Resurgent girls soccer qualifies for postseason

With a surging offense and strong two-way play, the CHS girls soccer team has qualified for the MIAA south sectional tournament with an overall record of 8-5-2.

Senior Lilah Sullivan (Mike Barucci photo)

Last week, the lady Bulldogs picked up two more league wins — 3-0 over Milford and 4-2 versus Sharon — to climb into a tie with Foxboro for second place in the Davenport Division. The squad then traveled to Notre Dame Academy on Saturday and held its own in a 2-0 loss against a perennially tough Cougar team that is tournament bound again this season (11-3-1).

“The NDA game was a quality opponent that we scheduled to prepare for tournament,” explained head coach Kate Howarth. “It is a good gauge and was a beatable team for us. We need a win over Foxboro this week as we are playing for a better seed at this point.”

Besides the Foxboro matchup on Tuesday, the lady Bulldogs were due to visit Stoughton tomorrow afternoon and will close out the regular season on Monday at home versus nonleague Andover.

With Howarth urging her team to be more aggressive, especially at the start of games, the Canton girls have looked a lot sharper over the past few weeks, winning six of their last eight contests.

Also aiding the team’s resurgence has been the rapid development of freshmen Olivia Rodman and Elisa Diletizia, two natural scorers who have combined to score just over half of the Bulldogs’ goals this season. As of Monday morning, Rodman was sixth in the Hockomock League with 10 goals and seven assists while Delitizia was 11th with nine goals and three assists. Both have shown an immediate breakaway threat with great offensive moves and strong legs. Other top offensive weapons this season include senior Riley Duserick and sophomore Morgan McCabe.

Canton also boasts a stout defense led by the strong leg of senior Sarah Connolly and the two-way play of Sarah Collins. In goal, both Lindsay Barrett and Briana Murphy have played well with Barrett getting a majority of the playing time.

In the Milford game last Monday at home, Canton completely controlled the action, outshooting the Hawks 17-2 in the second half and just missing on several additional scoring opportunities. Rodman netted a pair of unassisted goals and McCabe rounded out the scoring with a goal in the waning seconds of the game. McCabe and halfback Julia Hamilton were quite active in this game, setting up many plays. Murphy also did her part in net, stopping all nine shots she faced.

The Bulldogs were also victorious at Sharon on Thursday behind two goals from Duserick and single tallies by McCabe and Diletizia. Defender Leianna Brune also chipped in with an assist.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Oct 27 2017. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.