Winthrop girls soccer falls to Georgetown

LYNN – The Winthrop girls soccer team?s magical run through the postseason came to an end after a 2-0 loss to No. 10 Georgetown in the Div. 4 North Sectional championship Sunday afternoon at Manning Field.
Both teams entered the contest having yet to yield a goal through their three prior tournament games in which they combined for 18 tallies.
?Absolutely, we definitely matched up well with (Georgetown), which says a lot about the talent on our team,” said Vikings coach Tracey Martucci, when asked if she noticed any additional similarities.
?We played right with them until the very end.”
A scoreless first half gave way to a mid-field battle in the early stages of the second period, lasting until Cayla Durkee broke the ice after running onto a deep-ball from Jennifer Migliaccio before scoring just inside the left post at the 30:21.
Winthrop would create three golden chances over a span of six and a half minute, starting at the 17:00 mark when senior defenseman, Nikki Tsiotos, blasted a shot just over the cross bar.
Junior midfielder, Heidi Benson would generate a pair of chances in the 29th minute, the former drawing a diving save from Kaylie Sapienza before her follow-up chance missed high.
Migliaccio hammered the final nail in Winthrop?s coffin at 4:52 when she beat senior goalkeeper, Poli Tsiotos, to a slow-roller before hitting the open net.
?I told the girls at halftime that whoever scored first would probably walk away with a win because it was a battle out there,” said Martucci.
?We thought we were going to get right back in it after they took the lead but we couldn?t finish our chances before that second goal sunk us. There wasn?t much
Poli could have done in that situation.”
Along with the Tsiotos sisters, the Vikings will lose forward and fellow co-captain, Amy Sena, to graduation along with defenseman Maura Lanza.
?They?ve been great leaders on a young team,” said Martucci.
?I haven?t had a senior group that?s taken charge like they did. My staff and I would joke about how we didn?t even have to be around because that group would take over,” She said.
?This is the furthest any girls team has come in program history we have a lot to be proud of. I played from ?91 to ?94 and never reached a tournament so to be a part of this was a special feeling. This team put Winthrop back on the map.”
The No.16 Vikings finished with an overall record of 10-10-2.
Neither team could gain much of an upper-hand in the first half which featured a plethora of missed chances.
Georgetown?s best chance missed wide off the foot of Mollie Swanton at 26:05, long before Winthrop threatened in the 24th minute when sophomore forward Flora English?s shot from net-front traffic missed outside the right post.