Staff Sports Writer

Two years ago, the Northbridge girls’ soccer team made a phenomenal run through the Division 4 State Tournament only to lose to Cohasset in the finals. When they returned to school the following year, they were ready to learn from their loss and get back to the State Championship game. Entering the tournament, the Rams were seeded seventh and were to square off against the number 26 seed. Unfortunately, Ipswich was primed for the upset and defeated Northbridge in the first round 2-1 on penalty kicks.

 

“Last year we had really high hopes but we underperformed and lost on penalty kicks,” Rams Coach Kristin Strazzulla said. “The girls were disappointed and thought that they were going to walk through the tournament like they did the year prior so needless to say they are anxious to get back into the tournament this year.”

Making it to the state finals was a first for the Northbridge girls’ soccer team and after not being able to capture the title that year, this year’s squad wants to be the first Rams team to raise a State Championship banner.

At the time of this writing, the Northbridge team was 13-1-3 with one game remaining in their regular season. The Rams had defeated Hudson 2-1 in the Central Mass Tournament semi-finals to earn themselves a spot in the finals against Nipmuc. Currently, the Rams are seeded seventh in the Division 4 State Tournament and, depending on what they do against Nipmuc, they could move up or down in seedings. 

Leading Northbridge back to the state finals have been the team’s four captains: Madison Thibeault, Alison Reese, Kate Leonard and Sienna Mastroianni.

Thibeault is the squad’s senior goalie, a position that she was not sure of taking on when she first arrived to play with the varsity team.

“When our goalie went down, Madison decided to step in and try the position out and has never looked back,” the coach said. “After that first year she started training, played on the club level and worked really hard on her own to become a huge leader for us.”

Through the team’s 17 games this season the senior stopper has only allowed 11 goals for a 6.47 goals against average on the year.

The other senior captain position belongs to Reese, who came to Northbridge last year via Ohio as a wrestler. The “gift”, as Strazzulla calls her, stepped into the center back position and although she doesn’t put up the flashy stats, she is a key contributor in the Rams success. The Ohio native had a huge goal for the Rams in the Whitinsville-Christian contest earlier in the year.

Junior Mastroianni has been the team’s leading scorer over the past two seasons. Last year she notched 20 goals while adding 7 assists, this season she currently has 20 goals and 1 assist and has become Northbridge’s go-to player up top. 

“We have a lot of different girls scoring for us (43 total goals as a team), but Sienna is by far our number one scorer,” Strazzulla said. “She is a great kid, doesn’t argue with the refs, is always positive and doesn’t allow anything to bother her.”

Rounding out the captains is Leonard, a junior center midfielder. Along with Mastroianni, the duo made their way onto the high school team as an eighth grader. She has played every single minute of every single game since her freshman campaign.

Kate is another that flies under the radar in terms of award recognition,” the coach said. “She is a work horse; has 3 goals and 4 assists and against Hudson in the semi-finals was head and shoulders the best player on the field.”

Strazzulla went on to say that the center midfielder has improved her soccer IQ over the years along with her strength and quickness. She has become a tenacious and matured player for the Rams as they look to avenge their losses over the last two years in the State Tournament. 

According to the Coach, the team is just about where she expected them to be, although they did finally beat Grafton this season for the first time in the sport’s history. 

The team, as a whole, had a few goals in mind as they began the season a few months ago. After coming up short on senior night last fall, the girls wanted to win this year on senior night as well as homecoming. They also were looking to defeat Leicester, but were unable to do that as the two teams tied. 

The biggest goal was to improve upon last year’s stunning upset in the first round of the tournament and while they are accomplishing that goal, they would also like to become the first team to win a State Championship for the school in girls soccer.