Varsity girls soccer fall just short of playoff birth
BY LINDAWILLIAMS
At the beginning of last week, Nantucket's first-year varsity girls' soccer squad found itself unexpectedly in the playoff hunt. "We have come on strong at the end of the season and they deserve it," an enthusiastic Coach Jorge Rojas stated. The team started with a 4-6-3 record and finished the week at 6-7-3 in need of at least one win and one tie out of the last two games.

Nantucket rolled past Sturgis 3-1 last Monday. Shantell Hanniford racked up two goals on Kate MacLellan assists, and MacLellan sent a Justine Paradis shot home, after it rebounded off the post for the third goal and a halftime lead of 3-0. Rojas experimented with different configurations on the field with his eye on the upcoming Martha's Vineyard game. "I was trying something new in the 3-5-2 set up and it worked for the first half but not so much in the second half." He took the blame for the lack of production in the second half. "It was my fault subbing in and changing positions which lost the rhythm of the game and disrupted the flow." On the positive side, no goals were scored against Nantucket with the change in formation.

Next up, was Savio Prep on Wednesday away. Earlier, Savio had dueled Nantucket to a 2-2 tie. Rojas felt that this game was a "winnable game" despite the opponent's position at the top of the Central Catholic Small Division, and the presence of the second leading

scorer in Eastern Massachusetts on the team. "We

should have won that first game, but this time we were a different team and were really clicking with good chemistry on and off the field".

After Savio scored within the first ten minutes, Nantucket's Whitney Jennison sent a wind aided "perfect shot" into the net from 30 yards out on a MacLellan assist. The pair had worked on the set play all week in practice and "it was great to see it work in a game" Rojas said.

Aileen Fredericks scored off a low penalty kick that skidded past the keeper for 2-1 at the half. In the second, Paradis put the game out of reach scoring on a wall clearing direct kick that curved in just under the crossbar. Rojas made a key change in mid-field to shutting down Savio's number one playmaker, and allowing Paradis to man-mark her, frustrating the opponent and ensuring the 3-1 victory.

On Thursday, Rojas felt the team "just ran out of gas" playing Cohasset away after coming home on the late boat from Savio the night before. "We did not have it getting on the boat and were not going to find it in the game because everybody was tired." Rojas told the team to "forget about the 8-0 loss and concentrate on the Vineyard game on Monday".

The team faced Martha's Vineyard on Monday in a pivotal game that Nantucket needed to at least tie to stay in the race. The 3-1 loss unfortunately ended

Nantucket's bid for the post-season. The game was evenly played, but according to Rojas the Vineyard's mental toughness made the difference. Rojas has long held that soccer "is 80 percent mental and only 20 percent physical" and it seemed to prove true in this game.

Though Nantucket scored first within the first two minutes of the game off a Paradis direct kick that was tapped in by Mandy Cahill as it streaked across the front of the goal, the lead was short lived. The Vineyard was "pumped up for the last game of the season on home turf and we were not ready to face that" a disappointed Rojas stated. The break found the teams knotted at 1-1.

The Vineyard kept the pressure on throughout the second half and wore Nantucket down. Uncharacteristically, Rojas did not make many subs, and relied on the starters to pick up the pace for the last 15 minutes. "I was very proud of them for continuing to fight until then end. We did not control the game and did not play with our feet like we usually do and that was a key point. We can usually control the ball and we could not put more than three passes together today."

Rojas was thoughtful after the Vineyard game. "I want the team to finish the story with character and it would have been a perfect ending if the team had won. To be in a position to work with the mathematics trying to get into the playoffs in our first year is a great thing."

The team was scheduled to play its last game on Tuesday against Mashpee but the score was not available at press time.

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