ATTLEBORO, Mass. – It has been a difficult stretch of the season for North Attleboro. After a four-game win streak in which the Rocketeers didn’t allow a goal, North entered Thursday night’s rivalry game at Tozier-Cassidy Field carrying a four-game losing streak in which they been scored on 18 times.
After three quarters against Attleboro, things hardly seemed to be turning around.
This time, rather than allow the game to get away from them, the Rocketeers rallied. Emily Burnham and Caroline Folan each scored in the opening three minutes of the fourth, powering North to a 2-1 victory that brings North’s record back to .500 on the season.
“I was very proud of them for coming back,” said North coach Karen Folan. “They were getting a little chippy about the calls and I said, just play the whistle, play your game. The past few games, it was 0-0 or 1-0 at half but they get up 2-0 and our sails are deflated and they’ve let them rack up goals, but not today.”
Attleboro got off to a perfect start in front of its home crowd. The Bombardiers stormed out of the gates and forced a series of corners in the opening few minutes. Three minutes into the game, Attleboro took advantage of the pressure. Alyvia Bessette played the pass to the top of the circle and Siobhan Landers rifled a shot through the crowd in front and past North goalie Eman Farid (five saves).
“Siobhan just had a beautiful shot. It was a great goal to start the game,” said Attleboro coach Jessica Pink. “It was the best start that you could ask for as a coach and the momentum that it gave us for those first three quarters was exactly what they needed.”
North tried to respond midway through the half but Folan’s shot didn’t get the touch it needed in front and the goal didn’t count. While the visitors had several spells of possession, it was Attleboro that created the best chances in the opening 15 minutes.
Marley Young nearly hit the Rocketeers in transition but her shot from the right skidded across the face of goal. A minute later, Stella Krawiec attacked down the opposite flank and forced Farid into a kick save.
In the closing seconds of the first, Attleboro had a great chance to double the lead. Landers played a pass out to the right wing to get Nora Desrosiers into the attack. Her cross into the middle, with both Young and Krawiec lurking, was deflected on net but kicked aside by Farid.
Folan said, “At the beginning, this is a big game, it’s a big rivalry, but at the same time there’s a lot of friendships between the two teams. They play club together, so I think we were a little too excited at the beginning, maybe a little rattled when they scored.”
After a first period spent largely on its heels, North had a good response at the start of the second, forcing an early corner. Julia Puccio stepped to her backhand and ripped a shot that was blocked out to Kelsey Thompson, who was able to put her shot on goal and force a save out of Attleboro goalie Siany Ortez (five saves).
Midway through the second, North almost tied it off another corner chance. Again it was Puccio with the first try but Attleboro’s defense got a block in. The rebound fell to Kelsey Hodson and her shot was also deflected. The third try fell to Folan from point-blank range, but Ortez got down quickly and made the stop.
Attleboro would have one good opportunity in the second. Landers again was the spark-plug in the midfield, spraying a pass out to Desrosiers on the right. The sophomore went for goal and was denied by Farid. The rebound bounced to Bailey Ellis on the far side, but Farid got across and blocked her shot as well.
Things settled down in the third quarter, as Attleboro started to tighten up defensively and try to prevent a transition that could lead to the tying goal. Landers had one chance after a good pick out from Young, but the shot was wide. Puccio had North’s best chance of the quarter, firing a shot wide from the top of the circle.
North came storming out of the blocks in the fourth quarter and Attleboro seemed to be struggling to match the energy of the visitors.
Pink explained, “They played the full 60 minutes and I just think they ran out of steam, where [North] had a lot of girls to circulate through, and I think at the end that made a huge difference.”
On the third in a series of rapid-fire corners, and on their 13th corner of the night, the Rocketeers leveled the score. Instead of playing it out to Puccio, North found Burnham on the left wing and she had enough time to line up a shot through the crowd in front of goal.
“That was beautiful,” Folan said of Burnham’s equalizer. “Yesterday we practiced some different corners. We don’t usually take it on that side, but our corners weren’t working so well.” Reflecting on one goal on 15 corners on Thursday, she added with a chuckle, “I don’t know that those corners worked all that well today either.”
North got a boost of energy from the goal and almost immediately found the back of the net again. Puccio slid a pass into Folan, but Ortez was able to keep it out. A minute later, just three minutes into the quarter, the Rocketeers forced a turnover in the midfield and Puccio was able to set up Folan for a quick second goal that turned out to be the winner.
Momentum was with the visitors and they looked to press their advantage. Puccio fired a backhand shot wide and Francesca Spencer had a nice run to set up Folan right in front but again the Attleboro goalie denied the chance. Thompson also set up Folan in the middle and Ortez was equal to it.
Attleboro started to win back territory in the closing two minutes, but was unable to create a significant chance to test Farid, as North got back in the win column at the start of a busy month.
“In the second half of the fourth quarter, they tried to regroup and you could tell they were really trying to push that momentum,” Pink said. “They were trying, but just couldn’t capitalize on the net. You could see they wanted it really bad at the end.”
North Attleboro (5-5-1) will look to keep things rolling with a trip to Sharon on Tuesday. Attleboro (4-8-0) will enter its final six games of the regular season with a visit to Canton.
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