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Girls' Soccer Wins Pair to Improve to 5-2-4

For the Valley Regional girls’ soccer squad, things are slowly coming together on the field for the Warriors, who have now won five games on their way to state tournament qualification.

One of Valley’s (5-2-4) biggest wins thus far came against Old Lyme on Oct. 7 in Deep River, a game the Warriors won 2-1 against a team that had come into the contest with an 8-1 record.

“This is a fine achievement for our team. As with previous games, this one was also a true team effort as almost every player played in the game,” said Head Coach Yves Noiset. “We tried to play an up-tempo game as we have a lot of respect for their team, especially their midfield. I had seen them play once and felt that we had our work cut out for us. Old Lyme has many athletic girls. They play some freshmen—in particular, one of their starting forwards—who are very good. To beat them, we would have to put some pressure on their defense.”

In the first half, the Warriors were able to do just that. Valley scored two goals and had another called back. Ashley Sherman competed with the Panthers’ goalkeeper for a 50-50 ball and both players got to it at the same time and the ball bounced free. Maleena Frazier—getting her first significant minutes after being injured in a preseason game—was there to finish the play and score Valley’s first goal. The second goal came on a Sydney Lee header from a corner kick off the foot of Mary Hope Gardner.

“There are not many girls willing to head corners, but fortunately for us, Sydney is one who is willing to use her head,” said Noiset, whose squad previously had a Gabby Giangrande goal called back because of offsides. “We figured Old Lyme would come out for the second half with even greater commitment. Our goal all game, and especially the second half, was to get to the balls first and to try not giving up a goal for as long as we could.”

Valley did give up a goal with 15 minutes left to play, but the Warriors held on for the 2-1 win.

“We were happy not to tie again. We have tied several good teams,” said Noiset.

The Warriors then defeated North Branford 1-0 on Oct. 10 in overtime. Sherman scored the game-winner with four minutes left in the game and Morgan Bakoledis notched two saves in net.

“Credit North Branford in having a good strategy to play on this field. They defended well, attacked occasionally, and, actually had a chance to win the game in the first overtime period when a forward on their team beat our defense to the ball, had our goalkeeper out to try to cut down the forward’s angle, but she did get the shot off and a rolling ball missed just wide of our net,” said Noiset. “Here, we were playing a team which is solid, but struggling record-wise in a pretty good Shoreline Conference, simply because there are many good teams. North Branford was ready for us and, with the small field, we did everything we could to bring the focus and determination we needed to win this game, but it wasn’t easy and we almost had another tie.”

Defensive backs Mikki Rutan, Mary Hope Gardner, Paige LaCasse, Kayleigh Caulfield, and Stephanie Clapp kept Valley in this game by preventing North Branford from mounting many attacks and chances on goal.

“Rutan has been stepping up to help lead both our defense and, when I need her to, step up as a midfielder or even as a forward to help us wherever we need help on the field. Her progress over the last year is noteworthy,” said Noiset, who lost senior midfielder Jill Cayer for the season to a dislocated shoulder in this game. “While a bit of a dark horse to make the Shoreline playoffs, we are still in contention for a spot going into the final week of Shoreline Conference games which count towards the Shoreline Conference playoffs. We have games the next two weeks, but only this week’s games count towards the Shoreline Conference playoffs. We will know if we have made it by the end of this week. We will need some help from a couple of other teams, plus we need to win against both Portland and Coginchaug to have a chance. Regardless, we have come from [a 1-2-3 record] to where we are now [5-2-4]. I credit the girls for not giving in when things did not look as good and fighting through to improve our performances a record thus far.”