Kick off boys’ soccer season with big win over Lynnfield
Published September 12, 2019
By DAN NUNN
NORTH READING – After losing 14 seniors from last season’s squad, the 2019 NRHS boys’ soccer team will be a relatively inexperienced group but should have the talent to return NRHS to the state tournament for the first time since 2016.
“Youth and inexperience will definitely be our biggest challenge,” said head coach Mark Bisognano. “We have a lot of underclassmen who will figure prominently throughout the roster. We will certainly rely on those who have some varsity experience, but the underclassmen are clearly a talented group and I think that they will improve exponentially over the course of the season.”
Eight varsity contributors return from last season. Senior captains Cam Chinchillo, Will Carpenter, Ryan McKinney and Justin Capezzuto; juniors Sam McGeachie, Nick Pasquale, John Tramontozzi and sophomore Kiernan Schultz are back in the fold.
Carpenter returns as the goalkeeper while Tramontozzi will lead the backline.
“John (Tramontozzi) is a solid defender who reads the play well and always has himself in a good position.”
SENIOR CO-CAPTAIN Ryan Mckinney and sophomore Kiernan Schultz battle a Lynnfield opponent for possession. Schultz scored the game-winning goal in North Reading’s 1-0 season-opening win over Lynnfield while co-captain Will Carpenter posted a shutout.
He will be joined by juniors Guilherme Silva, Joey Caviasca and Nick Pasquale and sophomores Cody Cannalonga, Schultz and Quinn Riesenberg.
The midfield will be manned by McKinney, McGeachie, seniors Lewis Greenstein, Stephen Vontzalides and Michaelangelo Tsaparlis; juniors Gavin Tingley and Maguire Koepke and sophomores Aiden Nadeau and Landon Phillips.
Chinchillo and Capezzuto are the most experienced scorers and will be helped by Nadeau, sophomores Alex Carpenter and Jacob Mikulski and freshman Joshua Stanieich. Stanieich is the first freshman who has started the year playing varsity soccer for North Reading since 2002 when there weren’t enough players to have a JV team.
Beat Lynnfield
Sophomore Kiernan Schultz scored with 10 minutes left to propel the Hornets to a 1-0 win on Friday night under the lights in Lynnfield.
The first half started out with the Hornets controlling the tempo and forcing Lynnfield to chase the game. Cam Chinchillo had the best chance of the half when he was sent in on a diagonal long ball from Schultz. He had the keeper in no-man’s land, but his header went just wide. The game remained scoreless at the break.
Lynnfield came out flying at the start of the second half and had their best chance in the opening minutes, but Carpenter made a huge save in close. The game stayed deadlocked until the 70th minute when NRHS put together a great attacking move.
Junior Nick Pasquale and Chinchillo combined on a “1-2” play down the right wing. Pasquale then found sophomore Aiden Nadeau who quickly played the ball to freshman Josh Stanieich who turned and slid the ball to Chinchillo deep on the right side. Chinchillo picked out Schultz with the cross who headed the ball into the net.
The last 10 minutes of the game were physical and frenetic, but the defense held strong for the win.
Fall to Pentucket
The Hornets suffered a hard luck 1-0 defeat against the Pentucket Sachems in their home opener on September 4.
North Reading controlled the ball for long stretches of the first half, but were unable to break down the Sachems defense. As the half moved along, Pentucket was able to put some long range shots on net which were easily saved by Will Carpenter. Unfortunately though, with three minutes left before halftime Pentucket caught a break when they intercepted a clearance and their shot from 35 yards out found its way through a tangle of legs into the bottom right corner of the goal.
In the second half, the Hornets found their footing and started working their way back into the game. Captain Ryan McKinney and Sam McGeachie took control of the middle of the field and were able to find freshman striker Josh Stanieich who was able to put a couple shots on goal.
The Hornets put on a big push in the final 10 minutes looking for the equalizer. Senior captain Cam Chinchillo had the best chance off a cross from McKinney but he put the shot barely over the crossbar and the Sachems held on for the win.
