Winthrop makes an impressive showing in Essex County playoffs

Winthrop Youth Soccer was well represented in the Essex County Youth Soccer Association (ECYSA) Championship Playoffs which took place the last four days. Six of nine Winthrop teams earned the right to be playing in the postseason. The teams making it to playoffs were both U-12 girls teams, the Winthrop Belle Isle Athletics and the Winthrop Beach City SC. Both U-14 girls teams, The Winthrop Mist and The Winthrop Fire, a U-16 girls team, the Winthrop Crush, and the U-14 boys team, the Winthrop AC Cellucci.

This weekend’s constant rain didn’t cause any games to be canceled, but with some of the showcase fields closed at the Pingree School in South Hamilton, organizers were left scrambling to obtain fields and make last-minute changes to get all the games in. ECYSA was required to complete their games this Sunday in order to send the winners to the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions at Citizens Bank Fields at Progin Park in Lancaster this past weekend, June 26-28.

The only teams to make it past their first

games were the two U-12 girls teams and one of the U-14 girls teams. After a 7-0 win over Middleton, the U-14 girls Winthrop Fire got behind early and never recovered in their 6-0 loss to Saugus. The two U-12 girls teams faced each other in the semifinal game after the Belle Isle Athletics won impressively over Andover 4-0 and the Beach City SC put away North Reading 2-0. The Belle Isle Athletics came out on top, 3-1. In the

Championship Game, they took a 1-0 lost at the feet of the Marblehead Minutemen.