By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
SAUGUS — The Lynnfield High boys’ soccer team held their season-ending team banquet on Jan. 5 at the Prince Restaurant in Saugus.
That night, head coach Brent Munroe gave out nine awards with eight of them going to his eight seniors.
The only non-senior to receive an award was Rocco Scenna as the junior midfielder took home the Offensive Player of the Year Award. The Cape Ann League All-Conference player had a team-high 14 goals to go with 11 assists as he finished had 25 points.
“He had an outstanding year,” stated Munroe.
The other eight awards went to the Pioneer 12th-graders. The LAA Scholar Athlete Award went to Alex Adrenni. Chris Calman received the Leadership Award while Charlie Morgan took home the Gritty Defender Award.
Goalkeeper, Kelan Cardinal, got the Shutout King Award as the CAL All-Conference player had 11 shutouts this year and 39 in his career.
Tyler Maddocks won the Versatile Award while Matt Reinold got the Highlight Film Award.
The final award went to Dylan Reilly as he received the GOAT Award.
Munroe was emotional about his senior class.
“This was a very, very, special class,” he stated. “Five of them I had as freshmen while two others joined as sophomores with the last one coming out this season.They were part of the most successful run in team history. When they were sophomores, we reached the third round of the tournament. Last year we won the (Division 4) state title and this year we lost in the state championship game. These guys were a main part of it.”
Morgan and Reinold were both CAL All-Stars this season.
“They were also a great bunch of kids,” added Munroe, who completed his 24th-year at the helm.
It was another memorable season for the Pioneers this fall. After winning the Division 4 state title last year, they reached the championship game again this season losing a heartbreaking, 3-2, game to Cohasset on Nov. 23 at Curry College in Milton.
Overall, the Pioneers’ final record was 16-4-3. In the CAL, they finished in second place in the Kinney Division behind North Reading.
“It was a huge success,” said Munroe. “We missed Dylan the entire regular season with his injury but the kids overachieved.”
Next year, the Pioneers are slated to return eight veterans led by Scenna.
“We have a lot of big shoes to fill and a lot of work to do,” admitted Munroe, about next year’s team. “We have six players coming back who saw significant minutes and four of them were starters.”
