DERRY, N.H. – Ever since she started playing soccer as a little kid, Bella Sippel has had the knack of finding the back of the net.
She’s a legitimate goal-scoring threat every time she touches the ball.
She’s incredibly fast, can dribble past defenders, she can blast shots past opposing goalies and more importantly, she knows how to finish.
The Pinkerton Academy senior has 29 career tallies including leading the team with 14 last year, while playing a huge part in the team’s first state championship title since going back-to-back in 2015 and ’16.
This season she again leads the team in goals with “only ten” and says that’s going to change starting with Friday’s NH Division I quarterfinal playoff match-up against Portsmouth.
“My goal is to score more than I did last year,” she said.
Padding her stats would be great, but Sippel knows she has much bigger fish to fry.
As in win another state championship.
“We know we have targets on our backs,” said Sippel, who was also part of the 4×400 relay track team which finished 18th at the New England Championships last indoor season.
The Astros are 13-0-3 — and 30-3-6 over the last two years – and haven’t given up a goal in their last seven games while outscoring teams 61-6 on the season. The potential to repeat as champions is certainly attainable but will be difficult with a top-heavy bracket.
“Winnacunnet is going to try to get us because we beat them in the finals last year. We beat Bishop Guertin for the first time in a while, and we were their only loss. They want to get us,” noted Sippel. “Bedford is always out to get us, and they are always a tough team to beat. And there’s Exeter (the number one seed).”
There’s also the Astros’ first-round opponent, Portsmouth.
“We just beat Portsmouth (last week) 4-0 on our grass field and we didn’t look that strong in the first half, so I think we’re going to make sure that we come out harder this game and get goals earlier this time,” she said.
Besides Sippel, the Astros have a handful of other players who are legitimate goal scorers including Nicole Blake, Cali Lockwood, Audrey Earehart, Nora Brayall (who scored last year’s game winner in the championship game), Courtney Russell and Cara Mahn.
“We have two lines of forwards, and we all have good chemistry with one another, connecting the passes with through balls. We have a lot of speed up top,” she said. “Plus, our defense is solid. We have two strong center backs, and our fullbacks know how to play. The defense is strong and none of them let anyone get past them. Even if the ball does get past them, we’re good at winning the ball back and getting the ball up the field quickly.”
And when the ball moves up the field quickly, Sippel is there to do her thing.
“Scoring goals is one of my biggest reasons why I love soccer so much. I just love scoring,” she said.