By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Needham girl’s soccer team played away at Westwood High School this past Saturday, October 19th for an intense matchup that led to a 1-0 shutout by the Rockets.
Within the first half, the girls displayed excellent strength and defensive ability as Westwood made multiple efforts to score throughout. There were numerous corner kick opportunities that the Rockets tried to capitalize on, but the Wolverines inevitably stood their ground within their goal line.
At half time, the girls knew that they needed to regroup and find a better rhythm to play to. Senior Captain Ava Chiappinelli stated, “I definitely think we didn’t want it enough in the first half and that was kind of evident. We were just letting them beat us to the ball, we weren’t coming to balls. Overall our level was just not where we expected it to be for our team and it wasn’t meeting the standards that we put forth for ourselves.”
Throughout the entirety of the second, the Rockets really stepped up their game and showcased their determination and dedication to win. During a hard fought out match up, Sophomore Isabelle Marino set the ball sailing into the Wolverines net with about 14 minutes left in the game. With a 1-0 lead, they picked up the pace even more, creating multiple scoring attempts and beautiful passes down the field.
As the game clock was winding down, both goalies held their own, keeping the score as it was. Senior Captain Emma Spear discussed just how proud she was of her team for pulling out this win: “We definitely regrouped at halftime,” Spear explained, “after coming out really flat in the first half. We had a really great talk with our coach and I could see everyone’s attitude flip once that had happened. We played so much better in the second half. I am so proud of these girls that they all were able to recognize what they needed to do in order to improve. And that is exactly what they did which allowed us to get the win today.”
The Rockets will go on to play Acton-Boxborough away at Leary Field on Saturday, October 26th. The game is set to begin at 6:30 pm.
