SWAMPSCOTT — Behind a late goal from sophomore Carter Murray, the Marblehead girls soccer team defeated Swampscott, 1-0, in a Northeastern Conference matchup at Blocksidge Field on Thursday afternoon. It took over 71 minutes before the goal was finally scored, as it was a possession battle throughout the entire game.
“We moved the ball well and had plenty of scoring opportunities, which was great to see,” said Marblehead (3-3-1) coach Jenna Roncarati. “We didn’t have any real defensive setbacks either, and I think that shows how much we’ve grown as a team already this year.”
Keeping Swampscott in the game the whole time was goalkeeper Nikki Rosa, who notched 10 saves including several diving stops. Marblehead keeper Hannah Garthe had four saves in the shutout.
Marblehead came out fast to start the game. Within the first 15 minutes, the Magicians generated four quality scoring chances. Grace Arthur had four shots on goal herself by the middle of the first half, and Marblehead as a team had six shots on goal and four corner kicks total by the break. Fortunately for the Big Blue, Rosa made every save and the two teams went into halftime locked into a scoreless tie.
The second half was very similar. Marblehead came out with a few early scoring chances, one of which just barely missed the net. Swampscott’s Haley Bernhardt, who created a couple scoring chances in the first half, just barely missed a goal herself with about 30 minutes left.
The scoring opportunities went back and forth for the next 20 minutes of game time, until Marblehead earned yet another corner kick. Lexi Bostley sent the all into the box, but Rosa jumped out and deflected it. But the deflection fell right onto the foot of Murray, who was standing right in front of the net. She buried the goal with just under nine minutes remaining to give Marblehead the 1-0 lead. From there, the Magicians were able to play solid defense and walk away with the win.
“It was a great job by Carter because it was a little scrappy in the box, which made it pretty chaotic in there,” said Roncarati. “It was really nice to see, because we’ve been working a lot at corner kicks in practice this week. So it looks like it paid off.”
One of the biggest reasons for Marblehead’s solid play was its passing, which Roncarati says the team has been working on all year.
“That’s the kind of stuff we work on in practice, finding where the pressure is and moving the ball around quickly to escape that pressure,” Roncarati said. “Then by doing that and switching up our point of attack, we can set up a lot of scoring chances.”
Both teams are back on the field on Saturday. The Magicians battle with Peabody while the Big Blue clash against Hoosac Valley.
