There was never a lack of belief from the Georgetown girls soccer team.
Because at the end of the day, the Royals know they have Cora Robinson as their goalie.
On Thursday night, No. 15 Georgetown opened its Division 4 playoff run by hosting No. 18 Advanced Math & Science. A winner couldn’t be decided after 100 competitive minutes of soccer, so the two teams had to settle the dispute via a shootout. And that’s where Robinson shined, saving three shots to keep her team alive. Senior captain Katie Davies then scored the game-winner in the fifth round, leading the Royals to a technical 2-1 victory (3-2 in shootout) to send them to the Round of 16 for the fifth straight season.
“We are so confident in Cora,” said Georgetown coach Kevin Fair. “She works so hard and her athleticism and fearlessness in goal is truly awesome. Then it was our leader and one of the toughest players I’ve coached, Katie Davies, who punched our ticket to the Sweet 16. Katie is all heart. She does anything this team asks her to do, and what a great memory for her and all the girls.”
Scoreless at the half, the two teams provided fireworks the rest of the way.
Just over 15 minutes into the second half, Georgetown (8-6-5) took the lead when 8th-grader Brylee Hodges converted her fifth goal of the year off a header pass from Davies. The play was set up thanks to a beautiful entry pass from Jenna Johnson, but AMSA (15-4-0) would find the back of the net with eight minutes left to send the game to overtime — and eventually a shootout.
While Robinson (8 saves) worked her magic on one end, Kat Greenblatt and Johnson scored to give the Royals the lead in the shootout, before Davies converted her strike to send the home fans into a frenzy. Greenblatt, Penny Church, Sophie Smith and Abbie Jarosch played all 100 minutes for the Royals, who draw a familiar foe in the next round.
Up next, Georgetown will play No. 2 Douglas in the Division 4 Round of 16 on Monday night at 6 p.m. (at Grafton H.S.). The Tigers are the defending Division 5 State Champions, who knocked the Royals out in last year’s Final Four.
“They have an awesome team,” said Fair of Douglas. “It will take a huge effort from the girls, but I know they will leave it all out there Monday night.”
Newburyport girls fall in PKs in D2 Sweet 16
Well, you can’t say that they didn’t give it their best effort.
For this tight-knit 10-person Newburyport girls soccer senior class, they knew that they had the talent to do something special this year — even moving up to the more-challenging Division 2. But a strong goal they set was to find a way to somehow advance past the Sweet 16, as the program has found itself outed in the second round in three of the past four years.
Unfortunately, that goal will have to wait until 2026 to potentially be achieved.
Making the two-hour drive across the entire state on Saturday evening, No. 9 Newburyport saw its season come to an end in penalty kicks to No. 8 East Longmeadow in the Division 2 Round of 16, 2-1 (4-2 in PKs). After a physical 100 minutes of soccer couldn’t find a winner, the host Spartans (10-4-4) didn’t miss a penalty kick, and now advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinal against top-ranked Duxbury.
“It was an outstanding soccer game,” said Newburyport coach Kevin Sheridan. “Incredible run by our 10 seniors.”
The Clippers (15-2-3) left it all out on the field.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Clippers were able to find the equalizer thanks to a Sevilla Coffin goal a few minutes into the second. Then despite the final result, goalie Chloe Raby and a defense of Skylar Ikemoto, Sasha Berlind, Sienna LeClair, Emily Homer, Elise Kennedy, Delaney Duncan and Cameron Todd completed a 20-game season where they only surrendered six goals all year.
But on Saturday, the Clippers came up just short.
For those 10 seniors in Raby, Grace Parsons, Ikemoto, Aoife Tykulsky, Coffin, Berlind, Drew Pavao, LeClair, Carragh Casellini and Phoebe Whitcomb, their Newburyport soccer journeys come to an end with a career 57-13-9 record. They will be missed, but many of them will continue playing at the next level.
Newburyport boys push No. 2 Northampton
Newburyport boys soccer coach Shawn Bleau knew it was going to be tough, but he thought his team could hang with No. 2 Northampton.
And he was correct.
All told, the No. 31 Clippers did see their season come to an end on Thursday night. But not before they pushed Northampton for the majority of their Division 2 first round game, eventually falling, 4-2. The undefeated Blue Devils (14-0-5) had only surrendered two or more goals in a game twice all season, and the Clippers (12-6-2) were able to hit that number.
But it was just short.
Northampton got on the board in the eighth minute, but Parker Johnson found an equalizer for Newburyport not too long after. Disaster, though, would unfortunately strike for the Clippers, as after a goal from the Blue Devils to retake the lead, an own-goal made it a 3-1 game. Federico Peruzzi was able to cut it to a one-goal game at halftime, but Charlie Ames scored for the hosts in the 64th minute to provide the necessary insurance and send his team to the Round of 16.
Newburyport does say goodbye to 12 key seniors, including Jack Burns, Sean Gasbarro, Devante Bucchiere, Kyle Lisauskas and Grady Smith. But the Clippers are in line to return plenty of talent next year, especialy defensively between Shea Cook, Max Coffin and Josh Sucheki.
Pentucket girls blanked by No. 2 Nipmuc
It was going to be a tall task for the Pentucket girls.
Making the long trip down I-495 for a Division 3 first round matchup on Thursday, the No. 31 Panthers faced a second-seeded Nipmuc team that is having a tremendous season. Besides being undefeated, the Warriors (18-0-1) also came into it averaging 3.4 goals per game offensively, while on the other end allowing only six goals all year.
And that proved to be too much to overcome for the road team.
Nipmuc both exceeded its goals-per-game average and kept its goals allowed number the same, blanking Pentucket, 4-0, to advance in the Division 3 playoffs. It was actually still just a 1-0 game at halftime, but two quick goals by the Warriors coming out of the break essentially put the game away.
But it was still a rebound season for Pentucket (7-10-2).
The Panthers more than tripled their win total from last year (2), led by senior captains Sofia Bellacqua, Kaitlin Borci, Regan Breen, Paige Rosario and Grace Sudbay. They will be missed for sure, but the program is in line to return plenty of talent next year between Frankie Peltier, Maisie Costello, Kate Sweeney and Bella Martins.