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.
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.