January 17, 2024 – Story by Ava DiCecca, photos by Joshua Ross
Despite falling short to NDA 3-1 this past Monday, the Harborwomen have many great things to take away from the game and a new set of focuses they believe will help them compete even stronger throughout the rest of their season. It was a very physical game and the Harborwomen were right in it the whole time. In the end, it just came down to NDA’s ability to break up passes and get off a few more quality shots that led to their win. Both sides had some unbelievable saves and great defensive stops, but at the end of the day, it was junior captain Caroline Doherty who was able to find the back of the net and put the Harborowmen on the board late in the first period. After a scoreless second period, NDA came out firing to open up the third and created many more scoring opportunities from close range while the Harborwomen struggled to get by a solid NDA goalie.
Since the beginning of the season, the girls have been anxious to take on their rivals and they have much to be proud of in their performance despite the end result. The girls fought well through an extremely physical game and had a great showing on defense. In particular, freshman Shea Richardson has been a consistent powerhouse on defense for them this season and was instrumental in making some key stops to keep the score close throughout most of the game. After the game she commented, “I think we need to capitalize on our shots and opportunities more and just keep grinding and working hard.” She said personally, her mindset has been to “just keep working hard every game and looking at every game as an individual one…and keeping present in the moment.” It is performances like hers against the number two team in the state that make the young team hopeful for many more successes as the season progresses but as Richardson pointed out, they will continue to take it one game at a time.
Another huge positive that came from this game is that all the underclassmen battled and kept their composure all throughout the game against a team that knew how to put the pressure on. This is a huge nod to the determination and heart present on the team and also speaks volumes to the examples being set by the captains, upperclassmen, and Head Coach Courtney Turner. Turner commented, “we have been talking a lot about winning the battles to prepare for the game and we need to continue doing that going forward for the rest of the season.” Regardless of the final score, the Harborwomen won many battles both individually and as a team all throughout the game and this mindset of always looking at the positives will be a huge part of future successes.
The girls have been having an impressive season so far especially with a team this young and new to varsity-level competition. They take on Marshfield tonight in the final meeting of the regular season. The Harborwomen beat the Rams 3-1 in their first meeting and there is no doubt after putting into practice what they learned from this game, it will be one of their strongest and most competitive games of the season. We can expect the heart and grit they have shown throughout the entire season to remain consistent as they look to improve upon capitalizing on good looks at the net and opportunities to score and make big plays.
