Tewksbury Girls 14-2 Open Season With Victory

(Editor's note: The following information was submitted by the coaches and administrators  of the Tewksbury Youth Soccer League.)

Tewksbury GU14-2 2 Burlington-0

The Tewksbury GU14-2 team hosted The Burlington GU14-1 Team at Frasca to begin the season on Saturday April 9th.

The locals came out flying in this one and seemed to be in control of the game, yet the score was still 0-0 until at about the 10 minute mark in the first half when Christine Baptiste stole a ball and got it by the Burlington keeper for a 1-0 lead.
In the second half the energy that the girls started the game with went to another level and it seemed that the home team actually had more players on the field.  Every ball was contested and nearly every 50/50 ball was won by the home team.  Then with about 15 minutes left Emily Velozzo took a pass from Brittany Fletcher and finished it for a 2-0 lead.

The defense of Co-Captain HP-Haley Pozzuto, Haley Aznavoorian & Nicole Malfa was outstanding all day long.  The goalkeeping of Co-Captain KG (Kaleigh Gammon) was outstanding including one beautiful save while the game was still 1-0.

On offense, Big D (Darien Lavino) , Lear Bear (Caitlyn Leary), T (Taylor Donahoe) and Brittany Fletcher were leading the charge all day.  Strong Play up front from Meredith Cahill, Karah Chaisson, Emily Donahue and Megan Lavino was highlighted in this win.
 
On Friday night before the first game, the team was treated to a pre-season pasta dinner courtesy of The Gammon family and hosted by the Cahill’s which we are sure added to the winning formula.
 
The girls next travel to Dracut High School for a 9:00 match on Saturday April 16th.

GU14-4  Tewksbury 3, Stoneham 3

Kicking off its initial game of the season, Tewksbury escaped with a 3-3 tie.  From the start,  Tewksbury provided offensive pressure resulting in Ariana Calouro potting her first goal on a deflection.  Controlling the ball and using crisp passing, Katherine  Adelsberger and Catherine Ozek created opportunities for the forwards.  Flying in from right forward, Alyssa Aurilio blasted a ball stopped by the Stoneham keeper.  From the backfield, Mary Bliss and Nicole Salvato swept Stoneham attempts away from the Tewksbury net.  Shealagh Doherty played a stellar goal as the Tewksbury keeper pouncing on Stoneham's kicks and punting the ball to her midfielders.  Receiving a throw-in from Stephanie McHatton, Kelsie Allen deftly dribbled the ball beyond midfield to send Ariana Calouro in alone on the Stoneham keeper where she crushed the ball to the far right side.  Tewksbury's third goal was a direct result of teamwork.  After digging the ball from the corner, Dimple Gandhi passed it up the left sideline to Jessica Ripley.  Ripley sped up toward the centerline where she chipped the ball to Makayla Calouro.  Calouro fed Emily Duquette who provided a left cross to allow Monica Aronson to drill the ball into the vacant Stoneham net for her first goal.  Throughout the half, Kayleigh Bishop shielded the ball from her opponents to clear it out of the zone.  Hustling from left forward, Molly McDonald pummeled the ball on the Stoneham net saved by the keeper.  Tewksbury awaits its next opponent, Woburn.

Tewksbury GU12-3 – 1, Somerville - 2

The GU12-3 Tewksbury Racers opened the spring 2011 Soccer season on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at Frasca Field.  The girls performed outstanding considering we had only one official practice preceding the game.   The racer’s first opponents were the Somerville GU12-2 team which resulted in a 2-1 loss for the Tewksbury girls.  This was a hard fought; very close game in which time became the ninth player for Somerville.  The Tewksbury net was defended by Jocelyn Duval and Karina Crowley, both making great stops throughout the game.  The goal tenders had strong support from the two defenders, Samantha Alman and Danielle Carrigg.  The end score does not accurately represent the pressure put on the Somerville defense and net by the racers offensive lines.  Emily Stewart, Karina Crowley, Maeve Moynihan, and Rachel Figucia had several shots on net nearly missing on repetitive occasions.  Emily Stewart was able to connect with Tewksbury only goal.  Although there was little practice prior to our opening day, by half time, everything started to click with the offensive line, staying in their lanes, passing front and back, using the sideline and strong crosses to the front of the net from Robin Czarniecki, Deidre Roach,  Becky Reynolds, Brigid Voto and Erin Coulter.  I am very proud of the team in working together and supporting each other throughout the game and at the end.  We look forward to our next opponent, Wilmington.

