Wahconah Girls Dominant in State Tourney Opener

DALTON, Mass. — The Wahconah girls soccer team took care of business with a dominant 5-0 win over Malden Catholic in the Division 4 state tournament on Saturday.

 

Wahconah (6-9-4) came into the game as the higher seed and really imposed itself from the get go. For the better part of the first half it controlled tempo and kept Malden Catholic pinned in their own half. Wahconah was especially clinical up the left side of the field working passes in and out and getting good chances on net from corner kicks.

 

Fittingly the breakthrough came from a corner kick in the 10th minute from Olivia Gamberoni who curled a ball near post that snuck in between the keeper and the post.

 

Set-pieces played a huge role in today’s game for Wahconah. In the 27th minute, it got another chance, this time from a free kick near the corner flag. This time it was a low driven ball to the near post that was flicked onto the back post for the second of the day. Wahconah added more from a set-piece that was beautifully curled off the post and in for a 3-0 lead.

 

“Set-pieces this time of the year are as important as it gets, sometimes it’s the only opportunity you get and we have really been practicing those and finally executing so it’s great” Wahconah coach Maggie Rivers said. 

 

Wahconah added one more before the half, this time from open play with a nice through ball that turned into a foot race with the keeper causing a deflection that landed in front of Nora Esko who calmly placed in the open net to give them a commanding 4-0 at the break.

 

Malden Catholic tried to get things going in the second half with the only real chance of the game from them that saw a chipped ball over the keeper go just wide of the net. The defense of Wahconah wasn’t called on a lot today but anytime they were they were up for the task and stayed focused on keeping that clean sheet.

 

“I said at halftime one of our goals was to not allow any goals, I wanted to keep the shutout and they performed very well. I actually put more pressure on them to be more involved instead of waiting for the ball to come to them so they really executed that well,” Rivers said. 

 

With the game wrapped up, Wahconah added the fifth and final goal off a nice pass to the back post that was slotted past the keeper by Adelyn Furlong. The defense would continue its job and close the game out with the shutout. It was a well rounded match for Wahconah and they will look to build on this momentum in the next round.

 

Twelfth-seeded Wahconah (6-9-4) moves on to the Sweet 16 againt either Hamilton-Wenham or Sturgis Charger East, who meet on Sunday afternoon.

 

Photos from this game here.