2015 HockomockSports Girls Soccer Awards

Franklin senior Victoria Stowell has been selected as the 2015 HockomockSports.com Girls Soccer Player of the Year. The midfielder was instrumental in the Panthers unbeaten regular season, in which they allowed only a single goal against, and sixth consecutive Kelley-Rex Division title. She was named a Hockomock All-Star by the league’s coaches.

Stowell finished the regular season with seven goals and 17 assists, many of them in Franklin’s biggest games including three goals in two games against division rival Mansfield and an “Olimpico” off a corner kick in the opening playoff game against Walpole.

Following the second game against Mansfield, which clinched the league title, Franklin coach Tom Geysen said of Stowell, “Anybody on this front line and in the middle can score against these teams, there are certain teams that they can’t and those are the teams you want to focus on.”

He added, “She steps up in big games.”

HockomockSports.com Managing Editor Josh Perry said, “Victoria is the complete midfielder. She has an incredible range of passing, but also provides defensive stability with her reading of the game and willingness to tackle while also jumping into the attack and providing important goals at important times.”

Stowell finished her four-year career with a state title, four league titles, two Div. 1 South titles, three sectional final appearances, and an overall record of 73-4-9. During that remarkable four-year run, Franklin lost only one regular season game.

Mansfield coach Kevin Smith said of Stowell, “Victoria is an extremely smart player.  She can beat you with the pass or dribble, and her movement off the ball creates defensively marking and covering issues. Her deliveries from set pieces, particularly direct kicks, are pinpoint and she is a threat to score from anywhere inside 45 yards.”

She is also the fourth straight Franklin player to win this award for girls’ soccer, following Kristi Kirshe in 2012 (split with Lauren Berman of Canton) and Taylor Cogliano in 2013 and 2014. Stowell is also the first soccer player, and third overall, to be named both Underclassman of the Year (2013) and Player of the Year in the same career.

Honorable Mentions: Francesca Calabraro (Oliver Ames), Hannah Reiter (Mansfield), Hana Caster (North Attleboro)

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HockomockSports.com 2nd XI

F – Alana Vincent, Taunton
F – Kristen Franzini, Milford
M – Paige Medeiros, Attleboro
M – Grace Guertin, North Attleboro
M – Riley Duserick, Canton
M – Jacqueline Mills, Oliver Ames
M – Jackie Carchedi, Mansfield
D – Lauren Rudolph, Franklin
D – Rachel LaBonte, North Attleboro
D – Trish Murphy, Mansfield
GK – Kayla Wentworth, Taunton

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North Attleboro sophomore Haley Guertin has been selected as the 2015 HockomockSports.com Girls Soccer Underclassman of the Year. Guertin spearheaded the Rocketeers attack and finished the regular season with 19 goals and 12 assists for a league-high 31 points.

Guertin helped the Rocketeers claim second place in the Kelley-Rex Division and partnered up top with senior Hana Caster to help North beat both division champions, Oliver Ames and Franklin, to reach the Div. 1 South semifinal.

When asked about Guertin after she had scored a hat trick against Taunton, Rocketeers coach Glenn Pasquel said, “She’s a player and she knows how to finish. I always say that Haley is that type of girl that you could drop a cone 50 yards away and she’ll drop it on top of that cone.”

HockomockSports.com Managing Editor Josh Perry added, “Guertin is the rare combination of touch and ability to read the defense. She can take on defenders and also knows how to be in the right spot to finish. Her ability to drop deep and run at the defense or make the right pass made North extremely dangerous in attack.”

Guertin is the first North Attleboro girls’ soccer player to win Underclassman of the Year and third North Attleboro player of any sport to win it (Hana Caster, girls’ lacrosse; Sean Young, hockey).

Honorable Mention: Rachel LaBonte (North Attleboro), Jacqueline Mills (Oliver Ames), Riley Duserick (Canton)

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Taunton head coach Edith Dixon has been selected as the 2015 HockomockSports.com Girls Soccer Coach of the Year. Dixon led the Tigers to an overall record of 9-9-3 and to the postseason for the first time in program history.

HockomockSports.com Managing Editor Josh Perry said, “Taunton has improved by leaps in bounds in Dixon’s short tenure as coach. The Tigers are a competitive team that battle you all over the pitch and this year put it all together to make history for the program.”

Taunton won its final two games of the regular season, including a 3-2 victory over Mansfield, to qualify for the postseason. In the playoffs, the Tigers went on the road to beat Wellesley 3-1 to earn the program’s first tournament victory.

Dixon is the fourth Taunton coach to be named Coach of the Year following baseball coach Jeff Sylvia and softball coach Dave Lewry, who has won the award each of the past two springs.

 

Honorable Mention: Britt Sellmayer (Oliver Ames), Tom Geysen (Franklin), Kate Howarth (Canton)