Sports: Old Lyme girls beat Old Saybrook 3-0 in rematch of 2016 Class S soccer final
Johnson scores twice as Old Lyme gets best of rival Old Saybrook
Old Lyme — It seems that a regular-season game on Sept. 21 wouldn't have the same type of cachet as a state championship game.
Except that according to Old Lyme High School junior Mya Johnson, whose team beat Old Saybrook for the Class S title 1-0 last year, Thursday's game was one way to prove the Wildcats' last win in the series among the Shoreline Conference rivals was no fluke.
"Every team we come out and play," said Johnson, who scored a pair of goals in Thursday's rematch between the teams, won by Old Lyme 3-0. "Every team's going to want to come out and beat us. We're treating every game like a state championship.
"Old Saybrook's got a great team. Last year, they came out hard in the state finals. We want to prove us winning wasn't an accident."
Old Lyme (6-0) was coming off a 4-0 victory over East Hampton in a Shoreline game at home on Wednesday heading into the matchup with Old Saybrook (1-3-1), which won't count as a league game until next time the teams play on Oct. 16.
Still, there were bragging rights on the line, as well as a new 4-3-3 alignment that Old Lyme coach Paul Gleason tried out to give the Wildcats a more defensive look against Old Saybrook.
"We played an East Hampton team and 24 hours later had to play Old Saybrook," Gleason said. "We were hanging by a thread against an aggressive and hearty team like Old Saybrook."
Old Lyme sophomore Lydia Tinnerello broke the ice on a goal with 20 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the first half on a home run ball from about 30 yards out which sailed over the head of Saybrook keeper Kelsey True.
It appeared as if the 1-0 score might stand, mirroring that of last year's final, with Old Lyme outshooting Old Saybrook 12-1 but continously misfiring to all sides of the goal, including a shot by Keelin Hurrt which hit the crossbar.
Johnson, one of the players who had multiple opportunities to that point, finally made it 2-0 with a left-footed goal which rattled off the goalie and rolled into the net with 19:42 remaining. And Johnson had the final goal of the game with 9.1 seconds to go, getting behind True and finishing for her fourth goal of the season.
"My role's basically the same, staying up top," said Johnson, The Day's Player of the Year as a freshman in 2015, who has helped lead the Wildcats to back-toback Class S titles. "... You can't think about it. The goal's right there. Everybody's yelling, 'shoot.' That's the point you've got to stay calm."
Meanwhile Old Lyme senior goalie Emily Rivera continued her scoreless streak.
Rivera, a reserve for the Wildcats in the field on both state championship teams, replaced Katherine Petterson, who did not return to the team this season. Rivera has not allowed a goal, leaving the game against Griswold before the Wolverines scored the only two goals of the season so far against the Wildcats.
"She's pretty talented," Gleason said, also crediting goalie coach Jeremy Kiefer. "He's extremely talented at coaching goalkeepers and Emily is just exceeding our expectations."
"He started from ground zero with me," Rivera said. "... In the East Lyme game (season-opening 3-0 victory), there was so much pressure; I was so nervous. I kind of surprised myself. I think I've come a long way."
Senior midfielder Maddie Ouellette leads Old Lyme with six goals. The Wildcats now have a few days off before returning to conference play Tuesday at unbeaten North Branford. Old Lyme beat North Branford 1-0 last year for the Shoreline Conference tournament title.
Gleason was asked why dabble with a new formation, coming off a state title and remaining unbeaten.
"So we can find out if we can play different schemes for different types of teams," Gleason said. "We can revisit the old one (4-4-2) when we want to. This one makes our defense really hard to penetrate."