Category: Girls Soccer

North’s Gaulin Twins Ending Soccer Careers Together

Ashlyn Gaulin Emma Gaulin
North Attleboro’s Ashlyn Gaulin (left) and Emma Gaulin are finishing up their collegiate soccer careers by each other’s side. (Joshua McKee)
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It is rare enough for two players from the same high school team to get the chance to play collegiate soccer. Even rarer is the opportunity for family members to move onto the next level together. Rarer still, twin sisters playing together from three years old in North Attleboro parks and recreation leagues, through the same club soccer and high school teams, all the way to the NCAA Div. III tournament.

North Attleboro’s Ashlyn Gaulin and Emma Gaulin have shared almost all of their experiences on the pitch together (Ashlyn chuckles remembering that one year in middle school where Emma made their club’s ‘A’ team and she didn’t). From the age of three to this weekend, and possibly into grad school, the two are by their own admission inseparable on and off the field.

Last Sunday, when Mt. St. Mary’s (N.Y.) visited Hamilton’s Love Field, Ashlyn assisted on the first Continentals goal with a throw-in and Emma sent in a ball to the top of the six for the team’s sixth goal. It was one of their last chances to play together at Hamilton and both got on the scoresheet with their second assists of the season.

“Even just from high school, if Emma scored or got an assist, I was the loudest one cheering,” Ashlyn explained the day after the Mt. St. Mary’s game. “For both of us to get one yesterday was awesome. It’s just fun playing with her. Seeing her be aggressive pushes me to be aggressive. It’s a lot of fun, especially when we win and get points together.”

It may seem difficult to be around a sibling all the time, but for the Gaulins it has become second nature to have the other there and neither would have it any other way.

“We always tried to be on the same team,” Ashlyn said. “Especially, once we narrowed it down to schools over four hours away, we were like okay we want to go to school together. We’re best friends. We don’t want to be separate.”

“There was one day I can remember where I didn’t want to go to the same school,” Emma said with a laugh. “There was one day in high school where someone couldn’t tell us apart and it was someone we’d been going to school with since elementary school. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy can’t tell us apart, I won’t have my own identity,’ but then, after that 24 hours, I got over it.”

She continued, “Ashlyn is my best friend and nothing really can take me from her. We’re attached at the hip so I always knew wherever she went I would go and wherever I was going to go she would probably follow.”

The transition from high school to college can be difficult for any incoming freshman, but having a twin sister to lean on during the difficult moments, like summer conditioning, helped Ashlyn and Emma assimilate to their new environment, four hours from home, much quicker.

“Having my sister there, a familiar face in a group of 30, gave me security that I was never alone,” Emma reflected. “It was always great knowing that someone was going through it the same way and had the same background as me. She was always just there, if I needed someone to rant to. She was just an outlet that I had.”

Ashlyn, who was the 2018 HockomockSports.com Player of the Year, was recruited as a forward out of North Attleboro, while Emma was a midfielder. In college, Emma almost immediately moved to outside back and this year has spent time in a defensive midfield role. Ashlyn started as a forward at Hamilton, spent all of last season at outside back, and this year has split between the two positions.

The connection that they’ve developed on the pitch has never been more important than while adapting to new roles at the collegiate level.

“I would pass the ball up to Ashlyn and make an overlapping run and she would take a step and leave the ball behind her and I would run onto it,” Emma said. “It was cool, that twin connection that we have. I know her playing style and we can be really blunt with each other – in a good critiquing, positive way.”

Emma and Ashlyn Gaulin firing up the team before the game against Colby College. (Josh McKee/Hamilton College Athletics)

Off the pitch, their connection has also been tested. Like most colleges, Hamilton was forced to cancel its 2020 season because of the COVID pandemic. Without soccer to bring them together, the twins, who were living in separate dorms, had to find excuses to meet up outdoors to avoid breaking the school’s distancing protocols.

“My whole life has revolved around soccer since I was three and suddenly that was taken away from me,” Ashlyn said. “The way Hamilton set up the Covid protocols, we weren’t able to see people in different dorms. It made it challenging because it made me realize how much I depended on her. The amount of outdoor walks we did was insane, just so I could get to see her.”

Emma added, “Taking soccer away, we had to find different ways to fill the time and entertain us and I think having my twin there we could rely on each other to be there and do something fun. It’s what made me look back and realize that even though Covid was tough it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been if she wasn’t there.”

