Pioneers to be without ’23 CAL Player of the Year Dillon Reilly
THE REIGNING Div. 4 State Champion LHS boys’ soccer team kicked off their 2024 season on Tuesday at Triton after press time. Their next game is at home on Thursday, 4 p.m. against an always-strong Newburyport team. (Courtesy Photo)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — The 2023 season was an historic one for the Lynnfield High boys’ soccer team as they won the MIAA Division 4 state title defeating Monomoy, 1-0, at Scituate High School last November. The Pioneers finished the year at 19-2-2 overall.
They were also the Cape Ann League Kinney Division champions going 13-1-1 in the league.
Five seniors graduated and one exchange student went back home from that roster as the team lost six players overall.
When fall camp opened on Aug. 19, 24th-year head coach Brent Munroe welcomed back eight veterans with seven of them being starters.
The big news of the off-season is that the team will be without senior striker Dillon Reilly this season as he had surgery last week due to a stress fracture.
Reilly was the CAL Player of the Year last season. The two-time CAL First-Team All-Star had 27 goals and 14 assists to lead the league.
“That is a huge loss for us,” stated Monroe.”He was going to be a big factor for us and now we are going to have to play a different style of offense. We are still going to be a good team but it is going to hurt not having him.”
Reilly has committed to playing at Trinity College in Hartford next year.
Along with Reilly, the other captains this season are seniors Charlie Morgan (defenseman), Chris Calnan (defenseman), Kelan Cardinal (goalie) and junior Rocco Schena (midfielder).
Morgan and Reilly are second-year captains.
Calnan was a CAL First-Team All-Star last year while Morgan and Cardinal were both CAL Second-Team All-Stars last fall.
The other two starting veterans back are senior midfielders Joel Anthon, Matt Reinold and Tyler Maddocks.
Brendan Reilly, Dillon’s brother, is the other Pioneer back and he is a sophomore.
Lynnfield had a busy pre-season which featured four scrimmages against St. John’s Prep, Swampscott, Marblehead and Wilmington.
The team is slated to play an 18-game regular-season schedule as they will play the Kinney schools twice and the Baker Division teams once.
Lynnfield will have two non-league contests as they will face Masconomet and St. Mary’s of Lynn.
Being the defending state champions means opponents will be geared up to knock the Pioneers off in every contest according to Munroe.
“We have a big target on our backs,” he admitted. “I remember last year when we beat Newburyport the season after they won the state title and it felt like we won the championship.”
Munroe also knows how tough the league is this year.
“North Reading and Newburyport are both very strong teams this year,” he pointed out.
Lynnfield opened the 2024 campaign at Triton on Sept. 3 (results not available at press time). The home opener is on Sept. 5 as Newburyport comes to town for a key early-season match-up at 4 p.m.
On Sept. 10, the Pioneers go to Danvers to take on Essex Tech with that game starting at 6 p.m.
