Lions chomp on DCL foes
Newton South revels in 1st title
The scene on Winkler Field Tuesday was one of pure jubilation. For the Newton South girls soccer program, the celebration was a long time coming, and it was an achievement well earned.
The Lions, with secondhalf goals from freshman Larissa Williams, held off perennial state power ActonBoxboro, 2-1, to win the Dual County League Large regular-season championship for the first time in school history. Newton South went into last night’s regular-season finale vs. Concord-Carlisle with a perfect 17-0 record.
“We felt that the nucleus coming back was quite strong and the girls worked hard away from the program to make themselves better,” said an emotional Doug McCarthy, who has been the head coach at Newton South since 1999. “I was overcome because I am thinking about the girls who came before and the girls that will come after this. I am very proud.”
Newton South has succeeded all season utilizing a connection between older and younger players while overcoming injuries with a deep core of athletes dedicated to the same goal.
“The team has had a really good balance of younger players and older players and they’ve come together and complemented each other,” McCarthy said. “They worked extremely hard and we’ve had our share of injuries, but with this team, when players have gone down, other players have stepped in. It’s been a cohesive team and they’ve trusted each other; they just believe and their mantra is never say die, and that’s been their call all season.”
Earning that elusive DCL crown was made sweeter by the fact that it happened against Acton-Boxboro (“the toughest team we try and break down, year after year,” McCarthy said) and that it happened on Senior Night.
For Kayla Borer — one of eight seniors on the team — to see all the work her class has put in over the years finally come to fruition is worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears they’ve invested in getting to this point.
“There are high expectations every year, but I could never have imagined having an undefeated season and winning the DCL Large,” Borer said. “It has been amazing, but it didn’t just come to us; we’ve worked really well together.”
Borer’s fellow seniors are Sydney Greene (keeper), Lia Villarreal-Halprin, Kaavya Chaparala, Sarina Regehr, Ali Nislick, Emily Duggan and Carly Ashner. Underclassmen Maddy Yorke, Jordan Briney, Chloe Frantzis, Sanne Glastra, Lily Riseberg, Audrey Lavey and Williams, among many others, have contributed this season.
There are still goals to be achieved for Newton South, but for one night, the Lions earned the right to celebrate, and that is what makes high school sports so rewarding.
“We’ve had a lot of good years, but we had not won a DCL title until today,” McCarthy said. “We battle it out every year and we’ve been close, but this is a big achievement.”
A Warrior mentality
King Philip can check off a couple of boxes before the upcoming Division 1 South sectional tournament gets underway this week.
The Warriors (16-1-2) have been as steady as any boys team in the state and following a 2-0 win over rival Mansfield last week, they can now call themselves the outright Hockomock League champion for the first time.
The Warriors also won the Kelly-Rex Division title for the first time since 2010.
“We always set the bar high for ourselves,” said King Philip coach Nick Gale. “We do have a talented team this season, so the expectations were much higher, but this year the team has gone above and beyond.”
For King Philip, success begins and ends on defense. First-year keeper Eli O’Neill (18 starts, 14 shutouts, 0.35 goals-against average) and the back line of Cam Mullins, Ryan Coulter, Larsen Keys and Jack Bush have helped hold the opposing offense to a combined six goals against.
Offensively, Tyler Mann (11 goals, five assists) and Colby Koch (nine goals, five assists) have paced an attack that relies on balance.
“These guys (on the back line) have done a tremendous job possessing the ball and breaking down opponents,” Gale said. “We work from the back and move forward and that takes a balanced group.”
In a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, King Philip is about to start its quest for a state title in arguably the deepest and most competitive bracket in the state. The Warriors lost in the second round last year.
“We don’t take positive results for granted,” said Gale. “Every game is different. But in terms of work ethic and professionalism and how they’ve trained it has been great. We go on the premise that whatever we want to earn we will have to work for it, and we have done a good job at that.”