LYNN — Last year, the St. Mary’s girls soccer team had a successful season despite losing three players to injuries. The Spartans, with a depleted squad, finished the year 11-6-2 before losing to North Reading in the state tournament.
This year the Spartans have more numbers and are returning veteran starters with the hope of building on last year’s success.
“To start the season we had three season-ending injuries and our goalie got hurt in the third game, so we had a sixth-grader fill in,” head coach Jim Foley said. “The beginning of the season was a little bit trying. We had players developed since some players played more than maybe they even expected but that will hopefully pay dividends.”
St. Mary’s is losing three players but returning its top offensive talent in duo Sophie Skabeikis and Brooke Moloney.
“We have Sophie Skabeikis who was our leading scorer, with 27 goals and provided four assists. Sophie was also named Eastern Mass All-Star,” Foley said. “We are also returning Brooke Moloney, who finished the year with 16 goals and 14 assists.”
With the stellar duo leading the attack, St. Mary’s will try to be as dominant defensively as they were last year.
“We have Bre Moloney and Riley Maguire returning from last year. We’re getting Cameryn Dunn back who was hurt last season. Kylie Kennison, our goalie, is also returning. She’s had a good offseason,” Foley said. “I think our defense will be one of our strengths. We have a good nucleus out there, we should be pretty solid. ”
In addition, the Spartans will have both Issie Skabeikis and Georgia Allaire back on the field for their junior year.
“They’re two juniors who I believe will have a strong year,” Foley said.
The Spartans have been putting in the work this summer between summer-league games and camps to prepare them for the season, which officially starts on August 21.
“They had a good summer filled with offseason workouts. They did a camp over the summer too,” Foley said. “They’ve been working hard all summer and hopefully we can build on that to be better this year.”
The Spartans finished one point off of second in their league last season. This year, Foley hopes to compete in the league and win the Lynn tournament.
“We have a tough league since we have a Division 1 powerhouse in it with Bishop Feehan in it,” Foley said. “It’s a tough league where we’re tested. We also have a very ambitious non-league schedule. Our goal is to win the Lynn Tournament, which is a preseason goal.”
“We look forward to the Lynn tournament, in addition to playing some of the North Shore teams,” Foley said. “We’re playing Saugus, Marblehead, and Swampscott so it’s good to face them to see where we’re at.”
When asked if Foley is going to coach the team differently this year, he said that having more depth will be key to not tiring later in the season.
“We have to create more depth,” Foley said. “We want to have a deeper bench to make sure everyone is in great shape and conditioned. We got a bit tired at the end because of the injuries. We didn’t have the numbers last year so with the injuries we picked up, starters had to go longer than they probably should have because we didn’t have the numbers.”
With summer shortly coming to an end, Foley knows his team will be ready to go.
“I think they’re excited and determined to be better,” Foley said. “We have some good scrimmages lined up and it will be a good test for us. The summer is still here but I feel everyone is ready to get back to work.”
