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Newburyport should have massive following at state title game

Saturday, November, 17 By John Shimer
Staff writer

Today, Newburyport High sports fans will have their first opportunity to witness a state championship for a Clippers team since the boys basketball team captured a Division 3 state title in 2000.

The Newburyport girls soccer team, winners of the last two Division 3 North titles, will play Bromfield for a state championship at Cawley Stadium in Lowell at 11 a.m.

Neither team has captured a state title in program history, but Newburyport may be the more seasoned team when it comes to pressure-filled games. The Clippers made deep tournament runs in each of the last two seasons with basically the same cast of characters.

Central Mass. representative Bromfield presents an unknown entity. The Trojans compiled a 12-4-2 regular season record before ripping through the Central sectionals without allowing a goal.

"Our defense has done a pretty good job of keeping the ball out of the net, and the old adage about defense winning championships has been true for us," said Bromfield coach Gary Wenger. "This team has grown a lot over the season; I give them a lot of credit for putting in the hard work, our confidence is better, we are quicker on the ball, and we work with teammates better now."

In the semifinal, the Trojans beat Littleton in a shootout. They advanced to the Division 3 state semifinal with a 2-0 victory over Sutton in the Division 3 North final. By defeating Sutton, Bromfield eliminated a team that had traditionally given it problems. Sutton beat the Trojans, 2-0, earlier in the season.

In the state semifinal against Lee, Bromfield allowed its first tournament goal, but it was not enough in a 3-1 loss. The Trojans have outscored their opponents 13-1 (14 if you count the penalty-kick win over Littleton), but clearly the defense anchored by defenders Robin Neschike, Niki Jordan, Alli Reusch, Kelly Thurston, and goalie Lindsey Burke has been the backbone of the team.

Despite averaging over 2.0 goals per game through the state tournament, the Trojans have no go-to player with their leading scorer being Maddie Darden (five goals, two assists) followed by Ani Lierhaus (four goals).

"We have a balanced team, so we try to respond to what the team coming at us is doing," Wenger said. "We keep things flexible by not having one regimented hard and fast method; instead we try to exploit opposing team's holes."

On the flip side Robb Gonnam said he won't do anything to change the way his team has played over the last month. "Our girls know my routine, they are gaining maturity and doing things naturally by making their own decisions in practice and before the games," Gonnam said. "That gives them confidence.

"What this game will come down to is if we execute because no one can mark all of our firepower between Jillian Kinter, Maggie Mahoney, Taylor Bresnahan, Laura Muise, Micaela Hogan, etc. We just need to stay patient and disciplined, and avoid becoming frustrated by other teams hunkering down on us to force mistakes. Fortunately we have had a lot of practice with that type of defense, and how we have handled that has generally shown how we have done."