carolyn Lane sent a free kick toward the far post. The ball went over the elevated Kirsty Carnan and right at Aleia.

Aleia ended up with a facial (“I got a fat lip out of it.”) but the ball went into the North Andover net.

That goal stood up and #8 Lexington won the Divison 1 North semi-finals 1-0 on Wednesday night at Cauley Stadium in Lowell.

The Minutemen (11-6-4) now move on to the D1 North finals on Saturday (2:15PM) at Manning Field in Lynn and will face #2 Brookline.

“It was an awesome win,” said LHS coach Alex Cram afterwards. “I’m really proud of them. They never stop. It’s such a team effort with this crew.”

Regarding the goal: “Carolyn Lane takes our free kicks. It was a little weird today because the corners here are short, so she had to adjust. I think that Aleia’s goal went in off her nose. Whatever works!”

Karen Oh (19) defends against Olivia Gotobed

Tough loss for North Andover. The #4 seed could not put any serious pressure on Lexington. The tell-tale stat for NA (12-5-4) was that they never had a corner kick.

“We couldn’t figure it out offensively,” said Knights coach Lisa Rasanen. “They (Lexington) won balls in the air. We needed to play more balls through on the ground.”

Regarding the goal: “They sent everyone up. They had one kicking and the other nine in the box. We couldn’t cover them all.”

Lexington’s Eliza Stokes has shutouts in all three D1 North tournament games.

The Knights may have had more shots, but Lex dominated the actual scoring opportunities.

Kirsty Carnan traps the ball

The sophomore/freshman combo of Aleia Gisolfi-McCready and Kirsty Carnan kept a very good NA defense busy. Aleia and Kirsty displayed speed, dribbling skills, and persistence.

That the only score would require a skill that is yet to be developed by this twosome was the biggest surprise.

“I scouted North Andover and I told the kids that tonight’s game was going to be a fight,” said Coach Caram. “They have great players and are dangerous up front. Tonight, our defense was able to handle them.”

Coach Rasanen: “I just wish we were more intense in the first half. In the second half we were more aggressive and took it to them but couldn’t figure out how to get the ball on goal. It just wasn’t our night.”

Aleia Gisolfi-McCready: “This is my first year playing with Kirsty. It has been nice having all the freshman on the team this year.”

Carolyn Lane gets ready for the free kick that led to the Lexington goal

North Andover is from the Merrimack Valley Conference while Lexington is from the Middlesex League. The two teams met three years ago, and the result was a 1-1 tie.

The playing surface at Cauley Stadium was very fast.

The weather (50 degrees) was a nice change from the persistent rain I faced yesterday at Masconomet.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge if you click on them.)