Tag Archives: Anna Affolter

June 14, 2022 · 10:52 pm

#8 Cohasset ousts #1 Newburyport 12-9

Cohasset celebrates its Round of Eight win

Laney Larsen had 6 goals for Cohasset including this one

(Newburyport) “We knew that the rankings didn’t reflect our abilities,” said Cohasset senior Molly Stephens afterwards.

The #8 Skippers (16-3) took the lead four minutes into their game with #1 Newburyport and never gave it up.

The final was Cohasset 12, Newburyport 9 in the Division 3 state quarterfinals.

The Clippers (19-2) had won fifteen straight and were undefeated (13-0) at home.

It didn’t matter to the visitors from the South Shore League.

“We are playing our best lacrosse at the right time,” said Cohasset coach Kully Reardon post-game. “This was our best game of the season this afternoon.”

Laney Larsen had six goals for the Skippers.

“Laney is a sophomore with the confidence of a senior,” said Coach Reardon.

Laney had the first two goals of the game, but Newburyport battled back on a goal by Rita Cahalane to make it 2-1 and later on a goal by Lilly Pons to make it 3-2. But the Clippers couldn’t even the score.

The outcome-deciding portion of this game was the final 3:42 of the first half. The visitors did all the scoring and led, 6-2, at the half.

The toughest goal for Newburyport was the one that Laney Larsen got with one tick left in the first half.

Coach Cat Batchelder’s short summary of the game was, “We didn’t play well.”

When asked for specifics, Coach Batchelder referenced the defense, the attack, the draws, as areas where the team had underperformed.

The Clippers started well in the second half. Within the first three minutes both Anna Affolter (3 goals) and Lilly Pons (3 goals) scored to pull Newburyport within two goals, 6-4.

Later with 13:15 to go, the Clippers were again down two (7-5). Two minutes later, however, Laney Larsen (6 goals) had two more scores and Cohasset was up, 9-5.

Credit Newburyport. Down by four (11-7) with eight minutes left, they scored two straight times (Anna Affolter and Lilly Pons) to move within two goals with 3:28 left.

Cohasset called timeout and returned to hold onto possession until freshman Reese Hansen drove home the clincher with 1:35 left.

“We like it when the other team has to come out and play us because we have so much firepower,” said Coach Reardon.

Brown commit Molly Stephens had the size, strength, and skills to give Cohasset a definite edge on the draws.

Molly was recently named the South Shore League MVP. She had two goals today. Her biggest contribution to the win was in the draws.

Both teams were very good at running their offenses. The Clippers, however, struggled to finish.

One reason for the Newburyport goal-scoring troubles was Cohasset goalie Aizza Chase. “Aizza is the best goalie I’ve had,” said 12^th year Coach Reardon. “She adds composure and confidence back there.”

Reese Bromby after CHS goalie Aizza Chase

Regarding Molly Stephens: “Molly had a brace on her leg earlier in the season. Every game she has improved. She got some possessions today that she wouldn’t have gotten earlier in the season.”

I was impressed with the long runs of Holy Cross commit Anna Affolter in the second half.

The weather was perfect.

Good crowd with quite a few of the Cohasset faithful in the stands.

Cohasset goals: Laney Larsen (6), Kira Fulton (2), Molly Stephens (2), Reese Hansen (1).

Newburyport goals: Lilly Pons (3), Anna Affolter (3), Rita Cahalane (1), Izzy Rosa (1), Reese Bromby (1).

Cohasset 6 6 = 12

Newburyport 2 7 = 9

Bridget Mahoney chased by Rita Cahalane and Makenna Ward

Bridget Mahoney, Laney Larsen, Molly Stephens

Anna Affolter and Izzy Rosa try to get the ball away from Rorie Newman

Makenna Ward pursued by Kira Fulton and Reese Hansen

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Filed under Cohasset, Newburyport

Tagged as Aizza Chase, Anna Affolter, Coach Kully Reardon, Laney Larsen, Lilly Pons, Molly Stephens

May 18, 2022 · 9:30 pm

Newburyport defeats North Reading 14-5

(Newburyport) The Newburyport girls’ lacrosse team is very good.

“They play some of the best team lacrosse in the state,” said North Reading coach Matt Costello after his game today versus the Clippers.

Newburyport (14-1) defeated the Hornets, 14-5, in Cape Ann League action winning their tenth straight. The Clippers are now 8-0 at home and 11-0 in the CAL.

“They have a lot of talent, but they use it together as a team,” added Coach Costello.

The Clippers should have been tired after a tough battle yesterday against Bishop Guertin arguably one of the best teams in New Hampshire.

And they were tired but with experienced depth on both sides of the field it hardly mattered.

“We were definitely tired today,” said Clippers Coach Catherine Batchelder, “but we were able to play everybody a lot. We took a load off the starters from yesterday.”

“We try to play together no matter what,” explained Makenna Ward post-game. “It isn’t always one person trying to do everything.”

