The girls varsity soccer team defeated King Philip Regional High School (King Philip) 2-0 on Thursday, Nov. 14 at Parsons Field, punching their ticket to the final four for the second straight year.
As fans were still finding their seats, the Warriors jumped out to an early lead, with a goal from senior and captain Sydney Freese, off an assist from senior and captain Makena Hammond. Freese attributes this goal to a team full of seniors eager to make an impact in their last game at Parsons.
“Going into the game we just wanted to leave it all on the field. There are so many seniors on this team and it was our last home game ever, last time playing in Brookline,” Freese said. “We had a few quick combos in the first that led to a good ball and it was just a race to finish.”
Freese didn’t stop there, as she would add another goal before the first half came to a close, this time off an assist from senior and captain Anna Leschly. Head coach Ben Peters said he has come to expect this type of performance from Freese but remains impressed nonetheless.
“Honestly, the girl does everything right. Just get the ball to her feet, she’ll take people on, she’ll beat people, she’ll score goals,” Peters said. “She’s incredible, I mean that’s maybe 15 or so goals for her on the season now, maybe more, so she’s just fantastic.”
The other key to the Warriors’ win was their fantastic defense, as they held King Philip to zero goals, their first clean sheet of the postseason. A major contributor to the defense’s performance was junior Mirabelle Keselmen, who said the team’s performance was the result of a hard-fought season.
“We’ve played a lot with each other at this point, something like 20 games. We work on how we have our shape a lot, and then I think at this point honestly it’s just chemistry,” Keselmen said.
Keselmen also has a very close relationship with the seniors on the team, making every single game extra important as she tries to make their final season special.
“Honestly, it is everything,” Keselmen said. “Every single time we step on the field in playoffs, we know that any chance could be our last time playing with our best friends on this team.”
The Warriors are now onto the final four, and this year they hope for a different result, as their playoff run last year ended in the semi-finals with a 5-2 defeat to the Natick Redhawks, last year’s State Champions.
The Warriors only lost two seniors last year, meaning that they have nearly an identical team. Peters is confident that the experience gained last year will benefit them as they prepare for this year’s matchup against number 2-seeded Wellesley.
“I think there was last year, there were a lot of emotions, a lot of anxiety and stress from the game,” Peters said. “We have that experience now, we know what to do to get the job done.”
