By Danielle Achin
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ATTLEBORO – The Natick High girls soccer team’s season came to an end on Sunday night, November 13, as the Redhawks suffered a 2-1 loss against the Bishop Feehan Shamrocks in the MIAA Division I Tournament.
The #6-seeded Redhawks advanced to the Elite 8 after defeating the Needham High Rockets 1-0, but the defending state champions could not advance to the final four this season.
The Shamrocks remain undefeated at 21-0.
Natick ends the season at 15-4-2.
Despite the cooler temperature of the November evening, both teams were fired up ready to charge up and down the field.
The game remained at a standstill until just under 9 minutes remaining in the half when the Shamrocks’ defense broke through, netting the ball for the 1-0 lead.
Feehan tallied another score at 3:40 when the Shamrocks sent in a missile to take a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
It was another nearly scoreless half before the Redhawks made it on the board with just over 10 minutes remaining after they slipped the ball into the bottom corner to make it 2-1.
Senior captain Eliza Campana scored the lone Redhawks goal.
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The Redhawks had a number of opportunities in the final minutes, but the Shamrocks keeper Madison Narducci made multiple saves to keep the lead and finish the game 2-1.
It was a devastating loss for the team, but despite this upset, the girls keep a positive outlook on the accomplishments their team has made throughout the season.
Redhawks Zoe Graves aid, “Even when we were down, we kept fighting. The last 20 minutes, I think, was the best we played in the whole entire game.”
Natick Head Coach Dave Wainwright also commented on his team’s endurance, not only throughout this game, but the entirety of the season as well.
He said the goal was a demonstration of the team’s perseverance through the difficult game.
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Wainwright added how with winning last year’s state title, qualifying for the semifinals in the previous years, and being at the state title in 2018, the team has always been held to the highest standard and although the girls themselves didn’t see the results they wanted, he couldn’t be prouder of the results for this season.
He said, “The bar for our program has always been so high these guys are consistently stressed and pushed to a standard that is really hard to achieve. These kids, they left everything on the field.”
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Danielle Achin is a fall 2022 SOURCE intern. She is a senior English major with a concentration in journalism and a minor in psychology at Framingham State University. Danielle has been an athlete since she started gymnastics at age 4. She joined the Framingham State cheerleading team freshman year and recently won the 2022 National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) National Championship for the first time in Framingham State history. She is also one of the Sports editors for Framingham State’s student newspaper The Gatepost.
MassBay Community College