Tag Archives: Molly Markos

Ipswich Out in the D3 North Quarter Finals 3-0 to Lynnfield in Girls Soccer

Alison Johnson (5) sees plenty of daylight and scores the second Lynnfield goal.

Scout Benson (11) defended by Shannon McFayden (3) and Courtney Long.

(Ipswich) Who saw this coming?

The girls soccer rematch in Division 3 North between #4 Ipswich and #12 Lynnfield turned into a rout, 3-0, for the visiting Pioneers in the Division 3 North Quarter Finals on a sunny Monday afternoon at Ipswich High School.

These two teams had played three times in the last year and were unable to get the best of each other in regulation time in any of them.  The first occasion was in the D3 North semis on November 11, 2010 and that tie was eventually broken in the 9th round of penalty kicks by Tiger Bryn Golesworthy.  The next two meetings were this season and ended in 2-2 and 0-0 ties.

Wouldn’t you think they’d still be evenly matched in this game, with Ipswich having a slight advantage at home?  I even checked on the MIAA site on how penalty kicks are arranged in tournament games!

On this day, however, Lynnfield never gave Ipswich a chance.  They scored early in each half and had an All-League goalie (Nareh Sahakian) as the last defender.

Nareh Sahakian deflects a direct kick by Hannah Weagle over the crossbar in the second half.

Nareh’s best save of the day was a deflection of a Hannah Weagle direct kick twenty-six minutes into the second half.

Scout Benson was also a key piece in the Pioneer win.  The CAL hurdles champ, from this past outdoor track season, pressured the Tiger defense with speed on the right wing and had an important foot in both Lynnfield first-half goals.  Ipswich employed man-to-man coverage on her but not effectively.  Scout’s speed put her in a position to get hard shots at the Ipswich goal.  Those hard shots turned up juicy rebounds for teammates Kimmie Duhaime and Alison Johnson that were converted in the decisive first half.

Scout got off the first shot of the game and Kimmie put in the rebound at 1:45.

That first goal had a lot to do with the Lynnfield second goal (16:40) because when Scout again broke down the right wing the Ipswich defense collapsed toward her.  Molly Markos had the near post secured.  Scout’s hard shot, was to Molly’s right and deflected off her hands to Alison Johnson.  Alison had time to stop the ball, turn to face the goal, and get off an uncontested shot to the uncovered left side.

This was not the last time Scout would pressure from the right wing but thereafter the Ipswich defense kept goals from resulting.

Shot by Lauren McCarthy slips past Tiger defenders for the third Pioneer goal.

Another Lynnfield All-Leaguer (Lauren McCarthy) netted the third goal early in the second half.  Kimmy Duhaime forced a left corner kick.  Instead of taking a shot on the corner kick, Allegra Dicesare tapped a pass to Lauren. Her hard shot went quickly past a group of Ipswich defenders in front of the Tiger net.

Lynnfield is now undefeated in their last eight games with seven of them being wins.

Ipswich came into this game undefeated in their last sixteen.

When I talked to IHS coach Nancy Waddell before their game with Newburyport I asked her about the tournament.  She mentioned that you can get tough teams with mediocre records in the early round and she specifically mentioned Weston and Lynnfield.  Sure enough, they both end up in her team’s bracket.  She did get by Weston, which defeated the Tigers in the D3 North finals last year but not Lynnfield.

Scout Benson

Scout Benson was in prep school during the 2010 Lynnfield soccer season.

Good crowd on hand at Welch Stadium on a pleasant weather afternoon.

Next game for Lynnfield will be the Semifinals on November 10th (Thursday) against the Shawsheen/Georgetown winner.  Georgetown beat Lynnfield 4-1 in October.

(I take my own pictures and give my own commentary.  Mistakes can be made.  I own any of them.)  The pictures enlarge to normal size when you click on them.

