St. Mary’s girls soccer looks to rebound

LYNN – It’s rare when the St. Mary’s girls soccer team isn’t in the mix come state tournament time, but that was the case last year.View Photo GalleryThe Spartans finished 6-8-3, three points shy of the magic number needed to make the post season. Needless to say, coach Jim Foley’s mission is to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”Our goal is always to get back to the tournament,” Foley said. “Not making the tournament is something that bothers me. We had too many injuries.”Foley said St. Mary’s plays in a tough league (the Catholic Central League) and last year, although the defense was there and the Spartans were solid in net, the offensive struggled. St. Mary’s suffered a huge blow two games into the season when senior forward Carol DiMaiti (who plans to run track at Merrimack College this year) suffered a season-ending ACL injury. Other injuries followed over the course of the season and players who didn’t expect to see a lot of action were thrust into big roles.Foley has a solid group of new and returning players with 46 girls (including the junior high players) showing up for tryouts. He has 13 freshmen in the mix.Foley will be counting on his two captains, Sophia Holmes and Madison Welch, to be the backbone of the team. Holmes, a center midfielder, has started since her freshman year. She’s been primarily a playmaker, but Foley is looking for her to help out in the scoring department as well. Welch is a sweeper.The Spartans have plenty of experience in net with the return of Katie Donnelly. Donnelly is a four-year varsity player, having been thrown into the fire her freshman year when the starting goalie broke her jaw during the playoffs.”She works hard. It’s good to have a reliable person in net,” Foley said.Joining Welch on defense will be another senior, Meaghan O’Neill. She saw a lot of time last year. Kristin Tansey didn’t play last year, but she returned this season and Foley is looking for her to help out at outside midfield.Senior Cassandra LaFauci will also be an outside defender as will senior Paige Johnson.The junior class includes center midfielder Taylor Capozzi, forward Kaylin Deschenes and stopper Katie Terban, who came off the bench and saw considerable time at the end of the season. Michaela Hamill, also a junior, could see some time at outside midfielder.Sophomore Temi Falayi can play anywhere on the field. Another sophomore, Casey Fraher, could see time at midfield and Sophya Fuccione saw varsity time as a defender last year.Foley also has a couple of talented freshmen in Mia Nikolakopoulos and Marnelle Garraud, both forward and both from Lynn.”They’re very fast and very skilled,” Foley said.Foley said depth might be a problem, but he still thinks the team will do well this year.”I think this year is kind of a bounce-back year for us,” he said. “The girls had a good summer.”Foley said Bishop Fenwick will be loaded as usual and Cardinal Spellman is always good. After that, everyone’s in the mix.St. Mary’s opens against Classical on Tuesday, Sept. 2, in the Lynn City Tournament.