Lynnfield 3-29

MARCH 29, 2018 WEEKLYNEWS.NET — 978-532-5880 9
Sports
Boys basketball banquet held
PHOTOS | KRISTINE MARENGI
Lynnfield basketball captains with coaches, from left, coach John Bakopolus, captain
Clayton Marengi, captain Jack Cleary, and coach Scott MacKenzie.
Lynnfield boys basketball scorekeeper Debbie Parziale, left, and head coach Scott
MacKenzie, far right, pose with this year’s Rick Parziale Memorial Award winners,
Jason Ndansi and Matt Mortellite.
Girls lacrosse team deals with unexpected departures
By Anne Marie Tobin
LYNNFIELD — Following a record-setting year is
never an easy task, but the Lynnfield girls lacrosse team
will be looking to do just that when they open the 2018
season Tuesday at Melrose.
It won’t be easy.
“It will be tough as we lost more than I anticipated we
would at the end of last season and that hurt our depth
so we’re going to need some new players to step up,”
said coach Ethan Blanchette. “We lost several important
players, but have 10-ish players returning whom I would
consider starters, but we’re going to need some new
players to contribute.”
Last year was a season of “firsts” for the Pioneers,
which set numerous program records.
Going into last year’s season, Blanchette said the team
had three goals: to qualify for the North Division 2 tournament,
to host its first ever tournament game and to win
its first ever tournament game.
The Pioneers did that and more. They earned their best
seed in program history (No. 8) and received its first bye
in program history. They won their first tournament game
with a 7-3 victory over visiting St. Mary’s only to lose to
North champion Newburyport in the quarterfinals. They
set a record for most regular season wins (13), fewest
regular season losses (5), fewest goals allowed (115) and
lowest goals against average per game (6.4).
The Pioneers graduated just six seniors, so they have
experience in pretty much every position on the field.
The Pioneers lack experience in only one position, but
it’s a big one — goaltender.
The starting goalie the last two seasons has been Lauren
Vaccaro, but she transferred to St. Mary’s.
Blanchette is not worried, however.
“We have two freshmen goalies that are competing for
the starter’s spot,” said Blanchette. “Grace Magno has
some experience as she plays on a club team and we also
have Ava O’Brien who is in her first year playing lacrosse,
but she has done a nice job so far.”
This year’s team is one of the youngest in the 8-year
history of the varsity program with only three seniors on
the squad — middie/defenseman Gracie Sperling, attack
Liv Smyrnios and defenseman Hannah Filipe.
The good news, however, is all three, who will serve as
team captains, were all-stars last year and are top notch
when it comes to leadership.
“Not only are they, arguably, our three best players,
they are probably three of the best captains I have ever
had in terms of their leadership and their work ethic,” said
Blanchette. “They are vocal and passionate about sports.
Liv is just a pure lacrosse lover, and Gracie has learned
to love the game as well. Hannah, who also was a soccer
PHOTO | ANNE MARIE TOBIN
Lynnfield lacrosse captains are, from left, Liv Smyrnios, Hannah Filipe
and Gracie Sperling.
captain is also a great leader.”
Five juniors are also returning to this year’s team. That
group includes Ashley Barrett (attack), Brianna Barrett
(defense), Sophia Ellis (attack), Lexine Bucci (attack) and
Olivia Sarni (attack).
Sophomores Elizabeth Sykes (attack/middie) and Tori
Morelli (defense) are back for a second season.
“I’m very excited about these two sophomores,” said
Blanchette. “They are going to be two key players for us
this year.”
New to the team are juniors Jenna Lannon and Lauren
Gaudette and sophomores Mack Schena, Molly Ozanian,
Shannon Pierce and Maddie Burke, who all played JV last
year.
Also new is freshman Jenn Flynn, who had a breakout
season this winter with the Peabody/Lynnfield girls
hockey team.
Blanchette said the starting lineup is shaping up nicely
with Smyrnios, Ashley Barrett and Sarni returning up top,
Sperling, Sykes, Morelli and Ellis rotating in the midfield.
“One of the four middies will move back to defense with
Hannah, giving us three more players in Molly, Mack and
Brianna in the mix for the other two defense positions,”
Blanchette said. “I’m still not sure what our final opening
FILE PHOTO
Liv Smyrnios should be one of the mainstays
on this year’s team.
day lineup will be, but Brianna Barrett and Lexine, if they
don’t end up starting will be the first two off the bench.
They didn’t get much time last year, but I expect them to
play key roles this year.”
Lynnfield opens league play Wednesday, April 11
at home against 2017 CAL Baker Division runner-up
Manchester-Essex at Pioneer Stadium.
The Pioneers biggest tests of the season will be in early
May. Lynnfield takes on defending CAL Kinney champion
Newburyport May 8 at home, which was undefeated
in league play last year, went to the state semifinals, and
finished with a record of 20-1. Two day later, the Pioneers
travel to Ipswich for a match against 2017 CAL Baker
champion Ipswich, which lost to the Clippers in the north
final last year.
“It will be tough to top last season, but I’m hoping for
a season similar to last year and a winnable tournament
game is realistic,” said Blanchette. “Our schedule is a
little tougher and all the usual suspects will be strong —
Newburyport will be excellent, I think Manchester-Essex
will be very strong, along with Masco and Ipswich, who
will likely be down slightly, but still strong. Our season is
very manageable and I think something would have to go
very wrong for us to miss the tournament.”