Four teams secure playoff berths
BY LINDA WILLIAMS INDEPENDENT CORRESPONDENT

Almost half of the nine Nantucket Student Soccer Association teams will continue in post season play this weekend. It was a successful season for most of the teams, with some of the younger teams ranking in the top of their divisions.

The U11 girls knew they were destined for the playoffs before they took the field in New Bedford on Saturday. Playing for position and home field advantage on a synthetic turf field for the first time, Nantucket controlled the game in the 90 degree heat and came away with the convincing 5-1 victory. Kate Daniels scored first, off an assist by Margaret Troast and Olivia Slade, only a few minutes into the game, after her first hard shot knocked the goal keeper over and out for a few minutes. A minute later, Nora MacLellan faked the keeper out and nailed one into the corner off her left foot after Daniels stole a mishandled pass and sent the ball into a poaching MacLellan. Nantucket went into the half with the 4-1 lead, after Daniels scored again off a feed by Hannah Perry and after picking up a throw in by MacLellan, deep in Nantucket's end and threading her way up for the goal. Daniels notched her sixth hat trick of the season just after the second half got underway and then added icing on the cake with her fourth. Keeper Renee Perkins was tested four times.

On Sunday, the girls faced the undefeated division leading Westport, a former Division 1 team, before a home crowd with first place on the line for both teams. A win for Nantucket, would give them the bye and in a tie for first place. A loss would put them into a tie for third. Neither team would best the other on this day. The teams battled for 60 minutes with the action going back and forth the full length of the field. Haley Kinerson, Claire MacKay, MacLellan and Daniels all had shots on goal with several going off the posts or crossbar. Perkins was outstanding between the posts under constant, heavy pressure, stopping over a dozen quality shots, including seven during a five minute period during which Westport stepped up the attack. A much smaller and younger team, Nantucket scraped and clawed their way through the game and relied heavily on the defensive line of Kelli Molloy, Mia Silverio, Emma Murphy and Evelyn Hudson. The tie gives Nantucket a record of 6-1-1 and in sole possession of third place and home field advantage against a team that they have already beaten next Saturday.

Also headed to the playoffs is the U13 girls' team, who finished in a tie for third place with Dartmouth and an identical record of 5-1-2. Saturday, Nantucket traveled to Sandwich for the final game of their regularly scheduled season. The scoring onslaught started 13 minutes in with a string of passes from Cara Garufito Alexa Crosby to Sabrina Dawson. Nantucket never looked back and put a punctuation mark on the season with an 8-0 drubbing of their opponent. Garufinetted one of her own, followed by Dawson off a pass from Crosby and Taylor Kopp, and followed by Kopp off an assist by Garufito go into the half with Nantucket up 4-0.

The scoring continued in the second half with Isabella Day beating out the defense to find the net and then again six minutes later. Crosby capped it off by adding two more inside of four minutes to go, one off a perfect pass from Dawson. With the strong play from the entire U 13 girls team keeper Kate Freed saw little action. Nantucket will travel off island to either Westport or Taunton for a semi-final round game next weekend with the goal of repeating as division champions for the second year in a row.

The U15 boys will travel next weekend as well to play either New Bedford or Sandwich, the latter of which narrowly beat Nantucket 1-0 during the regular season. Having been faced with elimination this past weekend, Nantucket had two games left to get into the post season and put some distance between fifth placed Dartmouth breathing down Nantucket's neck for that last spot. Nantucket helped itself when the boys won their game against Swansea-Somerset on Saturday 4-2 in a very physical match-up. Nantucket struck first on a goal by Nick Larrabee who also scored again in the fist half off a beautiful header on a wellplaced feed from Evan Theroux. Henry Fee netted a goal early in the second half to give Nantucket some space at 3-1. Though Nantucket controlled the play for most of the game, Swansea- Somerset played aggressively, which resulted in being charged with several takeouts, giving Nantucket a number of scoring opportunities. But it wasn't until Larrabee got taken down in the box that Nantucket was able to capitalize. Fee netted a penalty shot to cement Nantucket's lead. Both of Nantucket's keepers, Alex Perkins and Colin Kohler, played a strong game, keeping Nantucket in the lead, despite the rough play on the field. The win kept Nantucket in contention for the playoffs heading into Sunday's home match versus Barnstable. Nantucket sent Barnstable back to the Cape knowing it had been bested 8-3 and giving Nantucket a record of 5-2-1.