Because of the pandemic, college athletes have the opportunity to use an extra year of eligibility. Emma is looking to go to graduate school for secondary education and Ashlyn is considering a gap year before she applies for medical school, so there is a possibility that this might not be the last season where the Gaulins take the pitch together.

For now, with one final weekend to play, the twins, who are both captains this season, are focused on the present. The busy schedule of an in-season college athlete hasn’t afforded them a lot of time to reflect on the path that got them here or the uniqueness of them sharing this long road together.

“I’m super grateful for the opportunity to be playing with my best friend for my whole life,” Emma said. “Whenever we’re officially done, I’ll be equally sad and grateful that we’ve been able to have this experience. It’s pretty unique to say that you can live your whole life and play the sport that you love with not only a family member but your best friend.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way because she is my best friend and partner for life and it’s like having a second part of you and if she wasn’t there it would’ve felt like something was missing,” said Ashlyn. “The fact that we’ve made it this far going from three years old as I was picking dandelions on the side of the field to helping Emma beat me on the ‘A’ team and thinking I really need to step it up to playing collegiate soccer together. It’s just been amazing memories that I’ll never forget and I’ll always be grateful for.”

Hamilton (6-4-4), which reached the NESCAC semifinal and the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021, closes out its season with a non-league match at Cazenovia on Sunday afternoon.

Mansfield Survives Wild Finish to Hold Off OA

Mansfield girls soccer
Mansfield players celebrate the opening goal by Maddie Fernandes in a 2-1 win over league-leading Oliver Ames. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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MANSFIELD, Mass. – Sometimes the final minutes of a game are about calmness, composure, and coolly holding onto possession to see out the result. Other times, those last few minutes are all about holding on for dear life and doing anything and everything to keep the ball out of your net.

The finish to Tuesday night’s Davenport division clash at Alumni Field was anything but calm.

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Maddie Fernandes scored twice in two minutes to put Mansfield in front but fellow freshman Jolie Diaz halved the deficit for Oliver Ames with 11 minutes play, setting up a wild, frenetic ending. In a game that had playoff intensity, the Hornets demonstrated a trait that could serve them well in two weeks, when tournament play begins, holding off OA’s late charge and pulling out a 2-1 win.

“I told Britt those last 10-plus minutes you guys were making every crack for us evident and you got one of them through and I was waiting for the next one to get through, but we kind of held it together,” Mansfield coach Kevin Smith explained. “We’ll learn from it.”

“We’ll learn how to clear the ball and how to have composure. It’s a great learning experience for us. We did hold…enough, so that was good. We’re getting better every day.”

While OA coach Britt Sellmayer was happy that his team kept fighting to the final whistle, he wanted that level of intensity much sooner. “Happy how we played the last 15 minutes but you have to play 80 minutes and we didn’t have that sense of urgency when we came out.”

“The idea is not to put yourself in that position and we did.”

From the opening kick, Mansfield made it a point to put the pressure on OA, trying to put balls in behind the defense and pressing high up the pitch. The Hornets started the game well, pinning OA back and limiting the chances to move through midfield, but they also weren’t creating many opportunities of their own.

Despite the home team having an edge in territory in the opening 40 minutes, it was the visitors who had the best chances.

Lindsey Nosalek created the first look at goal after 12 minutes, crossing a ball from the right wing to Rhiya Fisher, whose first-time effort was comfortably held by Mansfield keeper Olivia Salisbury (five saves). Two minutes later, Mary Cross teed up a long shot for Taykor deVos but again it was easy for Salisbury.

Midway through the first half, Mansfield had its first good look. Freshman Olivia Dunham played an angled free kick into the box to her center back partner Kara Santos, but the junior headed wide of the far post. Carly Devine then had a chance with a quick turn after a throw in and OA keeper Janiya Mathier was able to push the shot around the post.

OA finished the first half with a flurry of chances. Diaz chased a long ball down the right wing, won the battle for possession, and cut back inside before firing a shot that Salisbury had to hold near the post. Inside the final five minutes, Jenna Gilman got loose on the left and cut the ball back. Mansfield was unable to clear cleanly and Emma Gavin popped up with a shot on target from the edge of the box.

“Mansfield played so well in the first half,” said Sellmayer. “We played seven minutes in the first half, they dominated about 30 of it. We were lucky to be there at that point. We decided to play the last 15 minutes of the match and that’s not good enough. That’s a life lesson and we’re going to have to learn from it.”

Mansfield turned the game on its head 10 minutes after the break.

