Girls U12 Teams Post Shutout Wins

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

Girls U12-1

Tewksbury - 2

Wilmington - 0

The Tewksbury Girls U12-1 travel team had a lot to play for this past Saturday when they meet up with rival Wilmington. The team was out to avenge their only loss of the season and also inch closer to clinching a spot in the Commissioner’s Cup. To say the team responded well to the challenge would be an understatement as the Redmen played their best overall game of the season. Tewksbury went on the attack early and often in this one. Rachel Prevost set the tone on offense early with a few good rushes to the net, including ringing one off the crossbar. One of those rushes led to a goal when Rachel beat her defender and made a great pass in front of the net to Kayla Devlin, who one-timed the ball into the net.

Tewksbury kept the pressure on for most of the 1st half with outstanding passing and teamwork being displayed by forwards Lillian Holden, Kelly Golini, Samantha Schultz and Jessica Cacciola. The Redmen were able to go up 2-0 before halftime when Emily Sessa made an impressive seam pass to a charging Rachel Prevost. Rachel took the pass in stride and shot one low and hard past the Wilmington goalie. Tewksbury’s defensive unit of Rachel Sessa, Isabelle Picher, Maggie Penta and Victoria Mirabito earned their 5th shutout as a group in 9 games this season with their consistent solid play. Samantha Mercurio was excellent in goal and earned her 2nd shutout of the season. Midfielders Lindsay Harris and Alison Piracini played their best games of the season with some aggressive play and seemed to always beat the opposition to the ball. With this victory, Tewksbury has moved into 1st place and earned a spot in the Commissioners Cup tournament. Congratulations to all the girls for qualifying for the Cup!! Well done

Girls U12-2

Tewksbury - 3

Medford - 0

The Tewksbury Girls took the field on Saturday needing a win and some help from 3rd place Chelmsford to keep their Cup hopes alive. Medford has been struggling all season but their girls played with intensity and excitement as they fought to earn some bragging rights by knocking off 2nd place Tewksbury. Tewksbury started off with strong offensive pressure beginning with their powerful midfielders Ashley Antonelli, Brittany Malfa, and Andrea DiCiaccio. They held fast on the sidelines and repeatedly sent in great cross field passes to the strikers. Sarah Ciampa playing on the right side gathered up a long pass from the left mid and rushed in, finishing with an arcing rainbow shot that the keeper could only watch as it sailed overhead and settled in the back of the net.

The pressure continued with shots from Ashley and Andrea which led to a corner kick for Tewksbury. Kelly Fortier came up to take the kick placing the ball in play beautifully for the Tewksbury attackers. The ensuing scramble in front of the net left the ball in the feet of Madison Wescott who pushed it past the sprawling keeper to put Tewksbury up 2-0. Allison Couillard was well protected in net thanks to the speed and pressure of Katie Famiglietti and Samantha Surowiec. Allison fielded a few quality shots and sent the ball back to midfield to push Medford back on their heels. Vivi Bain and Stephanie Graffeo were impressive at the stopper position frustrating the Medford forwards and chasing down a number of loose balls to rob them of possession. In the second half Emily Langone took over in net where she confidently held the line against the Medford assault as they brought their defense up into the attacking zone to try and get on the board. It ended up costing them as Madison Wescott gathered up a deflection from a clearing kick and gathered up some steam as she headed into the 18 box where she fired a blast into the left side of the net. The keeper managed to get a hand in front of the ball but the force of the shot pushed right through her attempted save and Tewksbury went ahead 3-0. Emily Langone played strong in net throughout the remainder of the game and held on for the shutout giving Tewksbury its sixth win of the season. Unfortunately 1st place Wakefield won their game against Chelmsford and have enough points to clinch the division. When Tewksbury hosts Wakefield next week it will be for bragging rights only.

Tewksbury GU14-4

Chelmsford 5

Tewksbury 1

Tewksbury faced a relentless Chelmsford team falling to them 5-1. Making her debut in goal, Nicole Salvato confidently retrieved Chelmsford's attempts and punted to her teammates. Providing offensive pressure, Kayleigh Bishop drove a ball just wide of the Chelmsford net. When Emily Duquette deftly placed her corner kick in the Chelmsford goal mouth, Tewksbury could not capitalize to get on the board. Racing toward the left of the Chelmsford keeper, Ariana Calouro chipped the ball into the net. Feeding her a slick pass, Kelsie Allen sent Dimple Gandhi for a blast on goal. Operating a give and go with Alyssa Aurilio, Katie Adelsberger swiftly kicked the ball for a scoring chance. After receiving a pass from Makayla Calouro inside the center circle, Monica Aronson crushed the ball from outside the eighteen. As a dependable sweeper, Mary Bliss aggressively anticipated Chelmsford's passes to clear them from the defensive zone. Playing goalkeeper in the second half, Molly McDonald scooped up Chelmsford's opportunities and got the ball out to her midfielders. At stopper, Stephanie McHatton drilled a goal kick to Catherine Ozek who dribbled the ball beyond midfield. Tewksbury completes its season next week against Westford.

