AYER — Throughout its MIAA Division 4 postseason run, the Frontier boys soccer team has found moments of brilliance to keep its season alive. 

That moment never quite materialized on Tuesday in its semifinal contest against second-seeded Lynnfield. 

The 14th-seeded Redhawks had their chances throughout, generating multiple good scoring chances in the first half but nothing made it past Pioneers goalkeeper Kelan Cardinal. 

Lynnfield’s Dillon Reilly got behind the Frontier defense in the 55th minute to tally the opening goal of the game and the Redhawks were unable to answer, as the Pioneers moved onto the state finals with a 1-0 victory at Ayer Shirley High School. 

Lynnfield (16-3-3) will face the winner of No. 1 Cohasset and No. 4 East Boston in the championship game on Saturday, beginning at 12:45 p.m. at Curry College while the Redhawks’ season comes to a close. 

“It’s an incredibly successful season for us,” Frontier coach Evan Horton said. “Especially being the last western Mass. team getting to play. Obviously you want to take it the whole way but my goal in August is to play for three straight months and here we are. To me, that’s a success we’ve pushed it that far.”

In what was expected to be a rebuilding year after losing nearly their entire starting lineup from a season ago, Horton said he was proud of his team for fighting to reach their third state semifinal in four years. There’s no shame in falling to the defending Div. 4 champs. 

“We’re still trying to figure out how to win these big ones but the fact we’re here with 10 new starters says a lot about who we are and who we’re trying to be,” Horton said. “That’s a really good team. Most of those kids played on their team last year. That was mostly juniors who won the state title last year and I think you saw that today.” 

It was a great pass from Joel Anthony that set up the Pioneers goal. Anthony carried the ball at midfield and sent a beautifully paced through ball up the middle to a streaking Reilly, who used his speed to get behind the Frontier defense. 

Reilly collected the ball in stride just outside the box, took a few dribbles in and with Redhawks goalie Jack Cusson rushing forward, Reilly slipped a shot into the left corner of the goal that gave Lynnfield the opening goal of the contest. 

“You can’t give a kid like than an inch or he’s going to put it in the back of the net,” Horton said. “That being the difference in a game like that doesn’t disappoint me. We didn’t give anything up – they made one really, really great play. For them to beat us on a great play like that, I can live with.” 

Frontier (15-3-4) used its counterattacking ability to create chances in the first half, drawing the Pioneers defense in before springing chances the other way. 

“This was the kind of game I expected,” Horton said. “I thought we played an excellent first half and played to script. We took care of the attacking players on their end that we needed to. The chances we gave up I was OK with. I was totally happy going in [to halftime] 0-0. We had one or two chances so it’s not like we were sitting back. We did what we could against a really talented group of players.” 

The Redhawks played with a physical style that gave a powerful Lynnfield attack problems, but an injury to midfielder Gus Radner forced Frontier to change strategies in the second half. 

“I thought we were able to out-muscle them a little bit which I don’t think they were expecting,” Horton said. “That was part of our gameplan too. We had a feeling the second half might go a little more our way but Gus going down with an injury is tough. It’s tough taking a player like him out of the middle.” 

There was no quit in the Redhawks after letting up the goal. Frontier produced four corner kicks in the final eight minutes of the contest, but the Lynnfield defense stood its ground to keep its season alive. 

“A 1-0 game is fitting,” Horton said. “I thought we battled and I thought we were in it. It’s not like we held on for dear life and hoped they wouldn’t score. We had chances all the way to the end. I’m proud of the way they composed themselves.”