Tewksbury GU12-2 – 3, Reading – 0

 Tewksbury was excited to be back on the fields after the extensive winter break. Allison Couillard began the game in net for the ladies in red and she was as sharp as ever handling the few shots the Reading team fired off.  The new and improved footwork of the defensive players Stephanie Graffeo, Katie Famiglietti, and Samantha Surowiec stifled the Reading attack for the majority of the game. 

 The first score of the game came from a rush down the left side by Emily Langone.  She sent the ball across for Ashley Antonelli but the Reading defender caught a piece of it.  Emily, Ashley, and Maddy jumped into the Fray and Emily sprung it loose and into the net for the first goal of the season.  It was mere seconds later that Brittany Malfa picked up a pass from Ashley and sent a perfect set up pass across to Madison Wescott who finished strong to give Tewksbury a 2-0 lead.

 With Emily Langone in net to start the second half, Tewksbury quickly went to work in the Reading zone.  Things got a little chippy and Kayla Makooi was awarded a couple free kicks but the bounces were not going our way.  Kelly Fortier set up three corner kicks with beautiful placement setting up Sarah Ciampa for a nice shot but the Reading keeper was there to make an impressive save.  Eight minutes into the half Madison picked up a redirect from Andrea DiCiaccio and simply powered her way through two Reading defenders and blasted a shot from 12 yards out that was way too much for the Reading keeper to handle.

The pressure intensified as Reading fought to get on the board in the final minutes.  They set up a corner kick and the ball was redirected towards the net rolling past our keeper but Viviana Bain sprinted down and made a great play to save the goal and get the ball out of the zone.  Thanks to the great goalkeeping and a tremendous defensive play from Vivi, Tewksbury won the season opener 3-0.

Tewksbury GU12-1  1, Wakefield        0

 The Tewksbury Girls U12 Division 1 travel team opened up their season with a tough road game in Wakefield.  Both teams struggled to find any rhythm in this one as much of the game was played in the middle of the field.  Tewksbury’s defensive unit of Rachel Sessa, Maggie Penta, Isabelle Picher and Victoria Mirabito thwarted any attempts by Wakefield to put any pressure on the Tewksbury net.   Midfielders Emily Sessa, Allison Paracini and Lillian Holden played a steady, controlled and aggressive game throughout.   With time running down in the first half, Kayla Devlin placed a great pass to the middle where a charging Rachel Prevost put a high shot on goal.  The Wakefield goalie was not able to handle this tricky shot and the ball came loose.  Prevost followed her shot and after a quick scrum for the ball, Prevost, the Wakefield goalie and the ball all ended up in the back of the net for a Tewksbury goal.  The first half ended with Tewksbury clinging to a 1-0 lead.  The 2^nd half looked much like the first half, with both teams fighting to put pressure on offense.  With time running down and Wakefield pressing to score, Tewksbury’s forwards, Jessica Cacciola, Kelly Golini and Samantha Schultz did an outstanding job of ‘fore checking” and frustrating Wakefield with their aggressive play.  Lindsay Harris easily stopped any shots that came her way and earned the shutout in net and Tewksbury’s first win of the season.

Tewksbury GU10-4  2, Westford 0

After a long winter, it was nice to be outside on a beautiful spring morning for the "Crushers" girls U10 Tewksbury soccer team’s first game of the season in Westford vs. a very good Westford team. What made it better was the level of play and the eventual first season win.

 The girls played a great game. The first goal of the season was scored by Catherine Mawn who demonstrated great offensive skills. Also showing competitive skills in the first half of the game was Erin Carter, Cora Barrett, and Ryan Quinn. A strong defense was lead by Isabelle Frost and Caitlin Sheehan. In goal was Julia Cafferty who dominated finishing the first half without letting anything in her net.

The second half of the game was played aggressively with impressive teamwork skills. Gianna DiGiorgio demonstrated speed and great passing on the field this week .Hannah Slattery scored the second goal of the game with a nice pass from Julia Garland. The final score of the game was 2-0 with a win for the Crushers.