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09/12/2022 11:43 AMThe North Haven girls’ soccer program is focused on using every player’s strengths to their advantage as the young team opens play in 2022. Head Coach Gary Collins and the Nighthawks have optimism for a successful season that is beginning with no expectations or pressure.
The Nighthawks opened the regular season by posting a 2-0 home win versus Shelton on Sept. 8. Two days later, Coach Collins’s squad went on the road to play East Haven and triumphed by a 1-0 final for an early record of 2-0. The Nighthawks will wrap up their three-game road trip with games versus West Haven and Foran this week.
North Haven held a 1-0 halftime lead over Shelton following an own-goal from the Gaels. In the 64th minute of the game, junior Anna Mortali scored from fellow junior Rebecca Ford to put the Nighthawks up 2-0. Junior goalie Erika Fronte made 6 saves in the net for North Haven.
Junior Molly Marotollo scored the lone goal of the game when the Nighthawks claimed their 1-0 win against East Haven. Fronte stopped 5 shots for another shutout in goal.
Last year, North Haven clinched a bid for the Class L State Tournament by earning a 9-0 victory against Career-Hillhouse in its regular-season finale. The Nighthawks defeated Bullard Havens and Ledyard in the opening rounds of the tournament before losing to Waterford in the quarterfinals, giving them an overall record of 9-10.
Coach Collins was impressed with his team’s growth over the course of last season, but is prepared to leave those results in the past. Last year, the Nighthawks didn’t start the season as well as they had hoped. This season, a new, younger team is taking the field, and they’re hoping to create an identity early on.
“When you get that type of success, you try to go again as much as you can. It was a good run last year,” Collins said. “The plan now is to get the players to buy-in right away, which would carry us through as much as we can.”
The Nighthawks are hitting the pitch without last year’s senior captain Ada Forbes, an All-SCC First Team honoree, as well as graduating senior goalkeepers Annalise Moulis and Sophia Chagnon. Forbes’s electricity on offense leaves a big void to be filled, but Coach Collins believes that the skill of North Haven’s younger players is something to look forward to this season.
“A player like that comes once every so often. [Forbes] put us in good situations where we had that speed,” said Collins. “It’s going to take time to fill that. We have to change things up a bit based on what we have right now.”
Despite the loss of three impactful seniors, the Nighthawks have many talented players returning to the field for the 2022 season. Seniors Ilana Blumenthal, Giavanna Damone, and Aisling Pretty are serving as the Nighthawks’ captains this year. Samantha Adams rounds out North Haven’s senior class. Coach Collins expects all four seniors to make a unique impact on the field as they guide the younger players alongside them.
“It’s important for the senior captains to understand what they do need to as leaders. It’s a young team again,” Collins said. “With the senior class, they have a lot of heart. They’re willing to do the work for the other players.”
Blumenthal and Pretty are stalwarts on defense for North Haven. Coach Collins said that they’ve proved themselves as hard workers out of the backfield and will be heavily relied upon to move the ball upfield smoothly. Damone, a left-footed midfielder, has come into the season with a desire to be creative offensively and looked sharp at the start of her final campaign.
On defense, Collins is relying on sophomore Hannah Bernardo, who earned All-SCC Second Team honors last year, to play a bigger role. Collins wants Bernardo to put her strong knowledge of the game to use while roaming up the field to support the offense when appropriate. Coach Collins is also eager to see sophomore Alison Palmieri use her good vision on the pitch to benefit the defense’s ball movement.
At midfield, Collins will be looking to juniors Cameron Ryan, Rebecca Ford, and Molly Marottolo to each use their strengths to help determine the pace of play. Ryan has the ability to hit the ball upfield with range. Collins thinks that Ford’s strength is her ability to kickstart designed plays. Marottolo, another left-footer, gives the Nighthawks different options as to how they want to bring the ball upfield.
Playing forward for the Nighthawks this season are junior Anna Mortali, junior Ayla Sirvi, and sophomore Andrea August. Mortali has the most experience out of the three and will be relied on to score meaningful goals like she did last year. Sirvi, who is playing high school soccer for the first time, brings speed to the offensive attack. August has the ability to challenge defenders with aggressiveness, rounding out the Nighthawks’ forwards as a skilled group.
Junior Erika Fronte is starting in goal for North Haven this season. Fronte been poised and communicative ever since her emergence as the team’s starter, leaving the Nighthawks in good shape to be solid defensively.
The members of North Haven’s freshman class have already shown encouraging signs during the early goings of their tenure with the program. Midfielder Carly Ryan, midfielder Faith Nicholas, forward Grace O’Brien, and goalkeeper Alivia Garret have all come into their inaugural seasons ready to learn and adjust to a new pace of play. Coach Collins wouldn’t be surprised to see their progression result in major minutes over the course of the season.
Collins believes that his players came into this season one step ahead of they were at this time last year. The players didn’t participate in summer soccer, instead focusing on their individual training and preparation for the campaign. Thus far, Collins believes that the switch is having a positive impact on his squad.
Coach Collins doesn’t have any strict expectations for the Nighthawks this season, but does hope that they can replicate last year’s deep run in the Class L State Tournament. Collins would like to see North Haven make states again and then see how far they can go. In order to get there, Collins is making sure that his players know that the game is all about being at your best.
“We had three [preseason] games where we got to see what we think is going to work and what we can do to have some success with it,” said Collins. “It’s a matter of putting them in good situations, getting the right formation, and also understanding what our strength is more than our weakness.”
With a young team that’s ready to learn and grow throughout the season, Coach Collins couldn’t be more excited for the competition that lies ahead. Collins feels that North Haven is playing a tougher schedule this year, but he isn’t too worried about that. Collins just wants the Nighthawks to focus on doing what they do best: playing soccer.
“There’s a lot of excitement. We’re going into the season with no pressure,” said Collins. “Everybody is showcasing themselves, their abilities, and what they’re about.”