Olivia Homsi played the ball to freshman Alexandra Fernandes, who worked space for a powerful strike that Mathier (four saves) kept out at full stretch. The OA keeper was quick to her feet and charged down Lyla Nappa, who was racing in to get the rebound. Dunham curled the resulting corner to the back post where Maddie Fernandes was able to get enough of the cross to sneak it inside the post.

With the momentum of the opening goal, Mansfield quickly doubled the advantage. Good pressure down the right wing forced a loose ball about 20 yards from goal. Fernandes ran onto and drilled a shot up over the keeper and just under the bar.

“We don’t have a lot of big-time, double-digit goal scorers,” Smith said about how his team seems to have a different player stepping up each game. “We kind of spread it around and it’s a team effort. We’re a good sum of our parts.”

The cliche is that a two-goal lead is the most dangerous in soccer. It started to feel that way for the Hornets when OA suddenly picked up the tempo of its play in the final quarter of an hour.

With 11 minutes to go, the Tigers were able to get on the board. deVos angled a long free kick to the back post where Gavin rose highest and cleverly nodded it back across the face of goal. The Hornets were drawn to the first ball and Diaz was alone in the six to head it in.

OA seemed to have wind in its sails and started to deliver a series of free kicks into the Mansfield penalty area. Each one seemed to bounce around multiple times before it was eventually cleared. Diaz also created a chance with a cut back to deVos that Salisbury was able to hold and with three minutes to go deVos had another set piece that hit players on both sides before Salisbury gratefully fell on it a few feet from the goal line.

“One of our three keys is put so much pressure on the other team that they have trouble playing forward,” Smith said about his team’s energy level from the start. “We know we can do that and we can come up with that second ball, force errant passes, and then go on our attack. We did it really well for a large part of the game tonight.”

Mansfield (7-3-3) extended its unbeaten run to eight games, since a loss to OA in the first meeting, and will try to keep that going when Sharon comes to Alumni Field on Thursday. Oliver Ames (10-2-1) saw its 11-game unbeaten run come to an end on Tuesday, but can still seal at least a share of the league title with a win against Canton on Friday.

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Li Hat Trick Helps Sharon Bounce Back at Attleboro

Sharon girls soccer
Sharon freshman Jessica Li (10) scored a second-half hat trick to help the Eagles end their three-game losing streak with a convincing win at Attleboro. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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ATTLEBORO, Mass. – After four wins in its opening five games, Sharon had to run the gauntlet of division leaders (Oliver Ames, Franklin, and King Philip), so entered Monday night’s game at a chilly Tozier-Cassidy Field with three straight losses.

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When the Eagles found themselves trailing by a goal midway through the opening half, things could have derailed and extended the losing streak. Instead, Sharon rallied.

Behind a second-half hat trick from freshman Jessica Li, a dynamic performance from senior midfielder Sofia Goclowski, and a resolute defense, the Eagles rolled off five straight goals and pulled out a 5-1 road win.

“We had that really tough stretch but I think the mindset remained really positive,” said Sharon coach Catherine Sullivan. “Even though those were losses, we played well and we were doing the things we wanted to be doing, so I don’t think they let those losses get to us. Same thing today, we were down but we were creating opportunities, we just have to be patient and it paid off.”

The first half was back-and-forth, with both teams able to find joy on the wings and scoring chances coming at both ends of the field.

Attleboro nearly grabbed the lead after just 30 seconds. Zenda Gjoni’s cross from the right was knocked down by Unnimaya Sajeev into the path of Alexandra Tetreault. Her shot from the edge of the box was right at Sharon keeper Kate Goloboy. Only a minute later, Sharon had its first look. Olivia Soby’s corner was palmed away by Attleboro goalie Alexis Campbell and defender Meghan Weibe’s shot was charged down.

Things settled down after a frenetic start, but at the midway point of the half Attleboro got back on the front foot. Presley Biller chipped a nice ball over the defense for Bethany Alves to run onto and the junior fired a shot inches over the bar. Just seconds later, the host took the lead when Jamie Davies found a bit of space outside the box, turned quickly, and looped her shot over Goloboy’s outstretched arm.

Goclowski and Li nearly combined for an equalizer a moment later, but after Li cut inside her marker she was unable to get much purchase on the shot. Li then teed up Leah Steinberg for a cross that was allowed to bounce inside the six, but it bounced over the head of Madeline Tajalli and Campbell was able to catch.

