St. B’s comes up short in opener
Netminder Canning makes 18 saves
FITCHBURG » It wasn’t the result the St. Bernard’s girls’ soccer team was hoping for on Thursday.
Despite a gritty effort to kick off the 2020 season by the Bernardians, visiting Tahanto Regional proved to be too much for the hosts as seniors Jenny McGrath and Elsa Keefe each netted a pair of goals to lead the Stags to a 6-3 triumph in the opener for both teams at the Bernardian Bowl.
St. Bernard’s assistant coach Ama Baker was proud of her charges and praised her squad and their efforts on the pitch Thursday.
“We came up short, but the girls played a great game. There were some first-game jitters for sure and that’s to be expected but I thought there were a lot of positives that we can build off of and work on when we get back to practice,” said Baker, filling in for head coach Al Millett for the next two weeks due to COVID-19 concerns. “Tahanto is a good team with some talented players, but I though our girls showed a lot of hustle and effort today.”
Tahanto (1- 0) opened a 3- 0 lead 15 minutes into the contest and never looked back, expanding
the cushion to 5-1 heading into halftime.
“They struck for those first three goals in the beginning but to our girls’ credit, they responded,” said Baker. “When you’re playing a very talented team like Tahanto, you have to take advantage of your opportunities when you can.”
Tahanto’s attack included four different goal scorers as the Stags peppered Bernardians goalkeeper Erin Canning with 24 shots on goal.
For St. Bernard’s (0-1), the play of seniors Maggie Constantino, Alexandra Snioch and sophomore Camile Morin on the attack highlighted the team’s efforts up front. On the back end, the combination of seniors Hadleigh Bigelow, Georgette Mensah-Hayes and sophomore Elyanna Centeno did their best to try and keep the Stags attack at bay.
Canning, a sophomore, was busy in this one as Tahanto bombarded her with shots. Canning made several big stops and certainly earned the praise from her coach.
“She’s fearless, she really is. There’s no hesitation on her part to get on the ground and make the big save and use her
entire body,” said Baker. “I love the way she talks and communicates with our defense. She takes charge back there. Tahanto kept her busy, but she definitely played a big game for us today.”
The Stags opened the scoring just three minutes in with an unassisted goal by Keefe. Tahanto added two more tallies over the next 12 minutes and enjoyed a 3- 0 advantage late in the first quarter.
The Bernardians refused to roll over however as the home team got on the scoreboard inside the final minute of the first when Constantino took a cross from the right wing off the foot of Morin and beat Tahanto goalie Lauren Wattu (four saves) to make it a 3-1 score at the end of the first quarter.
The Stags went back on the attack in the second quarter as they added a pair of goals against the Bernardians defense and enjoyed a four-goal edge after 40 minutes of action.
In the third quarter, the Bernardians caught a break when Wattu misplayed a ball that was kicked back to her by a Tahanto defender, pulling the Bernardians to 5-2
penalty kick was awarded to Morin who proceeded to blast it past Wattu during the sixth minute of the final quarter to pull the hosts to within 5-3.