Senior Night & Soccer Night a smash for Melrose
IT WAS a senior celebration for Melrose who beat Stoneham, 6-0 on Monday while also celebrating their Senior Night. From left: Alex Leeman, Emma Stratford, Sophia DiCalogero, Cadence L’Heureux, Paige Crovo, Jill Frawley and Chloe Mahoney. (photo by Raj Das edphotos.com)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
MELROSE—The Melrose High girls’ soccer team enjoyed special occasions on Friday, Oct. 18 and Monday, Oct. 21 as they celebrated Melrose Soccer Night and later Senior Night while earning a big victory that keeps them poised to clinch a playoff spot.
On Monday evening, Melrose hosted Senior Night prior to their game against Stoneham at Fred Green Field on a unseasonably warm evening that turned out to be a victorious one for the 12th-graders and the rest of the team as they blanked the Spartans, 6-0, to complete the season sweep.
“Things just came together for us,” said Melrose head coach Rob Mahoney, as the six goals were the most the team has scored this year. “We are starting to get healthy again and that has helped.”
In the 20th minute, Melrose’s Abby Taylor scored on a free kick from 35-yards out. Taylor then assisted on the second goal, as her corner kick was headed in by senior Alex Leeman in the 26th minute. That was Leeman’s first-ever varsity goal and an impressive one.
One minute later, Sophie McElligott made it 3-0 with Taylor assisting.
McElligott then scored again with just over ten minutes remaining in the first half with Taylor assisting again. McElligott, who has missed several games with an injury, just returned the previous game against Wilmington. In the 61st minute Melrose’s Aisling Donegan had the fifth goal assisted by Ella Callahan. For Donegan, it was the junior’s first-career goal. In the last minute of the game, Chloe Mahoney scored unassisted. Melrose goalkeeper, Lilah Croach, made thee stops to go to 5-5-1 in net.
Before the game, the Melrose seven seniors, Alex Leeman, Emma Stratford, Paige Crovo, Sophia DiCalogero, Cadence L’Heureux, Chloe Mahoney and Jillian Frawley were honored.
Melrose improved to 7-8-1 overall and 7-7-1 in the Middlesex League. They also went to 6-2-1 in the ML Freedom division as they are in second place.
The 5th Annual Melrose Soccer Night was a well-attended evening on Friday, Oct. 18 and Melrose tied guest Wilmington, 0-0 at Fred Green Field.
“They are strong defensively and limited out space,” said Mahoney, about the Wildcats, who are the ML Freedom division leaders. “Overall, I thought we played well.”
Croach made six saves in net as the Red Hawks went 0-1-1 against Wilmington this fall. Mahoney thought that senior co-captain Jill Frawley played well on defense.
Melrose will visit non-league Peabody in the regular-season finale on Oct. 28 at 4:15 pm. Melrose is ranked 26th in the MIAA Div. 2 Power Rankings heading into this week as the top 32 teams at the end of the regular season are automatically in the state tournament regardless of record.
The seedings come out for the tournament on Nov. 1.
