Mollie Lynch | McClelland Miscellanea

Plenty of pressure in the Innovation end throughout the game

Mollie Lynch gets a point-blank shot off on Hawks goalie Melissa Fonseca

(Amesbury MA) Amesbury pressured visiting Innovation Academy from start to finish and won their Division 4 First Round game, 6-0, on Friday night at Landry Stadium.

The #6 seed Indians (10-4-5) will play #3 seed Matignon next on Monday.

Amesbury racked up three goals in the first half and substitute Schuyler Snay had assists in two of them. In both cases, Schuyler sped along the right sideline before finding teammates Chelsea Lynch and Maia Etsy in the middle.

After two point-blank shots by the Lynch cousins (Mollie and Chelsea) it was Mollie who converted a rebound to open the Amesbury scoring at 19:58.

Michaela Halloran had a goal disallowed for colliding with Innovation goalie Melissa Fonseca late in the first half. My photos would suggest otherwise.

Emily Reed (3) and Ashley Pettet (8)

Less than two minutes into the second half sophomore Ashley Pettet tallied a low bullet from the left. Ashley was the best player on the field from where I was watching. She constantly created space for herself and found teammates with excellent passes.

Emma Richardson finished off a Mikayla Porcaro throw-in to collect the 5^th Indians goal.

Two plus minutes later freshman Sophia Carter used a strong left foot the garner the home team’s final goal.

The Hawks of Tyngsboro (8-6-5) had plenty of speed but couldn’t get any sort of passing attack in motion. Good Amesbury defense led by Emma DiPietro, Hannaih Burdick, and Mikayla Porcaro spelled the difference.

Emma Richardson (25) scores on a throw-in

No question that Mikayla Porcaro’s long throw-ins created problem in front of the Innovation goal.

Ashley Pettet had some very dangerous corner kicks for the Indians.

Plenty of students on hand supporting the AHS girls soccer team.

I knew that identifying Innovation players would be an adventure when the game program had their names without numbers. I also discovered that the MIAA roster for the team was inaccurate.

Surprised that there were no announcements about the specifics of each goal.

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

Amesbury celebrates a tourney win

Sophia Carter (26) and Ashlee Porcaro (14) in on GK Melissa Fonseca

Innovation Academy team

Sunset before the game

Contact as Ivana Dauwer, Mollie Lynch, and Sydney Mallen watch

Sarah Milne (4) and Michaela Halloran (9)

Ashley Pettet dribbles to daylight

Chelsea Lynch in on goal

Eyes on the ball

Sarah Milne and Mollie Lynch

Where’s the ball?

Amesbury celebrates first goal

Chelsea Lynch (12) looks to head

Maia Etsy (15) shoots and scores assisted by Schuyler Snay (1)

In front of the Essex Tech goal was a busy place most of the afternoon.

Cape Ann League All-Star Emma DiPietro (11) looks to pass

(Amesbury MA) A month ago it took a penalty-kick save by Indians goalie Alli Napoli to preserve a scoreless tie.

This time around it was all Amesbury as they routed Essex Tech, 5-0, on a cold, breezy Monday afternoon at Cashman Elementary School.

The non-league match involved two Division 4 teams who could meet again in the MIAA tournament.

ET (12-4-2) had won nine straight before losing to Georgetown and now Amesbury, both from the Cape Ann League.

The Hawks from Danvers have dominated their league (Commonwealth Athletic Conference) the last few seasons but this season’s short sample suggests that the competition is more rugged in the CAL. One of ET’s other defeats was to another CAL team, Triton.

Amesbury (9-4-5) had a slim 1-0 advantage after the first half. Credit the Hawks defense led by junior Skylah Mahon-Dixey for some of that. The Indians hit the goal post (Emma Richardson) and the crossbar (Chelsea Lynch) in that first half.

The only goal of the half belonged to senior Mollie Lynch. Mollie got in close from the left and overpowered freshman GK Olivia Cassidy early in the half.

The shot of Mollie Lynch (19) goes over ET goalie Olivia Cassidy

Things got off to a bad start for Essex Tech in the second half. Senior Ella Spiess chased a ball that Amesbury GK Alli Napoli was sliding out to save. The two collided and Ella landed on her back and left the game. Ella is the Hawks second leading scorer with thirteen goals.

Ella Spiess flies over Amesbury goalie Alli Napoli

After a Chelsea Lynch near-miss (wide left) a long punt by GK Alli Napoli sent Chelsea away for a long run down the middle. Chelsea sped in close and didn’t miss. Alli should have an assist on that second goal.

Chelsea Lynch (12) finds the far corner for Amesbury’s second goal

Essex Tech never gave up but the chances for Amesbury kept coming. The Indians had only nineteen goals in seventeen games coming in but you couldn’t tell that by the way they pressured the visitors in this game.

A good example of pressure was the number of corner kicks that Amesbury had. In the second half two of those corner kicks turned into goals.

The third goal belonged to Ashlee Porcaro who parked in front of the net on teammate Ashley Pettet’s CK. A loose ball turned up in front and it was an easy finish for the freshman.

Ashlee Porcaro (left 14) set to cash in a loose ball

A later CK, by Emma DiPietro, was mishandled by Hawks GK Olivia Cassidy and junior Michaela Halloran had a juicy setup on the doorstep which she converted.

Michaela Halloran (9) eyes the goal she just scored

Mikayla Porcaro turned a throw-in into a goal

The final goal was a throw-in by senior Mikayla Porcaro which she literally threw into the goal. The throw-in was high and Olivia Cassidy jumped in vain for it.

Christine Russo (nineteen goals, three assists) made several good runs for the Hawks in the game. Amesbury, however, had three second-team Cape Ann League All-Stars (Alli Napoli, Julia LaMontagne, and Mikayla Porcaro) as their final three defenders so the chances for ET were few.

Amesbury’s two first-team CAL All-Stars (Emma DiPietro, and Ashley Pettet) played that way. They controlled the ball without panicking and could get by defenders often with clever dribbling. Their passing was excellent.

Some things are what they are. The Cashman Elementary School field leaves plenty to be desired. Uneven, muddy, and minus a scoreboard would be starters. There will be no tournament games there.

For a team like Amesbury, which had only nineteen goals in seventeen games, to get five in one game was a nice way to end their regular season.

This was the Indians first winning season in a while. The previous three have been, 5-10-3 (2015), 5-12-1 (2014), and 6-10-1 (2013).

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