(Front row l to r: Katie Hargrave, Liz Wong, Francesca Amodio, Kylie Stevens, Gabby Dorsett, Christina Kates, Heron Stames, Marisa Saia and Nina Fassnacht. Back row l to r: Head Coach Bob Jordan, Emma Gill, Celia Borghesani, Alex White, Lily Venturelli, Caroline Drinkwater, Marykate Elliot, Ali Garrett, Asst. Coach Ian Wylie and Asst. Coach Mark Drinkwater.  Missing are Molly Tobin and KC Williams.)

The Duxbury Youth Soccer Girls U14 Division 1 team completed a strong spring season last weekend at the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) in Lancaster.

The team was invited to MTOC after winning their Coastal League championship the previous week by beating Norwell 5-0 in the semi-finals and finishing off Marshfield 2-0 in the championship game.  MTOC matches up the championship teams from the top leagues in the state playing in a World Cup-type format. 

The team finished the season with a 12-1-3 mark and tallied 48 goals while giving up only  nine.  The strength of the team was its overall teamwork, talent and depth as Head Coach Bob Jordan was able to mold the 18-teammembers into a very solid, team-oriented group.  With Lily Venturelli at sweeper and Caroline Drinkwater (eight shutouts) as goalkeeper, Duxbury had a strong tandem anchoring the team’s stingy defense. Alex White had a terrific year as the team’s stopper and was occasionally relieved by the very versatile and talented Francesca Amodio who also was invaluable on the back line.  Rounding out the defense was Celia Borghesani, Heron Stames and Christine Kates, all of whom Coach Jordan had tremendous confidence in each of their “shut down” capabilities.

The midfield group also had great depth with the quick and rangy Emma Gill and the terrific footwork of Marykate Elliot taking turns at center-mid. Outside midfielders were Marisa Saia, Gabby Dorsett, KC Williams and Nina Fassnacht, and while each did a great job of controlling play and winning their individual match-ups, their greatest strength was their ability to outwork their opponents and run hard all game.

Up front, Duxbury boasted a talented group of forwards led by Katie Hargrave and Molly Tobin at striker.  Their ability to score goals, set-up goals and track back on defense was instrumental in Duxbury’s game plan.  Wings Kylie Stevens, Liz Wong and Ali Garrett were a perfect combination of speed, skill and strength consistently winning match-ups, scoring goals and delivering the ball to the front of the net.

With the majority of the girls heading to DHS next year as incoming freshmen (Drinkwater and Garrett will be eighth graders at DMS), the future of Duxbury girls’ soccer looks very bright indeed.