Lexington Girls' Soccer Edges Woburn, 1-0

Clouds descended upon the Lincoln Park fields on Tuesday, leaving the Lexington High School girls' soccer team to fend off both the erratic movement of the ball on wet turf and the aggressive Woburn High School girls' soccer team.

Lexington held off the elements and its opponent en route to a 1-0 victory over Woburn (3-4-2). But it was no easy task.

"There wasn't a margin of error, and there will be no margin of error," said coach Frank Pagliuca.  

He was proved right as the only goal came in the waning minutes of the first half when Alison Boreiko, a junior, headed in a contested corner.

To maintain the upper hand, the rain required that every touch on the ball be earned.

Nandi Mehta was tenacious in controlling the ball, contesting Woburn's Meaghan Finn for dominance in the middle. And Mehta distributed well to afford the team numerous legitimate attempts on goal.        

It was a hard-fought battle, demanding a lot of the Lexington defense. On those occasions when Lexington's energy seemed to flag, the defense pulled the team together with a carefully handled stop, allowing the Minutemen to regain momentum.

Nicole Walsh, one of those stalwart defenders, made great stands against Woburn's Allie Santullo and Katy Knight. Instead of kicking the ball away to skip along the slicked turf into the feet of her competition, Walsh skillfully passed it to her midfielders and fell back into position.   

"Nicole played well, and she's been contributing more and more," said Pagliuca, who was grateful for his team's evidenced resolve.

Goalkeeper Elissa Bowling was forceful in the 18-yard box, fighting to claim any ball that entered her zone.

The frustrations of Woburn coach Mike Higgins echoed across the field in bellows of "Come on," and "Why!?"  Woburn responded with escalated pressure on the Lexington defense in the final minutes of the game, but Lexington held strong and left the field with another win.

Lexington returns to action on Wednesday against Wakefield.