Marblehead’s girls soccer team delivered a strong season. The Magicians finished 9-4-5 in the regular season behind second-year head coach Lisa Wales, and hosted a playoff game for the first time since 2016, all while dealing with significant injuries on offense and defense.
“I think this year, for me, it was a little bit easier because I knew what to expect. Last year, I started five days before the start of the season, so I definitely felt a little bit more prepared on all fronts. I thought we had a really good season. I’m really proud of our team,” Wales said. “We dealt with a lot of adversity with injuries. To finish 9-4-5 and be ranked 10th in Division 2 and host a home game in the postseason for the first time since 2016, I feel good about how it went.”
This year’s group dealt with its fair share of injuries, with last season’s leading scorer, Sadie Halpern, and teammate Ainsley McDonald both suffering season-ending ACL injuries. Instead of the injuries disrupting Marblehead’s season, the team rallied and continued to improve each week.
One player who stepped up when the team needed her the most was Sydney Ball.
“The team did an incredible job. Nobody got down. Every time we asked them to take this opportunity to step up, they did. Sydney Ball, in particular, was out four games in the middle of our season in and missed games against Masco and Danvers,” Wales said. “She ended up playing basically every position for us. She filled in for Ainsley at center back. She’s a perfect example of what it meant to be part of our team.”
Wales believes sports teach life lessons to her players. Even with McDonald and Halpern, Wales believes being part of a team can help in injury recovery, too.
“I think playing sports is great for building transferable life skills because you are going to face some adversity in life. Everyone does. If you can build these coping skills and get through it on a soccer field, I think that builds not only physical, but mental strength and that allows you to use that in your regular day life,” Wales said. “With Sadie and Ainsley, it’s not easy to recover from any surgery, especially ACL surgeries they both had. They’ve begun their recovery and I think being on a team and playing sports, going through the ups and downs, could help them get through the rehab… They’ve shown that they can prove themselves on the field and they’ll prove themselves off the field in their recovery.”
Marblehead competes in the Northeastern Conference, the Dunn division. The NEC is filled with talented teams, including Masconomet, which ended up winning the state championship in Division 2.
“The NEC is a tough league,” Wales said. “The fact that Masco won the state championship game, 5-0, shows how tough our league is. I think it’s really good for the NEC and I’m happy for them and their coach who’s a bit of a mentor to me, who has given me advice when needed.”
Although Masco completed the season undefeated, Marblehead was the only NEC team to score two goals against the Chieftains. Masco only let up five goals in the regular season and one in the postseason, which shows that Marblehead always gave its best effort against opponents.
Despite the Magicians having their season cut short after a double-overtime loss to Northampton (2-1), Wales is confident her team can rebuild.
“The harder the competition you face, the better you are prepared for the state tournament. We lost with 27 seconds left in double overtime,” Wales said. “If we had gone to the PK’s, I felt confident that we would have made it to the next round, but making it to the round of 16 would have been huge for us. That’ll be a goal for us next year to continue to build.”
There were a few games that stood out to Wales, including two against Peabody.
“Looking back, we were down 1-0 twice against Peabody when we possessed the ball for 70 percent of the time. We gave up two goals, but we didn’t stop and Callie Gilmore scored on a header with five minutes to go in the first game and then scored on a penalty kick in the second,” Wales said. “Against Lynnfield, we beat them 3-0 and they’re a strong Division 4 team. They have a very powerful offense and in the first 20 minutes, we didn’t look great, but then we called a timeout and regrouped. I’m sure that win helped us in the power rankings.”
Wales is looking forward to next year, but acknowledged that her two captains and the rest of the senior group played a big role in the team’s success this year.
“Ava (Machado) and Sophie (Robinson) did a great job as captains. I worked with them closely and I’ve gotten to know them now for the past two seasons. They’re terrific young women and they were a great liaison between the team and the coaching staff. They were both great on the field and off the field,” Wales said. “We expect all of our seniors, regardless if you’re a captain or not, to take a leadership role. I do feel that all of our seniors did that in one way or another.”
