The Norton High School girls’ Varsity soccer team came walking into something totally different and unexpected this past fall season. In this past 2013 soccer season, the girls had no idea what to expect considering they had a new coach, whom most had known nothing about. Everyone seemed excited, but at the same time nervous because they wanted to beat their record last year of not even making it into the tournament. As very excited as they were to make it to tournament this past season, they were devastated when they didn't go as far as they hoped.
Most people would say that the seniors definitely had the worst luck when it came to coaches. Mostly every single one of them had a new coach each year they played. Most of the girls started out on junior varsity and made it onto varsity as sophomores, juniors, and seniors. This meant that they had one coach on their JV team and as they worked their way up, every coach had left them. That can be very difficult to cope with because not every coach teaches or thinks the same way, so you may never really know what to expect. This did not seem to stop them in 2011, though. Moving on from that, they had hoped to make it to tournament in 2012, but they sadly ended up with a very unpleasing coach. Starting off the 2013 season seemed to be very difficult for most of the girls trying to get to know the new coach and understand his way of coaching. But, the two new captain’s senior Kaitlin Murrin and junior Kassidy Campbell kept them all together.
Surprisingly, the team didn't start off as bad as they thought they would. They had tied their first game against their biggest rival, Medfield, 1-1. This already gave them one point towards the tournament, which requires 18 points. As they approached the halfway point, they were switching off with wins and losses and their record was 4-3-2. This meant that they only needed 8 more points to make it to tournament; they were already more than half way there. By the second half of the season, they started off with three wins against Bellingham, Medway and Medfield. Medway and Medfield are Norton's biggest rivals, so those were both huge accomplishments for them. They had not beaten these two teams for a couple of years and this got them on a winning streak. As Norton approached their away game against Millis, they were hoping to win or at least even tie to get the one more point that they needed. Unfortunately they lost, but they still had four more games to get one more point so that left them with a little bit of hope. As their next game against Holliston comes around, it ends up being the happiest moment for them yet this season. They had beaten them 2-1, with goals from Ashley Cibotti and Kaleigh Schleicher. This game by itself qualified the Norton girls’ varsity team for tournament, holding 19 points. The team could not have been any happier with themselves.
After the team had already made it to tournament, they still tried to work their hardest to get more points so they could maybe have a home game in the tournament. Sadly, they did not win anymore, they tied two and lost one. This didn't seem all that bad because they still got two more points. This ended the team with a total of 21 points and a record of 4-2-3 for the second half of the season and 8-5-5 all together. They were very happy with themselves because they still got 3 more points than they needed and that was huge for them considering they couldn't even get 18 the season prior. As November 2nd, 2013, comes around, one of their most important days this year, the team was excited but had never been so nervous. This was the day of their first tournament game against Dover-Sherborn, another team in their league who they had already lost once and tied once to earlier in the season. As the team meets at Norton High School, gets on the bus, and rides 44 minutes to Dover-Sherborn, their hearts are beating out of their chests. As the game approaches it is a pretty even match tied at half time 0-0. Within the last 15 minutes, DS had scored which got the Norton girls pretty tense. Unfortunately, the game ended 1-0, leaving the Norton girls devastated.
The Norton girls’ varsity 2013 soccer season seemed to have a lot of ups and downs but they all held it together pretty well. Though they had a brand new coach, it didn't seem to get in the way of anything. Starting off, the team seemed to be unsure and not very confident, but by the middle of the season I think they all started to cope with fact that they can't change anything and they just have to play their hardest. The team had a very successful season ending with a record of 8-5-5 and holding 21 points. Though they lost their first game into the tournament, they could not have been any happier with themselves, their teammates, and the coaches.
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