Autumn Simon made a long run down the left wing, carrying the ball more than 50 yards, but her shot caromed off the inside of the ear post. Carly Pinnix stepped forward and collected the rebound, cut inside the first defender, and forced Campbell into a two-handed diving save.

Less than a minute later, Simon would get a chance at redemption. Again, she got the ball on the wing and showed off her pace to beat two defenders, racing into the box on her left side and this time was able to squeeze her shot inside the near post to make it 1-1.

Attleboro started quickly after the break. Davies, who along with freshman Tatum O’Brien was causing problems down the wings, pressed her defender into a turnover 20 yards from goal. This time, the shot was right at Goloboy, who held on.

Campbell had to be quick off her line a couple minutes later. Olivia Landstein’s pass freed Li in behind the defense, but she was unable to get the ball out from under her feet and the keeper smothered the opportunity. Goclowski then got free for a long, 60-yard run with the ball through midfield, but in the end her shot went over.

The best chance for the Bombardiers to regain their advantage came in the 54th minute. Davies again created havoc down the right wing and her cross picked out Tetreault alone on the edge of the six, but she was unable to keep her header down.

“First half, I thought we had better run of play on the wings,” said Attleboro coach Steve Santos. “The second half we kind of got away from that a bit and it hurt us.”

He added, “We were off today with our touches. Try to send someone a through ball and hit a teammate on the back of the heel, we were just one step off today in our passing game.”

Three minutes later, it was Sharon that grabbed the game’s third goal. From the left side of the box, Soby floated a free kick into the breeze and it came back off the crossbar. The rebound came out to Goclowski just inside the 18 but her shot was charged down. Li reacted quickest to the loose ball and smashed her shot past Campbell.

“She’s somebody who knows how to move to get in behind their line but then she’s also great about coming back to us and really staying connected to our midfield,” Sullivan said of Li. “She’s super scrappy and we don’t have a lot of forwards who are willing to really mix it up in the box, so having that is really helpful.”

With 11 minutes to go, Goclowski doubled the lead. She took on three Attleboro defenders and her quick feet allowed her to split them and, just when it seemed like she might be clean through on goal, got her heel clipped. Goclowski took the penalty herself, burying the chance and making it 3-1.

Attleboro started pressing numbers forward to get back into the game. Alves set up Davies for a chance from the edge of the box, but Claire Baur got in the way.

With Attleboro on the attack, Goclowski suddenly found herself with open real estate in midfield and she took advantage. In the 74th minute, she won the ball in midfield, took the space in front of her, and played a perfectly weighted ball to Li on the right wing. She took a touch onto her left foot and lifted a shot over the keeper.

“In this stretch, a lot of teams know to mark her so Sofia’s been double-teamed and they’ve worked to take her out of it,” Sullivan explained. “She’s tough to shut down, and having her as our playmaker is just huge because she has such great field vision.”

As time was winding down, Goclowski created another opening. This time, she dribbled through a few players in midfield, picking up a nutmeg along the way, and found herself one-on-one with Campbell. The keeper stood tall and made the initial save, but the ball would work its way to the opposite side of the 18 where Li would hit it first-time on the slide and past the recovering goalie.

“She plays hard and she plays fast,” Santos said of Goclowski’s influence in midfield. “She got the ball and she had a couple of individual runs of what, 60 yards from one side to the other? After they scored, the momentum went their way and they played hard. They got to every ball.”

Sharon (5-4-0) will look to carry the momentum of the win into Thursday night’s trip to Stoughton. Attleboro (3-5-1) will try to bounce back when it travels to Kelly Field to face rival North Attleboro.

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Canton Rallies in the Second Half to Beat Franklin

Canton girls soccer
For the second time in a week, Canton rallied from a goal down in the second half and sealed a win thanks to a Mekhala Costello goal, this time beating Franklin 2-1. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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CANTON, Mass. – Over the weekend, Canton played a tough, physical game against division rival Oliver Ames. It was Canton’s first loss of the season. Just a few days later, on Wednesday night at WWII Veterans Memorial Field, the Bulldogs had another competitive, physical encounter against division-leading Franklin.

This time, the Bulldogs started the game without leading scorer Emily McCabe. The senior forward was nursing an injury and would likely only be able to play a half, so head coach Idris Senyonjo left her out of the starting lineup. Canton struggled without the focal point of its attack, but McCabe emerged in the second half and sparked a massive turnaround.

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With McCabe up front for the final 40 minutes, Canton put the pressure on the Panthers, rallying from a goal down for the second time in a week and pulling out a 2-1 victory.

