Girls Soccer – Oliver Ames 3, Brockton 2
Soccer teams need tactical flexibility in the playoffs as match ups dictate moving personnel from one area of the pitch to another in order to maximize a squad’s strengths against particular opponents. Oliver Ames head coach Britt Sellmayer made several tactical decisions on Sunday evening against Brockton that led directly to the Tigers’ 3-2 win.
The decision that paid the biggest dividends was switching senior Clarissa Romero to forward and moving one of the team’s leading scorers, Nicole Taylor, back into the defense. Romero popped up with two goals, including the game winner with only eight minutes remaining, and Taylor was instrumental in keeping Brockton’s potent forwards in check.
“Clarissa Romero, two big goals for us, even Nikki Taylor, who did such a good job on Felicia Mulholland – they’re kind of interchangeable,” explained Sellmayer after the game. “Look at us. One game Nikki is up front and Clarissa is at the back and today we went with this mixture and it really worked.”
That was not the only move that Sellmayer made to try and combat Brockton’s skill players in the midfield. He also pushed junior Kate Holleran further forward and added her combativeness to the mix in the center of the pitch. In an extremely (at times over the top) physical game, Holleran was instrumental in breaking up the Boxers attacks.
“I thought Kate Holleran had a great game for us and really calmed down the midfield. We weren’t carrying the play in the first 20 minutes of the second half and we made an adjustment to move her into the middle to win more balls and stop them.”
Of course, tactical changes can always be outdone by moments of brilliance. Brockton senior Kaelyn Da Costa ensured the game would be tight with two long-range free kicks that found the top corner and brought the Boxers back from two goals down. Brockton also had a late chance to tie that came back off the crossbar.
Still, the ability to move players around and find the right lineup is crucial in the tournament when every game is win or go home. This is especially true for teams like Oliver Ames, which lack a scorer like Kristi Kirshe or Lauren Berman that can turn a game around in an instant.
When you are grinding out results, sometimes you have to hope that the right person is in the right spot at the right time. On Sunday, for Oliver Ames, that was Clarissa Romero.
Freshman Victoria Stowell scored 8 minutes into the game while her twin sister Alexis added a goal and an assist as the undefeated Panthers cruised by New Bedford, 4-0.
After Victoria gave Franklin the one-goal lead, Alexis buried a Kristi Kirshe cross top shelf in the 26th minute. Just 3 minutes and 22 minutes later, sophomore Taylor Cogliano cleaned up a rebound from an Alexis Stowell shot.
“It’s one game at a time,” Franklin head coach Tom Geysen said. “They’ve had a great season. If they want to continue then they have to continue to play and focus on the next game.:
Franklin freshman goalie Dani Lonati stopped a second-half penalty kick and Kirshe added a goal on a volley from the 18-yard line.
The top-seeded Panthers will now host 9th seeded Dartmouth High School on Tuesday at 6:00.
“I would give anything to keep playing,” Kirshe said. “I’ll do anything to keep this season going and I know my teammates will too.”
Senior Alicia Kutil dominated net play and the fourth-seeded Panthers took down fifth-seeded Algonquin inside the field house at Franklin High School.
“I thought we played exceptionally well today,” Franklin head coach Kate Horsmann said. “I honestly think it was a closer match then the score would indicate.”
Franklin won in straight sets 25-14, 25-18, and 25-15. Strong serving and defense were key for the Panthers.
“It’s amazing, because [Alicia’s] missed a week of practice,” Horsmann said. “She had an infection in her arm and we weren’t sure she was going to be able to play today. For her to come back and have that kind of game was terrific for us.”
Now Franklin will take on top-seeded Lincoln-Sudbury, who has only lost once this season, looking to extract revenge from two years around. The game will be played on Wednesday at 7. The location is TBD.
“We’re hoping for some revenge,” Kutil said. “They best us my sophomore year at Lincoln-Sudbury so we know they are a very good team. It’s going to be a tough game but we’re hoping to pull out the win.”
Oliver Ames scored all five of their chances from the penalty spot while Hockomock League Most Valuable Player David MacKinnon, the Tiger’s goalie, proved his worth by making a key stop on Franklin’s second attempt to help OA get by Franklin, 1-0, in penalty kicks.
The two Hockomock rivals played an incredibly competitive game but neither team was able to score. Even after 100 minutes of play, including two golden goal overtime halves, neither the Panthers or Tigers could find the back of the net.
A non-league draw against Brockton on the last game of the season proved pivotal for Oliver Ames, who didn’t fair too well in practice penalty kicks after the game against the Boxers.
“We worked on them quite a bit the last couple of days and it paid off,” OA head coach John Barata said. “Dave made a great save. What a game. It was everything I thought it was going to be. No one ever wants to get Franklin in the tournament. They are just a very good team.”
It was junior David Stapleton, who has been hampered by a leg injury since the Brockton game, that came up with the chance to win the game on OA’s fifth shot.
“I thought that if our goalie couldn’t save it, then probably no one could save it,” Stapleton said of his shot that he had practiced. “We knew we were going to have a hard physical game.”
Oliver Ames will now host — sort of — the 19th-seeded Walpole Rebels on Tuesday. Due to a confliction with Oliver Ames High School, the game will take place at neighboring Brockton High School at Marciano Stadium at 6:30.
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