Charlestown Youth Soccer

Boys Under-10

Division 3C

Charlestown 1, Melrose 0 — The “Townies” (3-0-1) continue to steamroll, notching their second straight shutout victory and moving into sole possession of second place. This one would not come easy however as Melrose gave Charlestown everything they could handle, and then some. Goalie Matthew Coviello kept the game scoreless with a plethora of brilliant first-half saves while standout forwards Aidan Shea, John Guadian and Daniel Sigmund provided the offense. Owen Sullivan, who picked up the win, then made his debut in goal in the second half and consistently stymied the Melrose attack with aggressive breakups of oncoming rushers and quick pass-outs to his teammates. Sigmund also mesmerized the fans with several deft dribbling maneuvers and pinpoint passes before Shea turned in the play-of-the-game. With about six minutes left, sweeper Conor Kelly dribbled around an opponent and fed a nifty midfield pass to Shea, who bulldozed his way through the Melrose defense before one-timing a misdirection shot past the goalie. From there, defensemen Ryan Messer, Quinlan Carroll and Jeremy Shea made sure nothing got close to the goal to preserve the win.

Division 4D

By Carl Jahn

Charlestown 7, Medford 0 — Although the young “Townies” were winless going into their late afternoon away game, they were feeling pretty good about their prospects. They’d made steady improvements each week and appeared poised for a breakthrough game. What they didn’t count on, though, was being down two key team leaders at the start, forward Colin Delvalle to a late scratch and fullback Daniel Bryan, who missed the first half. The day, however, belonged to the Townies (1-4-0). Anchored by aggressive fullbacks Aedan Mcclaughlin and Oscar Eldh Jahn in the first half, and Anthony Sachek, Dominc Kennedy-Slesar and Aaron Wadman in the second half, the “Townie” defense controlled the midfield (between them the defenders managed over a dozen open field stops) and was able to keep pushing to ball forward with a slashing and darting attack that kept the Medford goaltender busy with an amazing 29 shots on goal.  In a game where the boys seemed, for the first time, to trust each other enough to make the extra pass that counted, everybody participated in the offensive onslaught, either with goals, assists, or breakaways. In the first half, Aaron Wadman scored twice, and Henry Alitz and Dominic Kennedy-Slesar once. In the second half, Oscar Eldh Jahn and Daniel Bryan moved forward to midfield with Eldh Jahn knocking two comebackers into the far corner and Bryan finding the back of the net with just 30 seconds remaining in the game. Daniel Kennedy had several breakaways and missed a pair of golden opportunities to notch his first scores of the season. Hats off to midfielder John Desimone, who had a few breath-taking rushes while still hustling back on defense, and to Sachek and McLaughlin, who recorded their first combined shut out.

Girls Under-12

Division 3C

By Karen Gentis

Charlestown 1, Somerville 0 — In a matchup against a much bigger and experienced Somerville team, the “Townie” girls, one of the youngest teams in the league, produced their gutsiest performance of the season to propel themselves into sole possession of third place. Charlestown (3-1-0) notched their third straight shutout as goalies Charisse Flanagan and Haley McLaughlin held the fort. Flanagan, in particular, was sensational as she came up with several spectacular saves in the closing minutes of the game under extreme pressure from Somerville. The game’s only goal came midway through the second half when midfielder Chloe Shea threaded a nifty pass to an open Jackie Gentis, who quickly blasted a canon shot inside the right goal post. Gentis, who also helped her team’s cause with several clutch clearing shots away from her own goal, was a menace throughout the game, consistently beating the opponents to the ball and deftly dribbling around defenders for quality offensive forays to the net. Sweepers Aisling Newhall, McLaughlin and Kailey Kennedy-Slesar also rose to the occasion frustrating Somerville with a fearless, aggressive defensive style and quick pinpoint clearing passes. Although both teams were evenly matched and produced plenty of offensive action and shots, it was the younger and smaller “Townies” who showed stamina and determination to pull out the victory.

