LEOMINSTER — After suffering a 5-0 loss to Masconomet in last year’s MIAA Division II state championship game, the Duxbury girls soccer team was particularly inspired in Saturday’s title-game redux with Longmeadow.
The top-seeded Dragons fell into an early hole but didn’t panic, scoring three unanswered goals after conceding just seven minutes into the first half to capture a 3-1 victory over the second-seeded Lancers at Doyle Field.
It was the fourth state title in program history for Duxbury, and the first since 2008. The Dragons capped their title-winning season with an 18-2-3 record.
Longmeadow (17-3-4) scored first in Saturday’s final, tallying on one of its patented set pieces in the eighth minute. The Lancers have been dangerous on set pieces all season, and Cameron Greenman’s corner kick floated toward the back post where Gracie DiStefano headed the ball back across the goal and into the net for a 1-0 Longmeadow lead.
The Dragons responded quickly however, answering the goal with one of their own less than three minutes later. Olivia Coperine took a lead pass, muscled off two Longmeadow defenders and poked home a shot past Lancers goalie Ava Nuzzo to draw the No. 1 seeds level.
“When that happened in previous years, we didn’t have the maturity, particularly last year, to be able to handle it,” said Duxbury coach Rob Jones of his team falling behind early. “We never really got into the game in the final last year, but this year, I always felt no matter what would happen, we’d get into the game and we’d find a rhythm at some point. I don’t think we found it for long enough tonight, but we found it for long enough to win the game.”
Duxbury, which hadn’t lost since a 3-2 defeat to North Quincy back on Sept. 18, took its first lead of the final 10 minutes later when Lilah MacQuarrie created some space between the Longmeadow defense and buried a shot to make it 2-1.
It stayed that way into the second half, and the Dragons put things out of reach with 23:44 remaining in regulation when Lily Ladieu broke free and snuck home a goal for a 3-1 cushion that proved to be the final.
“I feel like it’s going to take a team to score three or four goals to beat us,” said Jones. “I always feel like we’re going to score three to four goals every game, so if a team’s going to beat us, they’ve got to come out and get in our final attacking third. One goal’s not enough. So, yeah, we were upset that we conceded so early, but we always say they’re going to need three goals to beat us, and I just don’t see many teams doing that against us.
“I don’t mean to sound arrogant or bigheaded, it’s just the way we’re built. And people have to come out and get in our face to try and beat us and they did that, but then, you know, they’ve got to knock us out and we just kept on coming, kept on coming and I knew we’d score eventually and get back in the game. It was just a case of how we’d respond after their goal and whether we could hold our emotions. It’s all about emotions for them.”
Longmeadow created some quality scoring chances throughout but couldn’t find another goal after DiStefano’s early marker. Greenman put a shot on frame that required a diving save from Duxbury goalie Grey Metzler early in the second half, and DiStefano also got her head on another corner kick that went just over the crossbar.
“I think these guys came in ready,” offered Longmeadow coach Gina Pantuosco. “They were prepared. They had an awesome amount of energy and it showed in the opening minutes of the game. They built to set the tone and they did.”
It was the first state final appearance for Longmeadow, which broke through thanks to a stellar state tournament run that featured an impressive semifinal win over King Philip earlier in the week.
“They set a tone and a level of standard for Longmeadow soccer that has never existed in the past,” lauded Pantuosco. “So now all the grades coming up know that it’s attainable and they are the trailblazers and should be so proud of what they’ve done for this program. I mean, no one in Longmeadow history has done this. It speaks volumes for these guys.”
Jones lauded the play of senior Lauren Sutliffe, who is headed to Division I Northeastern to continue her soccer career next fall, though said the Dragons have put a nice team around their star player.
“Just the quality of our play. I feel like we’ve got so many threats, we have so many different ways to score,” he said. “Lauren (Sutliffe) is our MVP. What she’s done for this program is incredible. But we proved to everybody that we weren’t a one-player team, that we had different weapons, different options who were going and create chances and score goals. What Lauren has done for this program is unbelievable, and she would be the first to tell you that it’s not about her, it’s about us.”
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