“She hasn’t trained all week, so I was going to either play her first half or second half,” Senyonjo explained. “Bringing her on in the second half would give them something different to think about. Em gives them a whole different dimension of what they’re going to have to worry about.”

It didn’t take long for McCabe to make her presence felt. She immediately charged at the Franklin back line and pressed center backs Norah Anderson and Lily Deforge (who was playing in the middle in place of injured junior Maddie Horton). McCabe added a different dimension to the attack, drawing attention and freeing up space on the wings, as both Emma Cahill and Caira McKinney looked dangerous after the break.

Twelve minutes into the second half, it was McCabe that would get the equalizer. She clipped a ball up over the defense from just outside the penalty area and then burst through a pair of defenders to get clean through on goal. She was just able to get a toe on the loose ball and poke it past onrushing Franklin keeper Rachel Welch.

“We knew it was going to be an aggressive game and we had to stick to the game plan,” Senyonjo said. “The idea was, if we could put their defense under pressure, we’re going to force them to make mistakes.”

Not only had Canton stemmed the tide of Franklin attacks, which was the story of the opening 40 minutes, but now the Bulldogs were taking control of the action in the midfield through Paige Sullivan and Mekhala Costello.

McCabe nearly created the go-ahead goal in the 56th minute. She slipped a pass into the path of Cahill, who was tripped up on the edge of the box. Canton cried out for a penalty but the official spotted the ball just outside. Costello’s free kick was on target, but right at Welch.

Ten minutes later, Costello would score the winner. Welch came out of the box to clear a ball over the top. Her clearance was in the middle of the field and Costello pulled it down about 40 yards from goal. The junior took a look, saw the keeper racing back to her line, and fired a shot into the unguarded net. It was her second game-winner in the past three games.

“I just feel bad for Rachel,” Franklin coach Tom Geysen explained. “She got caught too far out and there was nobody back there to help her, nobody. She feels like crap because the goal was scored on her, but where were her defenders? And that’s something I’ll make sure she understands.”

Franklin didn’t give up and battled right to the final whistle. The Panthers wrested some control back in the midfield down the stretch and had a series of free kick opportunities for Anderson, Deforge, and midfielder Bridget Leo to put the ball into the box.

With two minutes to play, the Panthers nearly snatched a point. Leo sent an angled ball to the edge of the area and Kelly O’Connor rose well to head the ball down across the penalty area. Right winger Olivia Costa raced in at the far post and appeared to get a touch to it, but Canton keeper Marissa Staffiere was off her line quickly and smothered the chance, saving the win.

Senyonjo loved the way his team was able to bounce back from the loss to OA, and that his team gave him a nice present for his birthday on Thursday.

“It’s huge,” he said. “Saturday was an emotional game. The girls were disappointed but super motivated to come and play today and it’s a huge win, at home against probably the top team in the other division right now.”

The game was physical throughout with neither team giving an inch, but in the first 40 minutes the chances almost all fell to the Panthers. Only three minutes in, striker Anya Zub found space running down the left channel and forced Staffiere into a save at the near post.

O’Connor was a constant menace on the left wing. She was able to turn away from her marker and chipped a pass for Zub to race onto, the forward’s clever outside of the foot chip again forcing Staffiere to make the stop. Three minutes later, the duo combined again with O’Connor getting a chance to test the keeper.

In the 22nd minute, Franklin’s pressure finally paid off. Leo’s outswinging corner dropped to the foot of Selene Hammad about eight yards from goal. She scuffed her first attempt at a shot but on her second attempt lashed the ball inside the post, giving Staffiere no chance.

Chances kept coming for the Panthers. This time it was a Katie Ewald corner that was headed clear by Sullivan. The ball dropped for Leo on the half-volley but her shot went over the bar. After a turnover at the back, O’Connor played a near-perfect angled, low cross to Costa at the back post, but Staffiere read it well and dove out to stop the pass hitting its target.

“We just ran out of gas,” Geysen said. “That’s the best effort we’ve had this season. They really worked their butts off tonight. I said, if you keep playing the way you played tonight, you’re going to win a lot of games. You got unlucky tonight, the soccer gods weren’t looking your way.”

Canton (6-1-1) won’t have much time to celebrate the win, as the Bulldogs will be on the road on Friday against Foxboro. Franklin (5-2-0) can expect another physical encounter on Friday when it travels to Attleboro.

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