North Adams Girls' Soccer Squad Headed To State Tournament
 The North Adams U14 girls' soccer team has had plenty of reasons to smile this season. After posting a perfect 8-0 record, the girls are headed to the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions this weekend. |
The U14 girls' squad snapped that skid this year by going undefeated and winning the Berkshire County Division II championship. The MTOC is the annual season-ending tournament which brings together the best youth travel teams in the state.
This year's competition takes place in Lancaster, Mass., and it kicks off Friday morning.
"It's such an honor for these girls," head coach Samantha Tanner said. "They're looking forward to representing North Adams and Berkshire County."
North Adams is one of 12 teams competing in the girls' U14 D-II tournament. Each team will play three round-robin games between Friday and Saturday, then the top four squads will advance into the Final Four. The semifinal and championship games are slated for Sunday.
Most of the girls on the North Adams roster are seventh- or eighth-graders, and many of the girls have experience playing junior-varsity soccer at their respective high schools. Cori Ghidotti, a midfielder for the U14 team, was a key contributor on the Drury High School varsity squad last fall.
Tanner said most of her team, which consists of 17 girls, played together on the U12 team, which has allowed the group to build a cohesive bond over the last couple years.
At midfield, Ghidotti and Sarah Bloom are the essential components in getting the ball to striker Allison Tassone, who led the team with 12 goals this season. Hannah Rivard is also a scoring threat, as she proved by scoring a hat trick in North Adams' last game to clinch a tourney berth.
As a team, North Adams tallied 36 goals in eight games.
Allysa Marceau is the sweeper on defense, protecting the box around goalkeeper Allison Meehan, who posted six shutouts this season.
"They're a great bunch of girls. They're natural-born athletes," Tanner said. "They are definitely deserving of the chance to go to the tournament. I think they're out to prove something. We're in Division II this year, and we want to show that we're good enough to compete at Division I."
Tanner is a graduate of Drury (Class of 2002), as is assistant coach Joe Macksey (Class of 2001). Macksey went on to play soccer at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and, in 2003, was named to the All-MASCAC team.
Macksey has played in the MTOC before, qualifying when he was a player on Berkshire County U18 and U19 clubs. He said that the level of competition the girls will see this weekend is a notch above what they faced during the regular season.
"Any team that gets [to MTOC] is good," he said. "The girls know what it's going to be like. We've been running them pretty hard in practice."
The tournament games will be played at Citizens Bank Fields at Progin Park, a soccer facility with 11 natural grass and five synthetic turf fields. Each field meets the FIFA international regulations.
The travel-league season, which started back in April, isn't over yet for the U14 team out of North Adams. But the coaches aren't letting the excitement that comes with making the MTOC interfere with the team's focus.
There is still work to be done.
"We have a chance to win some games," Macksey said.
North Adams' MTOC schedule
Friday — 10 a.m. vs. MAYS
Friday — 3:30 p.m. vs. Pioneer Valley
Saturday — 12:30 p.m. vs Middlesex
North Adams' team roster
Megan Benoit
Sarah Bloom
Mackenzie Bona
Alison Cellana
Katie Cirullo
Hannah Collier
Cori Ghidotti
Morgan Lamarre
Cece Lawson
Alyssa Marceau
Allison Meehan
Heather Morris
Zoila Pineda
Hannah Rivard
Breanna Simard
Alison Tassone
Kasha Wissman
