Girls defeat South Shore Christian
Boys' soccer squad carries on despite injuries
BY LINDAWILLIAMS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Both the Nantucket boys' and girls' varsity teams had back to back home games last Friday and Saturday. The boys rebounded from an injury plagued previous weekend's competition that resulted in two ties and two straight wins. On Friday, Nantucket faced off at home against South Shore Christian, a perennial playoff contender.

Although Nantucket lost three starters to injury and one to ineligibility over the past week, with another player out since the beginning of the season with a broken wrist, the team played as a unit, not missing a beat with the insertion of several JV players into the starting lineup. So far this season, several JV players have also seen duty on the varsity squad making the transition smoother. What looked like a season in doubt has turned into a season of promise despite the devastating loss of key players.

South Shore Christian, though fast on its feet, could not get close to the net for the first eleven minutes of the match. Keeper Russell Bartlett made a highlight film save when the Nantucket defense was beaten in the box. On what would have been a certain goal, Bartlett charged out of the net to challenge the opponent who then fired the ball at point blank range. Bartlett managed to block the ball, deflect it and then snag it off the ground as the SSC player had his toe on it.

SSC was not able to get another quality shot on Bartlett until halfway into the second half, having been shut out to that point, when a rifled shot came from the corner of the box into the far corner of the net, catching Bartlett and the entire defense momentarily flatfooted and motionless.

Unusually, two of Nantucket's goals were not scored by Nantucket players, but by own-goal miscues on the part of SSC. Two minutes after Carl Stevens had notched Nantucket's first goal twenty minutes in, there was a scramble in front of the SSC net with the ball ping-ponging from player to player, including the goal keeper, only to have the last person touching it wearing the dark blue shirt of SSC to put Nantucket up, 2-0. Though Nantucket lost fire power, Nantucket's defensive duo of Jasper Young and Henry Farrell continued to patrol the area in front of Bartlett and shut down attackers. Nantucket's third goal came off another own-goal when a Nantucket corner shot took a high bounce in front of the keeper only to be headed into the net rather than out by a SSC player. Nantucket scored one more time when Farrell dropped a long pass onto the foot of JV player Roneik Gordon waiting in the box. Gordon took a few steps and fired past the keeper to make it 4-1.

What was notable about this game was the good sportsmanship exhibited by both teams and the clean manner in which both teams played. Notable about Saturday's game against Methuen, was the opposite, particularly in the second half when Methuen came out taking no prisoners, again aided by the referees, a running theme this season. The match was much tighter with Nantucket taking the slim early lead, 1- 0, on a play that looked like it was scripted. Stevens took the ball deep into the corner to the left of the net. Under intense pressure from Methuen, Stevens managed to pass the ball to JV player Luke Daniels keeping watch at the center top of the box. Daniels one touched it and passed it deep into the right corner to a waiting Sebastian "Joe" McFarlane who then wove through the defense to snake the ball past a screened keeper. Neither team had any advantage in the first half and there was little to indicate what was to come after the break.

The Methuen coach must have instructed the players to start playing more aggressively to try to knot the game, because there were bodies hitting the turf all over the field, two yellow cards handed out to Methuen of the several that could have been called on them but were not, including a punch in the face of a Nantucket player that sent him falling to the ground and down for several minutes. Methuen players were yelling at the refs, high kicking, pulling shirts, tripping and shoving. Despite the fact that the refs appeared to have lost control of the game, Nantucket kept its focus and fought hard allowing Gordon to be set up by Farrell, as he was on Friday, to give Nantucket the insurance goal at 2- 0 and the win despite a majority of the action having been kept in Nantucket's end. This was a hard earned win that solidified the team and should bode well for the rest of the season. Bartlett racked up at least eight quality saves, under almost constant pressure in the second half.

The field conditions were not helping either. Players from both sides were slipping on the grass and uneven areas. The turf had been torn up and destroyed at spots on the field, allegedly as a result of a football practice that was held on the soccer field before the varsity and JV boys' teams had their night games under the lights of the football field against Martha's Vineyard two weeks ago. Several players reported that football players had come up to them in school the next day and apologized for tearing up the field.

The Nantucket varsity girls also hosted South Shore Christian on Friday with similar results, a 3-0 win. Kate MacLellan, Brianna Vittorini and Shantal Hanniford all tallied for the Lady Whalers. MacLellan had the privilege of ticking off the first goal on the new scoreboard posted in the northwest corner of the field. It is more entertaining for the fans when they know what the score is and how much time is left. Vittorini controlled the midfield area for most of the game. Hanniford and Sarah Poor split duty between the posts.

Saturday, the girls faced Whitinsville Christian School before the boys' game, losing, 2-1, in a tight match that could have gone either way. After a sloppy first half in which WCS scored off the opening face off and an ugly goal that took an odd bounce over Sarah Poor's head on the torn up turf, Nantucket got its act together in the second and played ball control, narrowly missing finding the back of the net on several occasions. Again, the quality of the refereeing appeared to have a negative impact on the home team. Nantucket's opponent was rough, with several apparent handballs not called, and the game was allowed to become chippy throughout. Hanniford just missed tying the game seconds before the final whistle when a well placed cross floated up and skidded off the top of the crossbar.

Nantucket's varsity teams next host Norwood on Sunday, October 7, at 1 p.m.. (girls) and 3 p.m.

(boys). I