Tewksbury BU10-1

Tewksbury 5

Billerica 1

 As the soccer season starts to wind down, Tewksbury proved once again they were a force to be reckoned with. Lucas Frost right off the whistle started out with some great powerhouse kicks, one even hit the post of the goal. However, it was Riley Frost scoring the first goal of the game. Kyle Braciska along with Andrew Maresca had some great defensive plays throughout the game. Mike Reppucci with a great body spill deflected a goal. Brandon Melo launched a terrific targeted corner kick to Chad Boschetti who finished to score Tewksbury's 2nd goal. RJ Florino, Brandon Melo & Chad Boschetti worked well together, Chad took a shot but missed, giving RJ a rebound to score, putting Tewksbury up 3-0.

After the half, Garrett Miskell applied the pressure to Billerica. Mike Dell'Orfano with some great speed up the field could not get a shot off but ended up with a spill taking down Billerica's goalie after his great individual effort. Mike Frost & Lucas Frost working together up the field opened up another opportunity and Lucas put it away. The coach switched it up, having Kyle Braciska switch with Mike Repucci as the new goal tender. Kyle quickly made a big stop with a high jump save. Mike Dell’Orfano came up empty on a prime scoring shot on net. With all of the efforts by Brandon & RJ at defensive, Kyle tried his hardest to make the save, on a Billerica attack but they came up with their first goal. Ryder Neadson had a superb game as he placed pressure on Billerica whenever he could on the field. With Garrett & Ryder at defense keeping the ball from harm’s way, Lucas played the ball up to Riley with a bounce off Andrew back to Riley who scored the last goal of the game. This was nothing short of excitement. Final score was 5 to 1 TEWKSBURY.

Memorial Day Weekend in New Hampshire

The Tewksbury GU14-2 team (with some help from the GU14-1 & GU14-3) traveled north for the Holiday weekend to Amherst NH for a Memorial Day Tournament.

Game #1 Saturday May 28th at 8:00 AM vs Amherst New Hampshire SC

The Tewksbury Girls looking festive in the red white and blue, complete with top hats took to the field against the host team to kick off the weekend. In a clear indication of what the competition was like for the entire weekend the girls lost a tough 1-0 battle to the hosts.

This game was highlighted by some great goalkeeping by Janina Kennedy and two teams that played to a standstill except for one bouncing ball that found its way into the Tewksbury net.

The forwards of Emily Velozo, Michelle Farraher, Megan Lavino and Brittany Fletcher supplied the locals with plenty of opportunity in this game but they could not crack the tough opposing keeper. The midfielders of Caitlyn Leary, Aria Porzio, Hillary Fletcher, Hannah Silvia, Ashley Figucia and Karah Chaisson pressured the ball the entire game. The defense of Haley Aznavoorian, Darien Lavino, Nicole Malfa & Taylor Donahoe (coming off a knee injury) was outstanding in this battle with Velozo also logging some minutes on defense.

The Tewksbury girls despite the travel (leaving at about 6AM) were clearly the aggressors in this game and were gaining momentum as the game wore on.

Game#2 Saturday May 28th at 1:00 PM vs Milford New Hampshire SC

In another closely fought battle the Tewksbury Girls were determined not to lose another one and won 1-0.

Brittany Fletcher made sure that the locals would not lose another tough game and blasted it by the Milford Keeper for the games only score.

In this game the offense was relentless, scoring opportunites by Karah Chaisson, Hannah Silvia, Ashley Figucia, Caitlyn Leary, Hillary Fletcher and Aria Porzio all missed the mark but it didn’t stop the pressure. Emily Velozo, Michelle Farraher, Janina Kennedy & Megan Lavino were all over the opponents end during the entire game.

This game was highlighted by some great goalkeeping by Janina Kennedy and two teams that played to a standstill except for one bouncing ball that found its way into the Tewksbury net.

The defense led by Darien Lavino, Nicole Malfa, Haley Aznavoorian, & Taylor Donahoe was again outstanding in this battle. The defense made it clear that a goal was not going to be scored against them in this one.

Michelle Farraher and Janina Kennedy split the goal keeping and recorded the shut-out for the locals.

Game#3 Sunday May 28th at 11:45 vs Hampton NH FC

This game was the game of the weekend, a hard fought match in the heat that ended in a 3-3 tie.

Although the girls took the field ready to play, the game and the officiating took some funny bounces and the girls were quickly down 2-0 against a very good team.

The locals decided at that point that they were simply not going to give in. With about 10 minutes left in the first half Aria Porzio drilled a loose ball by the keeper to make it 2-1. Then perhaps the play of the tournament was made by Hillary Fletcher chasing down a breakaway after our defender had got knocked down and stopping a strong goal bid, then finding Porzio, who sent it to Michelle Farraher who made the prettiest of passes to a streaking Emily Velozo who blasted it into the net for a 2-2 tie at half time.

The second half showed that the Tewksbury Girls had now taken control of this game and the pressure being applied at the offensive end by the mids of Caitlyn Leary, Karah Chaisson, Hannah Silvia, Ashley Figucia and Hillary Fletcher was immense. The forwards led by Megan Lavino and Brittany Fletcher were attacking everything. Then in another strange bounce the opposing team scored a goal on a ball that hit both posts to make it 3-2.

The defense that had been awesome all day then decided to get into the mix sending a ball down the field in which the Tewksbury forwards and mids converged on in a frenzy until finally Velozo found the back of the next with it.

Going the distance in the heat on defense in this one was Darien Lavino, Nicole Malfa and Haley Aznavoorian who were simply incredible together. Taylor Donahue showed guts and determination playing on a knee that was clearly hurting.

Janina Kennedy was solid in goal consistently punting the locals out of trouble.