Hawks Come From Behind, Defeat Patriots 4-2

The Milford Scarlet Hawks’ girls’ soccer team found the back of the net three times in the second half of , propelling them past North Middlesex Regional High School, 4-2. With the win, the Hawks improve to 2-1 overall, while the Patriots fall to 0-3 on the young season.

Head coach Kristen Strazulla’s Hawks were led by midfielder Kelsey Pratt, who tallied a goal and an assist, as well as senior Olivia Grose, senior Jenna Vondras and freshman Kaley Pratt (all scored goals). “We have a new group—we didn’t lose a lot of upperclassmen from last year—but we have a lot of seniors that were on the team last year,” said Strazulla. “They just have a good attitude and they didn’t want to give this one up and that showed on the field.”

The Hawks only put five shots on net in the first half and practically tripled that total in the second half, resulting in three goals and controlling the possession of the ball for most of the half. North Middlesex got only two shots off in the second after scoring both of their goals in the first half. “I thought they had much more intensity than we did in the second half and they kept the pressure on and we couldn’t get it [ball] out of our own end,” said Patriots’ head coach Charlie Valacer. “In the first half we played pretty well, but in the second half they outplayed us and won the game.”

The Hawks opened the second half firing on all cylinders as Milford put shot after shot on net. But it wasn’t until Grose made a move up the left side of the field, losing a defender, and booted the ball past sophomore keeper Julia Murray at 10:22, that the Hawks found their goal-scoring niche. Just under 13 minutes later, Milford scored again thanks to an unassisted goal from Vondras, as she followed her shot and put it home after Murray made the save, but couldn’t stay with it. Milford took a 3-2 advantage.

Though the Patriots tried to clear the zone multiple times that half, the Hawks continued to put the pressure on, adding a nice goal off a corner kick by junior Megan Driscoll that found Kelsey Pratt for the header and a 4-2 lead. “They [Milford] had a couple of nice goals,” said Valacer. “That header was a real pretty goal; we couldn’t match their hustle in the second half.”

A lot of that hustle came from recently called up freshman forward Julia Masionis, who could be found anywhere the ball was on the field Tuesday. “She is a freshman that came in and was actually on JV to start and she’s completely tenacious—hits in the head, hits by the goal keeper; she’s just not afraid of anything and she’s quick,” said Strazulla. “For her size, she really throws her body around and she was able to have a lot of possession today.”

Milford jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at 35:40 of the first half when the Pratt sisters connected for a goal (Kaley from Kelsey). “What a dream for a coach to have sisters,” said Strazulla. “It’s just genetics, they can find one another in the way other people can’t; they’ll be fun to watch this year.”

That goal didn’t stand for very long though, as the Patriots came back less than four minutes later with a goal from junior Emily Herrick. Milford’s keeper, Carolyn Chaplin, came out of the goal to stop a ball off the foot of junior Kim Morgan, but the ball bounced over her head and was put home by a hustling Herrick. The Patriots would grab another goal courtesy of Charlotte Spiegel before the end of the half to go up 2-1.

Before the start of the second half, Strazulla decided to make a goalie switch by putting in senior Mikayla Pasciuto in place of Chaplin, but the move wasn’t due to her performance on the field.

“That was my plan all along. Chappy [Chaplin] started the first half because she has a great work ethic, is a leader on the team and she’s actually been training Mikayla because this is her first full year playing goalie,” she said. “I think the first goal was a little unlucky and the second goal we didn’t shut down, so it really wasn’t speaking to her [play], it was more speaking to the fact that they both earned at this point [in the season] some playing time.”

Though the Hawks will take any win they can get, they still need to improve on certain aspects of the game as the season continues. “First touch,” said Strazulla. “We’re able to find feet, but when our first touch is 10 yards away, it’s a lot harder to get that second pass.”

The Hawks look to keep the ball rolling at home on Thursday, Sept. 15, at 4 p.m.