Stoughton High Girls' Soccer Earns Third Victory of Season

The girls’ soccer team came into this season, under first year coach Gary Muello, with only three wins in the last two seasons combined. On Monday afternoon, the Black Knights hosted non-league foe Fontbonne and already won their third game this season, earning a 3-1 victory.

“To already match our win total from the previous two years is an accomplishment, but we can even do more,” Muello said.

“We’re very young and we still need to be more consistent and play a full eighty minutes. We have to keep working on our conditioning and our speed of play. We’re playing very hard against a very tough schedule and we continue to improve.”

Stoughton is now 3-5 overall (1-5 in the Hockomock League and 1-1 in Davenport Division play).  

The Black Knights got off to a quick start, scoring only 37 seconds into the game. Senior tri-captain Mikayla Williams scored a goal on a hard shot that eluded the Fontbonne netminder.

The Black Knights continued the offensive pressure and scored again in the game’s 14th minute. Freshman MacKenzie Palma was called up from the J.V. squad and in her first varsity game converted a header from a great pass by senior tri-captain Alicia Macomber, to put Stoughton up 2-0.

Palma also is a goalkeeper and may just be the surprise boost that the Black Knights need.

“We’re a very young team and we need everyone to contribute and it shows how deep our team is when we can bring a player up and she can contribute immediately,” said Muello.

Stoughton outshot Fontbonne, 11-3, in the first half, but then the game began to turn around during the final ten minutes before halftime and through the midpoint of the second half. Fontbonne forced Stoughton sophomore goaltender Rachel Berkowsky to handle 11 shots after the intermission.

Fontbonne (1-6-0 overall) cut the deficit to 2-1, with 24 minutes left on a goal from junior midfielder Callie Cabral. She hit a header on a perfect pass from a corner kick by senior midfielder Brianna Foley.

The momentum began to turn in the favor of Fontbonne, but the young Stoughton defense led by sophomore Val Sammarco, freshman Shelby Sprague, junior Marlena Siegel and senior Julia Rodenbush, along with the solid goaltending of Berkowsky preserved the lead.

“We had our chances and played very well over the last fifty minutes of the game, but unfortunately we got off to a bad start and we couldn’t get out of the hole we dug for ourselves,” Fontbonne coach Paul Piotrowicz said.

“We’re very young and we only have six varsity players returning from a year ago and we have a lot of injuries that are beginning to take a toll. Stoughton deserves a lot of credit, but I thought we still played well.”

One of the many injuries for Fontbonne was to top player Caroline Staples (from Stoughton) who was sidelined with a knee injury and was sorely missed.

Stoughton’s Macomber, who has quickly become one of the Hockomock League’s top players, again demonstrated her hard work ethic, great skills and her opportunistic ways, when she took control of a loose ball and rushed up the middle of the field and scored on a booming shot. The goal came with 13 minutes left and quelled Fontbonne’s comeback attempt.

Stoughton has very little time to celebrate as it travels to Canton, Tuesday at 7 p.m. to play the undefeated (7-0) Bulldogs in a crucial Davenport Division game.

“We can’t go into any game intimidated and we just have to play a complete game and play like we practice,” Muello said. “We just need to play soccer and have some fun and our hard work will continue to pay off.”