Division 3B

By Shana Sylvester

Everett 4, Charlestown 2 — The Charlestown girls (0-4-0), once again, played an excellent game against and hustled up and down that field for the entire game. “Townie” captains for the game were Emily Pardy and Hannah Reed. Caitlyn McDermott had another great game in goal during the first half and Lauren Sweeney, her first time in net this season, did an excellent job stopping many shots during the second half. They were assisted by a strong defensive line-up, with Pardy in the center preventing many additional shots on net and using her skills to carry the ball up the field towards the Everett goal. Excellent control and ball skills were also seen by the feet of Caroline Adduci, who played both defense and midfield during the game. The Charlestown goals were scored by forward Maeve Fitz on a direct penalty kick to the right corner of the goal, and by Josie Hoyt on a breakaway. Forward Ruby Dunlea had a number of nice follow-through shots on net that almost resulted in additional goals for Charlestown. Isabelle Charbonnier and Hannah Reed both played an excellent game at forward and midfield, exhibiting strong passing skills which led to a number of breakaways rushes. The girls continue to show strong improvement with every game and always leave the field with smiling faces! Looking forward to another great game next Saturday against Reading at 4:30 p.m. in Charlestown.

Charlestown 0,  Melrose 1

A dazzling performance in goal by Nolan McLaughlin against Melrose on Saturday was not enough to prevent Melrose from a  1-0 win against the BU12-1 soccer team.  In a closely fought, highly physical match at the Medford Street field, Charlestown’s chance of a win was undermined by a goal from a penalty kick.  The puzzling decision by the referee to award a penalty to the Melrose team in the final 5 minutes of the match astonished spectators, upset the players and robbed Charlestown of a shot at a win.

Charlestown was clearly dominant from the early stages of the match breaking through the Melrose defense for several shots on goal by Michael Ward and Mark Williamson.  A strong Melrose goalie prevented the lads from taking the lead, however.  As Melrose developed momentum, they made a number of breaks towards the Charlestown goal only to be stopped by the formidable Charlestown defense and the specatcular saves of the athletic McLaughlin.

The second half of the match proved especially intense and kept the referee busy.  Yellow cards were handed out and a penalty was unjustly awarded to Melrose.  A disappointing loss for this maturing team as they go 2-2 for the season.  However, with five matches left there is plenty of quality, entertaining soccer left in this tough young team.  Up next: Reading at Charlestown on Saturday.

BU10-3

Charlestown 0,  Reading 1

The winning streak came to an end for the BU10-3 team when they faced off against Reading at home this weekend. It was a major upset for this C-town team with the final score 3-1. The Reading team’s defense was like a brick wall and try as they might, the Charlestown offense struggled to get past them to even get many opportunities to take shots on goal. Reading scored their first goal within the first couple of minutes of the game with a free kick at Charlestown’s goal that flew over everyone’s head right into the right corner of the net. The first class offensive line-up of Giancarlo Marte, Scott Sigmund and James Kenneally tried their hardest to tie up the game, scurrying all over the field to take control of the ball, but Reading maintained control of that ball for the majority of the game. Charlestown Goalie, Owen Sullivan, got quite the workout in w/ trying  block Reading’s relentless attempts to score more goals. The first half of the game ended with a score of 1-0, Reading in the lead.

The second half of the game started off with a strong line-up of Fergus Sullivan in Goal, supported by the dynamic defensive duo of Christopher Reed and Scott Sigmund, who did a great job of trying to prevent Reading from taking shots on goal. Jacob Dunne played his best game of the season with some awesome plays as wing. His speed and tenacity were out in full force for this game. Reading managed to score a 2nd goal, sneaking through our defense. Charlestown’s first and only goal of the game was the perfect play of a throw in by Scott to James, who quickly got the ball in front of the goal and took perfect aim at the Reading net, bringing the score to 2-1. By the end of the game, Reading scored their third goal, bringing the final score to 3-1. It was a tough loss, but this C-town team played hard and did a great job against this very strong, mature team from Reading.  

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