The 7-1-0 U13 boys' team has romped through their division, having secured a place in second weeks ago. The team used the match against Oceana on Saturday, which they won 4-0, as a tuneup for next weekend's rematch versus first place Freetown-Lakeville for the divisional championship title. Earlier in the season, Freetown-Lakeville had handed Nantucket its only loss (3-0) in an epic contest. Next weekend's game should be another well-played face-off as the two teams beat all of the other teams in the division with third place having only eight points to Nantucket's 21 and Freetown-Lakeville's 24.

The only undefeated NSSA team, the boys' U9 Team #1, finished off its stellar season last Sunday against Falmouth Team #2 in blistering heat on the Cape. Nantucket was up 3-1 going into the half despite Falmouth playing a very competitive and physical game, which caught some of Nantucket's players off guard. Keeper Ramon Partida only gave up two goals on the day to preserve Nantucket's 6-2 triumph and a perfect 8-0-0 season. Chris Muhr, Andrew Dawson and Ethan Fey on defense stopped most of Falmouth's runs on goal. Mid-fielder Stefan Silverio was strong and backed up attacker Sam Rand. Scoring for Nantucket were Silverio (2), Rand (2), Muhr (1) and Dawson (1) with assists by Silverio, Fey, Muhr and Rand. Jason Adams, Cory Partida, and Evan Cabré gave Nantucket support coming off the bench. Coach Jordi Cabre was very pleased with the season.

"They all played a fantastic game working together as a team. Mark Dawson and I both enjoyed working with them, and it was great to be around a bunch of kids who never gave up and loved soccer so much," said Cabre.

The young team will travel to Dartmouth next weekend for a "friendship" tournament.

Also seeing action this past weekend was the U10 boys team who finished up the season 4-4-0 and in the middle of the pack in a very competitive Division 1 grouping. The team hosted a strong Taunton team on Sunday. Constant cheers could be heard coming from the field as the teams traded goals. Nantucket broke the ice first inside the first minute of the game when Ethan Wing sent a shot into the net, whereupon Taunton immediately scored to keep it even. Wing and Jack Sylvia quickly gave Nantucket the temporary lead followed by two quick goals from Taunton. Raheem Spence, who had been firing off shots at the goal all season, finally scored his first followed closely by yet another from Taunton. Sylvia scored his second just before the break to give Nantucket the slim 5-4 lead.

The second half was more of the same. Taunton drew even and Spence put Nantucket up again. Taunton started to play aggressively to even up the game, even knocking second half keeper Ethan Wing, who had replaced Chris Tran in net, to the ground resulting in an injury. He seemed to push through the obvious pain and stayed strong in net. Unfortunately, Taunton was able to take advantage and drew even and then went a head 7-6 for good on a questionable non-call when a Taunton player was off-sides and scored. "We passed well and had many great shots on net. The other team was playing boom ball where we were passing it," Coach Claire Richardson stated. "This being our last game, it was hard to lose to a team that we are now tied with in the standings. I was proud to be their coach. They have all improved and have become better players this season. I think that these boys have a bright future as young players of Nantucket and will all do well playing for their town. There is a lot of skill on this team. I can not wait to see what they all will do next."

Also wrapping up this past weekend was the first-year U9 girls team, which closed out the season with an impressive record of 6-2-0 and sitting solidly in second place out of eleven teams. The team traveled to Barnstable on Saturday and came home with their fifth win in a row (3-1) with Julia Campese, Eliza Thomas and Emily Ballinger scoring for Nantucket. The boys U9 Team #2 ended its season with a well fought 1- 1 tie with Barnstable. The U11 boys team ended their season with two games. On Saturday the team barely lost to Falmouth 2-0. However, the team rebounded and ended the season on an up note beating Taunton 6-1 on Sunday. The U9 Team #2 and the girls U9 team will also be headed to friendship tournaments in Dartmouth and Mariner respectively next weekend.