Under the lights of McCarthy Stadium and a persistent November rain, both the boys and girls Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School varsity soccer teams advanced in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) state tournament with dominating wins on Monday.
The Vineyard girls took down the Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School Bulldogs 5-1, while the boys team shutout the Cardinal Spellman High School Cardinals 5-0.
With the wins, the girls will take on North Reading High School on Wednesday at 3 pm in North Reading and the boys will face off against Chicopee High School in Chicopee on Wednesday at 6 pm.
In the girls game Monday, it was senior captain Eleanor Mone (No. 10) who opened the scoring. On an assist from Leah Thomson’s (No. 15) corner kick, Mone was able to head the ball out of the air toward the net which the keeper was able to stop. But Mone rushed the rebound, sliding between bulldog defenders and hitting the ball past the sprawled out Bulldog goaltender to take the lead 20 minutes into the first half.
Montachusett responded with a goal of their own 11-minutes to go in the first half, but Laney Light (No. 2) scored another for the Vineyarders with a low hard shot and no time to spare in the half.
Just three minutes into the second half, Mone struck twine again, pulling up on the left side corner of the Bulldog’s penalty box to take a chest high shot going in short side past the bulldog’s tender to bring the score to 3-1 Vineyard.
Senior captain Reese Malowski (No. 6) scored the next goal for the Vineyard, taking a shot that struck the cross bar before going into the net from just outside the top of the penalty box, bringing the score to 4-1.
Thomson capped the scoring off for the night with a low and quick shot after a scramble low in the bulldog’s penalty box.
The Vineyard girls rushed to celebrate at centerfield with freshman keeper Lucy Doyle (No. 00).
Head coach Matt Malowski said some half-time adjustments made the difference Monday.
“We dominated the first half but we were a little sloppy on a couple of those counterattacks which they ended up getting a goal out of,” Malowski said. ”At half-time I told them you’re not gonna get the perfect setup, just pull the trigger, and so that’s what they did in the second half.”
In the boys game just five minutes in, Caleb Miller (No. 17) headed a corner kick from Victor Daghetti (No. 12) into the Cardinal’s goal.
The Vineyarders dominated offensive zone possession throughout the remainder of the half but still only led 1-0.
Five minutes into the second, Daghetti received a pass from Miguel Mantesso (No. 16) on the top left corner of the Cardinals penalty box, sending a shot to the top right of the net to bring the score to 2-0 for the Vineyard.
Three minutes later Mantesso took a hard shot from 10-yards outside the penalty box to the far low side of the Cardinal’s net to add another onto the VIneyarders’ lead.
Lucas Souza (No. 7) scored another for the Vineyarders with 16:50 to go in the second half, battling for ball possession in front of the net before getting a quick low shot off to bring the score to 4-0.
Miller scored the night cap, recovering the ball off a scramble in front of the net, shooting another low right side shot with five minutes left in the game to bring the score to 5-0 for the VIneyarders.
“They came in here knowing that if they lost, it’d be all over for them,” said head coach Honorato. “The seniors really showed a lot of heart and passion today, so I just gotta give it up to them, they exceeded all my expectations.”
Very exciting to see the girls soccer team mentioned in the Boston Globe this morning (11/6) along with a picture of the girls rushing the goalie. So great for the girls!!!
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