Kimmy Duhaime

Kimmy Duhaime (4) after LHS goal #2

first half action in Lynnfield end

Lauren McCarthy

Hannah Weagle

LHS coach Mark Vermont

IHS coach Nancy Waddell

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Ipswich Girls Soccer Team Ties Newburyport 0-0 to Gain Advantage in CAL Division 2

Ipswich clinches at least a tie in CAL Division 2 at Newburyport.

Hannah Martin (15) sends one of many potentially dangerous direct kicks toward the Ipswich goal.

(Newburyport)  The Ipswich girls soccer team was the one celebrating after their evening (0-0) match with Newburyport on Tuesday night at World War Stadium……….and they didn’t even score a goal or win the game.  But what they did was at least assure themselves of a tie for the Cape Ann League Division 2 championship.

Ipswich (8-0-3) now has 19 league points (2 points for a win – 1 point for a tie) with one game left  –  Georgetown away at 3:45PM on Wednesday.  Newburyport (8-1-3) also has 19 league points but their regular season is over.

Therefore, a Tiger win or tie versus the Royals and they have the CAL D2 title to themselves. An Ipswich loss and they end up sharing the top spot with Newburyport.

The Clippers only league loss was to Georgetown (3-2) so Ipswich will certainly not have an easy afternoon of soccer versus the Royals.

Courtney Long launches a testing direct kick for Ipswich.

The two most dangerous players on the field were Hannah Martin and Courtney Long.  These players took all of their team’s direct kicks.  Both could put up the distance to send shots into scoring areas.  That none were finished off for goals by either team was a surprise to me.

Clipper Carly Brand shadowed 14-goal scorer Hannah Weagle and that was effective defensively.  However, that strategy left Carly out of the flow around the goal when the long direct kicks came that way.  Carly had a goal last game versus Amesbury on a header off of a Hannah Martin direct kick.

The best Tiger chance was on a corner kick fifteen minutes into the second half.  Shannon McFayden took the kick and delivered it right on Clipper goalie Lilly Donovan just as Tiger Katie Glaubitz got there.  A pretty good collision resulted but Lilly held her ground and the goal was prevented.

Katie Glaubitz collides with Clipper goalie Lilly Donovan in the second half.

Newburyport’s chances weren’t so much shots but near-shots.  Their normal short passing game seemed to vanish when they got into the offensive end so there were few, if any, set ups for clean looks and shots.

This game was more physical than most.  Several Ipswich girls went down after contact but returned to play later.

Ipswich (12-1-4 including non-league games) has now gone fourteen straight games without a loss.  Newburyport (13-2-3 overall) is undefeated in thirteen of their last fourteen games.

The tournament pairings are ahead.  Ipswich will be competing in Division 3 while Newburyport is in Division 2.  Both teams fell to the eventual North divisional winners in 2010.  I was at the Ipswich loss to Weston at Fraser Field in Lynn.

Ipswich coach Nancy Waddell explained to me before the game that the seedings for the tournament can be tough.  Her reasoning was that D3 teams in strong conferences get losses against higher division opponents and get seeded low.  They turn out to be tough early opponents for top seeds in D3.

I still think that World War Stadium is a terrific site for a soccer game for spectators.  I’m told, however, that the Clipper team would prefer Cherry Hill so the tourney games could well be over there.  Apparently that field is wider.

(I take my own pictures and collect my own information.  I own any mistakes.)  Click on the pictures and they become normal size.

Julia Kipp (2) Lizzy Barbarisi (14)

second half action in front of Ipswich net

Aly Leahy (1) Hannah Martin (15)

NHS goalie Lilly Donovan

Carly Brand (11) Maddie Howe (10) Masey Zegarowski (1)

Sarah Casey (18) heads

Tiger goalie Molly Markos chases shot.

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Ipswich Girls Run Undefeated Streak to Eleven with 2-1 Soccer Win Over Masconomet

Tigers rush to goalie Molly Markos after 2-1 win over Masco.

