Plymouth North girls off to fast start to season
In one of the toughest divisions in the state, the Plymouth North girls soccer team has largely performed in the shadows of more prominent programs over the years.
PITCH PERFECT
But this fall, the Blue Eagles are earning respect every day. Plymouth North started the year 7-0, outscoring opponents 35-2.
“I like being the underdog, but I don’t know if that is our role this year,” said coach Eric Foley, a veteran of two stints with the Blue Eagles.
Plymouth North graduated more than half of its starting lineup from a team that finished fourth in the brutal Patriot League Keenan Division but seemed to be peaking late, losing in overtime to perennial power Whitman-Hanson in the semifinals of the Patriot Cup.
But behind a talented senior class that includes a pair of Division I commits and a quickly developing group of youngsters, the Blue Eagles have taken a big leap forward and are starting to turn some heads, especially after a redemption 3-1 win in the third game of the season against Whitman-Hanson.
“Being able to finally beat them at our home place was cool and special,” said senior captain Megan Banzi. “We have always been a team that has never been up there, but we have stepped it up and now we are one of the top teams. It’s been such a fun ride. We are so close with each other, like a family. It’s just been a heck of a start and we hope to continue it.”
Banzi is half of a pair of fouryear starters who are the catalysts, along with fellow senior captain Carly Schofield. Banzi is headed to play at UMass Lowell, while Schoefield is bound for Central Connecticut State.
An elite three-sport athlete on the South Shore as a Patriot League All-Star in soccer, basketball and softball, Banzi spent her first three seasons in the back, tasked with shutting down the league’s most dangerous players, but has shifted to a more offensive role this year and thrived.
“This season, I feel like I am more free and I can attack more, which I think has definitely changed my game and my perspective on how I play,” said Banzi. “I love attacking, but when (Foley) needs me to come back and help out on defense, I’m always willing to do that.”
Meanwhile, Schofield is leading the Blue Eagles in scoring for the third consecutive season as their sniper up front, off to a torrid start having already registered 16 goals. In Plymouth North’s most recent win, a 3-0 victory at Scituate, all three senior captains scored as Kathryn Tocci joined Banzi and Schofield in finding the net.
That firepower is complemented by two more seniors and threeyear starters holding it down in their own end of the field in defensive anchor Erin Richards and goalie Kylee Carafoli, who has five shutouts this season, giving Foley a wealth of experience down the middle of the field.
Seniors may form the nucleus, but Foley believes that the supporting cast, many of whom have taken on increased responsibility this season and have allowed him to be comfortable going 18 deep, have been critical to the team’s scorching start.
“I expected us to be competitive and some of the young kids have really responded,” said Foley. “We have competition in the group, which is making every one of the kids work hard and rise to the occasion.”
This year’s success may seem surprising, but it didn’t come out of nowhere. Plymouth North went 13-5-2 in 2019, snapping a four-year tournament drought and winning their first postseason game since 2013 before falling to eventual Div. 1 state champion Bishop Feehan.
Last fall, the Blue Eagles dealt Patriot Cup champion Hingham its only loss of the season, the other traditional titan of the Keenan along with Whitman-Hanson. Foley is hoping that it’s those types of wins that convince his squad just how high their ceiling really is.
“I think it’s all kind of contributed to where we are now,” said Foley. “I think it shows the players what they are capable of. The kids are starting to believe in each other and themselves, and that’s the most important thing. What I think they can do versus what they think they can do are two different things.”
And those two things appear to be converging.
“Our first goal is to have fun but our second is to win the league,” said Banzi. “We have that goal every season but we always fall short. But this season, we are confident and we are strong and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.”
Geography lessons
What type of an effect will the new statewide tournament format have on this fall’s postseason? When it comes to soccer, probably a significant one.
The last time that MIAA soccer tournaments were held in 2019, Eastern Mass. teams won just one of the six titles awarded in the divisions that encompassed the entire state — 1, 3 and 4 — with the Bishop Feehan girls taking home the lone EMass crown in Div. 1.
While those Central and Western Mass. squads that hoisted trophies two years ago certainly earned their championships by beating the best that EMass had to offer, many have opined that both the fewer amount of teams and depth of talent in those brackets gave those on the other side of 495 an inherent advantage, not just in soccer but across all sports.
That was certainly the case in 2019 for soccer as in five of the six championship games, CMass or WMass teams played one or even two less contests to get to the final than their EMass counterparts, and arguably less stressful ones, one of the main issues that the tournament overhaul was designed to fix.
Maybe the same champions would have emerged in the new system, but with EMass programs historically more conditioned to navigate the type of gauntlet this year’s postseason is sure to be, it will be interesting to see where on the map the hardware ends up this fall.
The first statewide rankings are scheduled to be released this week.