The Clippers had scoring from nine different players with Izzy Rosa leading the scorers with four goals and two assists.

North Reading (7-9) had the defensive skills to keep the Clippers from rushing straight into their end and launching shots. However, on this afternoon, the Clippers were good enough running set offenses that they prevailed anyway.

Newburyport scored eight unanswered goals to start the game and had that 8-0 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.

Bri Slattery broke through for North Reading and Jenna DiNapoli added another goal. The halftime score was, 10-2.

The Clippers started the second half with four straight scores to enlarge their advantage to, 14-2, with nine minutes left.

In the process of growing their lead, the Clippers also moved this game into running time.

North Reading closed the game with three straight goals.

“North Reading has really improved from the first time we saw them (April 27^th),” said Coach Batchelder. “I thought that their goalie (Kaitlyn Supple) was excellent.”

“We’ve been working on execution and good decision-making on offense,” said Coach Costello. “At the end of today’s game, we protected our sticks and did better at staying out of pressure.”

Newburyport is #1 in the MIAA Division 3 power rankings. North Reading is #16. Thirty-two teams make the tournament.

“There’s a chance we could play North Reading in the tournament,” said Coach Batchelder. “The higher ranked team will have the home game until the Final Four.”

Makenna Ward: “Our defense is very complicated but fun. When we click it looks (and works) so good.”

Coach Batchelder: “We have tough games at home next week against Manchester-Essex and Bedford (NH).”

Newburyport 10 4 = 14

North Reading 2 3 = 5

Newburyport goals: Izzy Rosa (4), Reese Bromby (2), Anna Affolter (2), Brela Pavao (1), Lilly Pons (1), Rita Cahalane (1), Olivia McDonald (1), Emily Fuller (1), Maddie Heath (1).

North Reading goals: Bri Slattery (2), Lilly McInerney (2), Jenna DiNapoli (1).

Newburyport’s four seniors (Sydney Turner, Elizabeth Turgeon, Audrey Cooper, Emily Fuller) were honored pre-game.

The weather was splendid.

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Filed under Newburyport, North Reading

Tagged as Anna Affolter, Bri Slattery, Coach Catherine Batchelder, Coach Matt Costello, Izzy Rosa, Lilly McInerney, Reese Bromby

April 25, 2022 · 9:38 pm

Newburyport in control with 18-4 win over Ipswich

(Newburyport) They knew what to expect.

They prepared for it and executed against it.

The result was a convincing 18-4 win by Newburyport over Ipswich on Monday afternoon.

“We worked on moving the ball quicker and keeping our eyes open for off-ball cutters,” explained Clippers’ sophomore Rita Cahalane afterwards.

“They played a backer zone,” said NHS coach Catherine Batchelder post-game. “That defense presented man-up opportunities for us. We worked on it in practice and the girls saw it really well. They were able to get some wide-open shots.”

The Clippers (5-1) controlled the draws in the early going and locked the Tigers (2-3) into their defensive end. In fact, Ipswich didn’t get into the Newburyport end with possession for the first 9 ½ minutes.

However, by the time Ipswich penetrated Newburyport territory they were already down, 5-0.

Three Newburyport goals later the Tigers called a timeout.

The score was 12-0 at halftime.

The Clippers showed patience on offense opting for high-percentage shots.

“We spaced wide and got a lot of cutters open,” said Olivia McDonald afterwards.

Nothing selfish about an attack that gets eighteen goals and has ten different players contributing scores.

Anna Affolter and Lilly Pons led Newburyport with three goals each.

Avery Tahnk, Emily Fuller, Reese Bromby, and Olivia McDonald each scored twice.

Rita Cahalane, Maddie Heath, Sydney Turner, and McKenna Ward had solo goals.

The key contributor was probably Izzy Rosa who didn’t even score a goal but assisted on six of them.

The game went into running time with six minutes remaining in the first half and Newburyport ahead, 10-0.

The lead was stretched to 15-0 in the second half with eighteen minutes remaining.

Ipswich showed some scoring life thereafter with four goals including two from Halle Greenleaf. Julia Moseley and Kayden Flather had single goals.

The most celebrated Newburyport goal was probably in the last minute when defender McKenna Ward moved up into the offensive end and scored.

Weather was pleasant with sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50’s.

Newburyport 12 6 = 18

Ipswich 0 4 = 4

(The pictures will enlarge.)

Emily Fuller (2 goals) covered by Maddy Duffy

Anna Affolter (3 goals) heads for the net

Ipswich goalie Ashton Flather reaches for the ball

Maeve Sullivan, Azariah Leslage, Izzy Rosa

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Filed under Ipswich, Newburyport

Tagged as Anna Affolter, Coach Catherine Batchelder, Halle Greenleaf, Lilly Pons, Olivia McDonald, Rita Cahalane

October 17, 2021 · 12:22 am

Newburyport keeps ALS Cup with 1-0 win

Newburyport captains (Maddie Felts, Katie Gallagher, Izzy Kirby, Caity Rooney) with the ALS Cup

(Newburyport MA) Deirdre McElhinney had been practicing penalty kicks.