(Boxford) One girls soccer team was undefeated in its last ten games and the other in its last eight games.  It figured to be a good match….and it was as Ipswich defeated Masconomet, 2-1, before a good crowd at Senior’s Day at Masconomet on Friday afternoon.

Hannah Weagle – goal and assist

2010 Cape Ann League Division 2 Player-of-the-Year Hannah Weagle was huge for Ipswich (10-1-3).  The talented senior scored a goal in the first half on a direct kick and then earned the assist on teammate Sam Brown’s game winner in the second half.

Hannah was also very active in the midfield area and part of an Ipswich defense that gave Masco limited scoring chances during most of the game.

The Chieftains (9-4-2), however, rallied late in the first half on a scramble in front to tie the score (Mia Farnham from Leah Connerty) and put their best sustained effort into the opening ten minutes of the second half.  During that hectic ten minutes, Masco took six shots, including two direct kicks and a corner kick, but the Tiger defense led by junior Courtney Long and goalie Molly Markos held on.

Hannah set up the game-winner seventeen minutes into the second half.  She broke away from a sideline battle for the ball and took a hard shot toward goal from the left.  Sam Brown raced in from the right and put a foot on the ball redirecting it on goal and into the net past Masco goalie Kendal Pratt.

The Tigers had three golden chances in the first half and cashed in on one of them.

The first chance was a goal from in close by Katie Monahan that was called back because of an offsides after nineteen minutes.

Hannah Weagle delivered on the second chance. First she drew a Masco violation with some penetrating dribbling.  Then she took the resulting direct kick and beat goalie Kendal Pratt with a shot into the upper left-hand corner of the net with twenty-three minutes played in the first half.

Six minutes later Hannah was back with the Tigers’ 3rd scoring chance with another direct kick attempt. This time goalie Kendal Pratt made a fabulous stop diving for the near post to deflect the shot out.  This was the stop of the game.

Leah Connerty (10) about to get an assist.

The Chieftain’s broke through at 38:07 after a direct kick by Paige Pratt.  From where I was (the other end of the field) it looked as if Leah Connerty got a foot on the ball to put it up in the air and Mia Farnham followed with a header past the Ipswich goalie.

This was my second time seeing Masco – I saw them play a 1-1 tie with Georgetown.  Paige Pratt is an excellent defender.  Mia Farnham and Taylor Evans create real problems on the scoring end because of their strength and persistence.  They both had pretty good scoring chances versus Ipswich.

The Ipswich/Masco JV game was played right beside the varsity game.  I suspected that whistles and stray kicks might be a problem but they weren’t.

Sam Brown (12) congratulated after game winner

I saw Ipswich in tournament play last season and Courtney Long is terrific as the last defender.  The sophomore has a strong kick with either foot and doesn‘t panic with the ball.

Hannah Weagle was all over the field.  Most high scorers in soccer don’t offer much in the way of defense but Hannah was active at midfield and in the box during corner kicks.

Ipswich (11-7-4 in 2010) made the D3 North Finals last season while Masco (17-2-2 in 2010) ) made the D1 North Finals.  They will be in the tournament again this year.

Hannah Weagle (6) contests with Masco goalie Kendal Pratt

Next for Ipswich is Triton under the lights in Ipswich on October 25th (Tuesday). Masco travels to Andover for a 5PM game on October 24th (Monday).

Further ahead, Ipswich has back-to-back road games with Newburyport (October 31st) and Georgetown (November 1st).  Those should be very competitive matches.

(I take full responsibility for the contents of this story.)   The pictures will enlarge to normal size if you click on them.

Courtney Long (24) defends Taylor Evans (27)

Mia Farnham (29) shoots

Hannah Weagle (6) & Courtney Long (24)

Taylor Evans (27) and Shannon McFayden

goalie Kendal Pratt

Mia Farnham

Sam Brown

goalie Molly Markos

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