Lady Trojans Notch Second Win
by Ken Brown
MARSHFIELD – The Twinfield-Cabot girls’ soccer team have gone through some growing pains this fall but earned a hard-fought win over Craftsbury Academy (CA) last week, before falling to Missisquoi Valley and Hazen Union to end the regular season.
Carly Mancini found the back of the net for her first game-winner of the season to lead the Lady Trojans to a 1-0 home win over CA last Monday. Ida Astick made one save to help the Twinfield-Cabot defense earn their third shutout of the season. The Lady Trojans won the shot battle 10-1, with Ella Gillespie making nine stops for the Lady Chargers in the loss.
“The girls played a solid match all the way around. They did a nice job of focusing on moving the ball and playing the style and tempo that we wanted to play,” said head coach Seth Wilmott.
Destinee Pigeon and Abby Raleigh scored two goals apiece to lead Missisquoi Valley to a 5-0 home win over Wilmott’s squad last Tuesday. The Lady Trojans battled the Division II powerhouse to a tight match through the first 50 minutes, but Ava Hubbard connected on a long range direct kick to give the home team a 3-0 advantage and they would never look back. The Lady Thunderbird defense posted their ninth shutout of the season, improving to 12-2. Ida Astick made seven saves in the loss for Twinfield-Cabot.
“This was a really good test for us going in and aside from the final score, the girls played some very good soccer. Unfortunately, we only had one substitution, so we were running on fumes by the end of the match. Ida was really tested in net and she came up big many times when we needed her. I was really proud of her and the girls’ performance in this match against a quality program,” said Wilmott.
Senior Alexis Christensen scored a goal and added an assist to lead Hazen to a 3-0 home win over the Lady Trojans last Friday. Ida Astick played another solid game, making 10 saves in the loss. Ella Renaud made nine stops for the Lady Wildcat defense as they earned their third shutout of the season.
“I thought overall we played a pretty good match. We’ve been struggling with numbers and injuries, so I have to bounce around the girls in different positions, but they are fulfilling their roles when called upon. I’m excited about the playoffs and I think we have the potential to catch some teams off-guard,” said Wilmott.
The Lady Trojans are the fifteenth ranked team in Division IV and traveled to second seeded Proctor on Tuesday to open the first round of the playoffs.
