SACO — The Thornton Academy girls soccer team picked up its first win of the season, cruising past visiting Massabesic 6-0 at Paul Hill Stadium on Wednesday night.

Senior forward Natalia Profenno led the way for the Golden Trojans, racking up four goals on the night. 

“She had a great game — she’s a great finisher, she’s very calm under pressure and she has a heck of a kick,” said TA coach Natalie Sharland.

The TA offense was aggressive early and often, and set the tone from the start by taking a 3-0 lead, thanks to three Profenno goals, in the first 20 minutes of action.

“I think that’s what we’ve been missing this season — that first-goal confidence,” said Sharland. “It’s super important to get that first goal, it kind of takes the pressure off, lets the everyone play relaxed. It was huge to get that first goal and get ahead there.”

TA dominated the possession battle in the first half, and forced numerous breakaways and scoring opportunities to pressure the Massabesic defense.

“(Massabesic) was playing a high line and we have some speed up top. We hit that diagonal ball in space and I think that was a key reason why they had so many breakaways,” said Sharland.

The Trojans continued to roll out the gate in the second half, and extended the lead to 4-0 on a goal from Mary Halle. Profenno would add her fourth goal less than seven minutes later, and Alyanna Beaudoin would knock in TA’s sixth goal with 18:46 remaining to put the game away.

Beaudoin and Hannah Niles picked up two assists on the night, while Shannon Roche and Adia Beaudoin recorded one each.

TA improves to 1-5 on the season, and Profenno was excited to earn the win.

“It feels good because we were all feeling down on ourselves so getting a win really got us going. I think we can be a lot better than we were … we just weren’t connecting in the first few games of the season but we have the potential to be a very good team,” said Profenno. “It was really important because coming off of 0-5, it’s what we really wanted, we wanted the win.”

Sharland was pleased to see the team overcome its struggles, and looks forward to the second half of the season.

“This was huge for us. We had a pretty tough start to the year but every season is going to have it’s struggles. We faced our adversity and are going to take it one step at a time and go from there.”

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at asponseller@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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