It took 80 minutes of regular time, two 10-minute overtime periods, and a round of penalty kicks, but in the end, Tabor Academy girls soccer edged out Thayer Academy 4-3 to win the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Class B championship.
Leading the way offensively was Cat Barrywho scored twice, including the game-tying goal on a free kick with nearly no time left in regulation. She also got the Seawolves started on penalty kicks, taking and scoring their first goal.
In addition to Barry and Jadah Bedoyawho scored Tabor’s other goal in regulation, Brooke Ingemiand Rylie Muttoneach scored on penalty kicks. Julia Shaunessystood tall at the net for the Seawolves when penalty kicks rolled around. The Tabor goalie saved Thayer Academy’s second penalty kick and fourth, securing the win.
Among the graduating Seawolves are Grace Ryan,Tali O’Leary, and Maggie Adams,all of whom are Marion natives. Adams and Ryan anchored the defense as Tabor’s center backs through the years, while O’Leary juggled responsibilities of midfielder and forward throughout her Tabor career, finishing with 19 goals and 14 assists.
Though their contributions on the field were monumental, the Class of 2019’s leadership is what kept the team on track from Day 1 of the season.
“We know we can count on our seniors to send the right message of team-first and we look out for each other. Again, that’s pretty selfless, but that’s what makes our team successful,” Tabor girls soccer coach Steve Sughrue said. “When everybody has their own agenda and everybody is looking out for themselves, it doesn’t matter how talented you are, you can only get so far. But when you all come together for a common cause… And that’s what the girls did since August.
“We got together before the season and set a list of habits and goals that we wanted to execute,” continued Sughrue. “Execute the habits and achieve the goals, and I look back on those and I see how well the girls did this fall and we had a lot of fun together because we knew that we were doing our best to achieve what we wanted to do together. And the experience is more meaningful when you’re a part of a group than when you’re on your own.”
Old Rochester Regional
Old Rochester Regional volleyball saw two Bulldogs, middle hitter Natalia Wierzbickiand libero Delaney Soucy, earn South Coast Conference All-Stars for the 2018 season.
Wierzbicki finish with 284 kills, 212 digs, and 77 blocks on the year. Her 284 kills rank seventh in Massachusetts and her 77 blocks rank 10th. Her 284 kills are also a single-season record for ORR.
Soucy set the Bulldogs single-season record with 466 digs after posting eight 25-plus dig games and three 30-plus dig games—with 37 being her season-high.
“It’s easy to say, ‘this player is the type of player every coach wants,’ but Delaney truly fits that category,” ORR coach Jimmy Oliveira said. “I coached her for four years – two being on JV and two being on varsity – and every single year she played a different position and she was open to it every single year.
“This year in the preseason in the jamborees, we had a ton of our attackers, but our passing looked like it needed help and [Soucy] was doing an awesome job to it, so I brought that to her,” Oliveira continued. “I said, ‘I know you’ve been an attacker the past three years, but you’re passing awesome. We need you to fill that hole.’ She said, ‘Absolutely, I’ll do that.’
“I wasn’t sure how it was going to go,” said Oliveira. “Serve-receive she was passing awesome and that was kind of the plan; we just need good serve-receive passes. The defense, hopefully, it would fit in. The things she did on the court are some things I couldn’t even coach, especially in the tournament. It’s not like she was just getting touches on these balls, this kid was getting these very difficult digs and we were able to run our offense off of that.”