SAUGUS — It was a great start to the week for the Saugus girl’s soccer team (5-1) as it defeated Salem 7-1 at the Christie Serino Jr. Athletic Sports Complex. Other than scoring seven goals en route to a win, it was Saugus’ Madison Botta who was the center of attention on Monday.
Botta started the game with 97 career points. Well, it only took her 16 minutes to hit the 100 career point mark.
The standout striker showed she is more than just a scorer as she opened the scoring with an assist to Layla Manderson off of a corner kick to give Saugus a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game.
Then Botta did what she does best — score goals.
Botta found the back of the net in the 32nd minute to give the Sachems a 2-0 lead. Then eight minutes later, Botta broke free and fired a shot past the Salem goalie with her left foot to make it 4-0 Saugus and to hit the 100-point tally.
“I’m just happy. I just want to continue to win a lot of games and do well,” Botta said. “It doesn’t matter if I score or my teammates score, I just like to see the ball go in the back of the net and for my teammates and myself to be happy.”
Saugus coach April Martinez spoke highly about Botta’s work ethic and her unselfishness.
“She’s worked extremely hard. It’s an amazing accomplishment. … You can see even today she would rather dish it off and give it to someone else that goal. She wasn’t looking for that 100th point, she wanted the team to win first,” Martinez said. “It’s a huge accomplishment. I don’t know off the top of my head who’s had that much success, I’d have to look it up. It means a lot for the school.”
The Sachems were on cruise mode after they took the lead, continuing to pass the ball around and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
With 17 minutes to go in the half, there was another accomplishment that took place on the turf. Georgia Condakes scored her first goal for the Sachems. After a blazing run from Shawn Sewell, Sewell crossed it to Condakes who fired it in the top corner to make it 5-0.
In added time, Natalie Justice got on the scoreboard to make it 6-0 going into halftime.
In the second half, Saugus controlled possession and kept the ball moving, something that Martinez was looking for.
“We’re playing Marblehead on Wednesday so the big thing for the girls is to move the ball around,” Martinez said. “We’re really focusing on trying to work on moving the ball quickly.”
Saugus earned its seventh goal from Maria Garcia to cap off an extraordinary offensive display.
Salem got a goal back with 20 minutes left in the game, but didn’t offer much threat afterwards.
The Sachems will be back in action on Wednesday against Marblehead under the lights in Saugus at 7 p.m.
