Printer Friendly Version - Hand Girls’ Soccer Out to Dominant Defensive Start in 2024

The Tigers girls’ soccer squad functions as one unit this year and has gotten out to a dominant start through the first month of the season. Photo courtesy of Rob McConville

Sophomore Tatum Cash has played super in net behind an even more spectacular defensive unit for the Hand girls’ soccer squad, who did not let up a goal until its fifth game of the year. Photo courtesy of Rob McConville

The Hand girls’ soccer team has had arguably the best start to its 2024 season in the Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) after playing near perfect on the pitch, most notably on defense. Yet the Tigers are certainly not looking to coast anytime soon and will look to continue their momentum into midseason and beyond.

A year ago, Hand reached the Class M State Tournament and also the SCC Tournament. As the No. 6 seed in the SCC draw, the Tigers fought valiantly before a loss to No. 3 Cheshire that came down to penalty kicks after a 0-0 deadlock.

This fall, the Tigers have stormed out of the starting gates to the tune of a rousing 7-1-1 start. Even more impressive, Hand started off 4-0 without conceding a single goal. Hand did not surrender its first tally of the campaign until the fifth game of the season in a 3-1 win over Shelton on Sept. 16, while the draw was a scoreless one against Guilford.

Head Coach Rob McConville denoted that one key component of that strict stinginess on the defensive front has been the recurring cast from 2023. Moving past the backfield, the Tigers also have a superb sophomore netminder who has stepped up to the task when peppered with pressure.

“Returning all of our defense from last year has played a major part in our consistency and ability to keep clean sheets and not let up a single goal in those first four contests,” said McConville. “Add to that defense, the solid performance of our goalkeeper Tatum Cash, and we feel we have a recipe for success. This has allowed us to focus our efforts on offense after we graduated a lot of our goal scorers from last year.”

Helping to facilitate that offensive growth is senior captain and center midfielder Piper Lea–who netted three goals and a pair of assists in the early phases of the season. Joining her as a captain this fall is another senior in Amanda Coric as a defensive backer, someone who never seems to take a shift off.

“Piper Lea controls the flow of play,” said McConville. “She leads by example, and she is one of our hardest workers. Amanda Coric plays 80 minutes a game for us, and she is one of our strongest and most consistent defenders. She is a true leader.”

Looking elsewhere on the pitch, junior forward Keely Parri has emerged as a leading goal producer for the Tigers on offense. Cash has additionally stood tall in net by earning all four of those season-opening shutouts, and Melissa Bernal Garcia is a senior defensive midfielder, who McConville proclaimed “covers box to box in the midfield, and she controls our transitions.”

Hand occupies residency in the Oronoque Division of the SCC this year, with the likes of Sheehan, Shelton, Foran, and Career-Hillhouse. While Hand had to part ways with a deep graduating class from a year ago, it has been a next person up mentality on the field. The girls have also garnered great camaraderie and support for each other, further fueling potential future success.

“We graduated a strong senior class in 2023, and replacing those players is never easy. We have already seen several of our young players take the challenge head on, and we like the direction we are headed in,” said McConville. “We have one of the closest groups we have had here, and that creates a great environment for both personal and team growth. We are looking to make a deep run in the tournaments this year.”

The Tigers are striving and thriving daily to be in the mix as conference and state title contenders. Yet even further beyond wins and losses in the standings, each athlete is striving to be the best person they can be in all facets of their lives. The girls’ work does not end with the field and the classroom–looking to mentor the future crop of Tigers in Madison.

“As with every year, our goals are to compete each day and get better as the season progresses. We want to be in the conversation as one of the top programs in the state every year,” said McConville. “We hold a high standard at Daniel Hand for our student-athletes, not just on the field, but off the field, as well. With our program specifically, we have our athletes spend time with our youth teams in both the fall and spring, supporting them at games and attending their practices to help unify our youth soccer club with our high school program. We want our student-athletes to be role models in the community.”

McConville has now been the Hand head coach for five years and has accumulated 16 total years of experience coaching high school soccer. His assistant coach is Anthony Mancini, who houses 35 campaigns of coaching acumen and has also coached the Hand boys’ soccer team in his time.

The Hand girls’ soccer 2024 roster is comprised of seniors Lea, Coric, Bernal Garcia, Caroline Courtney, Isabelle Smethurst; juniors Liza Jobson, Alice Agovino, Claire Levis, Grace Ackerman, Elizabeth Walsh, Ella Schroeder, Matea Thibeault, Sofia Andrin, Lola Pellegrino, Lilliana Gerrard, Keely Parri; sophomores Cash, Jess McCartney, Molly McGetrick; plus freshmen Taylor Kee, Isabelle Wilker, Madison Schang, and Finnley Parri.