Tewksbury Girls U10-3 shuts out the Stoneham Spartans 2-0.

The Tewksbury Redmen Girls U10-3 team hit the road on Saturday October 19th for a battle against a tough Stoneham Spartan team and left the field with a well-deserved 2-0 win. 

The 1st half was an up-and-down battle of two highly skilled teams.  The Spartans had the early pressure but great defensive efforts from Ava Paquette and Ashley Talbot kept the ball away from the Redmen net.  The Redmen girls started to create their own offensive pressure when Christina Wentworth used her speed to win a race for the ball just outside the goalie box.  Christina sent a pretty pass across the goal crease to Grace Beckman who fired a hard shot that the Spartan keeper saved.  The Spartans kept attacking and were able to put 3 quality shots on net but great goaltending by Leah Casey (who did her best Tuuka Rask impersonation) kept the game scoreless midway through the 1st half.  With time winding down towards halftime, the Redmen girls nearly got on the board when Ella Brown and Nicole Potito worked hard on the “forecheck” and pinned the Spartans in their own end, resulting in a quality shot by Potito that just missed going in.  The Redmen girls knew they dominated the 1st half and that if they continued to play as hard as they were, good things would happen. 

The Redmen girls came out flying to start the 2nd half, determined to win for their injured teammate Erica Hinkle, and took a 1-0 lead just 2 minutes into the half thanks to great effort and teamwork from Isabel Desisto and Maci Chapman.  Desisto forced a turnover along the left sidelines near midfield and carried the ball through 2 Spartan defenders, and sent a great pass into space where Chapman gathered the ball and fired a shot high into the back of the net.  The Spartans were determined to get back into the game but were unable to break through the rock solid team defense of Rebecca Langone and Ava Paquette.  The Redmen girls struck again with just over 6 minutes to play in the game to take a 2-0 lead when Kiley Kennedy and Christine Wentworth worked a nice give-and-go near midfield.  Kennedy carried the ball down the right sideline and sent a great cross pass to Maci Chapman, who wasted no time in firing the ball into the back of the net, for her 2nd goal of the game.  The Redmen girls were able to hold off late pressure from the Spartans, getting great goaltending from Grace Beckman to preserve the 2-0 shutout.