U12 Sculpins Sting Amesbury Raiders 4-0

This article was submitted by Christian Lau.

The have clearly put an opening week lose behind them with their second straight solid performance, a 4-0 win over the Amesbury Raiders at Phillips Park.

The Sculpins, a U12 boys soccer team playing in the Essex County Youth Soccer Association, were backed by a superior effort from Dan Johnson and Maxx Cooper who split the goalkeeper duties.

Johnson held down the Raiders in the first half turning away a number of shots especially in the opening fifteen minutes before the Sculpin offense got going. Johnson's highlight save was an acrobatic maneuver on a high shot at the cross bar where he stretched back for the stop and maintained his balance to stay out of the net.

Cooper took over the net in the second half and held back a flurry of Amesbury shots as they pushed to get on the scoreboard. Cooper fearlessly took on multiple dead-on shots to give Swampscott its first shutout of the season.

With the Swampscott net well protected, the Sculpin forwards took care of business at the other end with back-to-back goals in each half. The Sculpin scoring began at fifteen-minute mark when Kevin Coffey intercepted an Amesbury throw-in deep in the Raiders end.

Coffey passed it off to Jake Goldman charging the net from the right side. Before the defense could adjust, Goldman fired in the game winner into the right corner.

Some fancy footwork from Simon Keough led to a quick follow-up goal for Swampscott. Keough, deep in the Amesbury right corner, used multiple moves to get around a Raider defender and streamlined a pass to Coffey in the box. Coffey instantly got the shot off for a 2-0 lead.

In the second half the defense got into the attack as well. With Amesbury pressing for a score, defender Jake McIntire stopped a Raiders treat in front of his net and sent a long ball into the Amesbury half.

Coffey as striker, out raced the Raider defender to it, gave it two touches and drilled a right-footer into the left side for his second tally and third point of the match.

Hershel Muntiu, the right forward, brought the Sculpins right back for another attack on the next possession. Muntiu carried it to the right side of the box and with the defense collapsing in on him and the striker Goldman, Muntiu sent a long, low cross to the far left to connect with a wide open Cameron Lau.

Lau had plenty of room and plenty of net with a left-footer to close out the scoring.

Despite the goal differential, Amesbury did not fold and pressed to erase the zero especially in the final minutes.

Strong play from defenders Ryan Langan, Spencer Perkins, Thomas O'Keefe and McIntire never allowed that to happen. Perkins and O'Keefe physically dominated the box.

At midfield, Will Kingston, Colin MacRae and Brendan Laundry reeked havoc on the Raiders. Kingston, Laundry and MacRae used their speed and aggressive play to limit the Raiders' possession and smoothly turn play back into the offensive zone.

Next up for the 2-1 Scuplins is another home match against one of the league leaders, the Beverly Blitz.