The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls soccer season came to an end after losing to Ludlow High School 2-0 on Saturday during the first game of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association division three playoffs.
The game on Saturday was tied 0-0 at the half. Ludlow managed to score their first goal just three minutes into the second half and earned their second shortly thereafter.
“Even though we lost two nothing, that team we played today was really physical and really technical,” said Matt Malowski, the head coach of the girls soccer team.
The Vineyarders’ four starting defenders, Hannah Wansiewicz, Maple Martone, Lucia Hall, Avery Conley and goalie Lucy Doyle, who had 15 saves on Saturday, were recognized collectively as the players of the game.
“They shut down some really good attackers and defensively they played solid,” said Coach Malowski. “They made very few mistakes all game.”
Although the season has come to an end, Coach Malowski commended the team for their efforts and acknowledged how much the team has developed.
“We’re a young team, but we went out there and their two forwards are sort of strong and fast, and our back line took them out, I don’t know how many times, but they completely cleaned them out, and I mean we matched, if not exceeded, their physicality,” said Coach Malowski.
The team has had a lot of success over the years. Despite the loss on Saturday, they took home the Golden Anchor for the fourth consecutive year after besting Nantucket High School at the Battle of the Atlantic in October. They’ve also made the playoffs each year since Coach Malowski began his tenure as head coach four years ago. The team finished number 40th in rankings with a record of nine wins and nine losses.
According to Coach Malowski, the underclassmen on the team were upset that they weren’t able to give the seniors another chance to play while wearing the white and purple.
“That’s just typical of this team,” said Coach Malowski. “They’re just so connected as friends that they were more sad that the seniors didn’t get to play than they were of actually losing, it was kind of like this weird dynamic that was happening.”
Four seniors will graduate from the team this year. Most of the players who took to the field on Saturday were underclassmen, seven of which were sophomores. But, it bodes well for the program to have a younger team get frequent playoff experience, said Coach Malowski.
“There was a level of assertiveness and confidence and intensity [on Saturday],” said Coach Malowski. “I don’t know if the playoffs just brought it out of them, but it was nice to see.”
The boys soccer team is scheduled to play their first playoff game of the season against East Boston High School at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.