“We knew that if our ALS Cup game ended in a tie there would be penalty kicks,” said Deirdre afterwards.

Tonight’s game with Pentucket didn’t end in a tie but the need for a penalty kicker arrived late in the first half.

“I tried to act like I was at practice,” added Deirdre. “I was trying to read the goalie.”

The shot was taken and found the left corner of the net.

“Fantastic PK by Deirdre,” said Newburyport coach Kevin Sheridan. “She just crushed the ball to the back corner.”

And that was the only goal scored. It turned out to be enough to get Newburyport past Pentucket, 1-0, on a balmy Saturday night at James Stehlin Stadium.

Both teams came in 9-2-2. This was, indeed, a heavyweight match.

Newburyport was 5-0 at home while Pentucket was 5-0-1 on the road. Something had to give.

“A fair result would have been a tie,” said Pentucket coach Dan Millard.

Both teams had excellent scoring chances.

“I knew that I would have plenty of action today,” said Clippers’ goalie Gabby Loughran. “They had lots of open shots today. We got lucky.”

Coach Kevin Sheridan saw Gabby’s play in net as very important. “She was outstanding,” said Coach Sheridan. “Perhaps she was the player-of-the-game. She came off the line and didn’t give rebounds. She handled the crosses and the corners.”

This game featured plenty of physical action. Every 50/50 ball was heavily contested. Some serious collisions resulted, and medical attention and free kicks followed.

“It was so intense out there,” said Anna Affolter post-game. “Both teams wanted to win this one badly.”

The physicality cost Pentucket (9-3-2) late in the first half. Newburyport sophomore Brela Pavao had possession in Pentucket’s box and was knocked down by a Sachem defender.

“Credit to Brela for drawing the penalty kick,” said Deirdre. “That was huge.”

The Clippers (10-2-2) had several scoring chances early in the game.

The first one was set up by Anna Affolter who came in along the left endline. Anna crossed the ball in front to where Bella Rosa was located. There was plenty of net to shoot at (as the picture shows) but Bella lifted the shot over the net.

A few minutes later freshman Alexis Greenblott broke into the middle from the left and got off a pretty good shot. Junior goalkeeper Emma Breen was well positioned to make the save.

Bella Rosa has great setup from Anna Affolter

The constant threat for Pentucket was junior Sabrina Campbell. Likely the fastest runner on the field. Several times she found space down the wings.

“Sabrina’s a really tough competitor,” explained Izzy Kirby who spent some time trying to stay with her. “She’s really fast. Our game plan was to make sure we had marks on her and layers. If she got by one of us, we had others back to mark her.”

“Sabrina and Mollie (Cahalane) are really good,” added GK Gabby Loughran.

The visitors trailed, 1-0, at the half and seemed (to me) to elevate their intensity in the second half.

The Sachems had their best scoring chance with fourteen minutes left.

Katie Gallagher clears a ball away from the front of the Newburyport net

Sabrina broke down the right side and found sophomore Victoria Wilson cutting down the middle. GK Gabby Loughran dove out to get in front of Victoria’s shot attempt. Gabby’s dive not only blocked the shot but also took out teammate Caity Rooney. And so there the ball sat near the three of them and none of them could get it.

Fortunately for Newburyport, senior Katie Gallagher hustled over and cleared the ball out of danger.

“Their goalie came out strong and hard,” said Coach Millard of the play. “She cut down the angle and made it difficult to score. That would have been a nice one for us to tie the game on.”

“We played hard in the back,” explained Katie Gallagher. “Pentucket is tough.”

The Clippers took a 3-0 loss to Pentucket on September 13^th at Pentucket. Newburyport has only allowed five goals all season and three of them came in that decisive loss.

“We didn’t have a good game that day,” recalled Gabby. “We took a red card halfway through the second half and they scored two more goals after that.”

Anna Affolter: “Deirdre finished like she always does in practice. It was revenge for the 3-0 loss.”

Katie Gallagher: “We stuck together through all eighty minutes of it. We went forward with speed.”

Coach Millard: “My girls gave 110%. We could have played better. Maybe we’ll see Newburyport again in the tournament.”

Coach Sheridan: “What a great game. Both teams had a bunch of chances. Pentucket played hard. They have good players.”

Molly Webster: “We have been building up to this game all year. This is such a great game whether you are on a team or not.”

Katie Gallagher: “The cup stays in Newburyport. I hope to play soccer next year. I’ve applied to all the schools I want to go to. I love the game. I want to keep playing.”

The crowd was impressive and so was the weather. Low 70’s at night on October 16^th. Who saw that coming……….but I’ll take it!

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)