After losing 15 seniors to graduation, Gorham girls’ soccer coach Jeanne Zarrilli didn’t know what to expect from her team heading into this season.
The Rams are perennial contenders, and won 13 games and advanced to the Class A South championship game last fall. Gorham has reached at least the quarterfinals in each of the last 11 Class A South tournaments, winning regional titles in 2015 and 2016. But losing 15 seniors at once is a hit that would rock most programs.
With the regular season nearly its conclusion, it’s obvious that Gorham is just as strong as ever.
Entering Thursday’s game against Portland, the Rams are 10-0 and ranked second in the Class A South Heal point standings. A 3-0 win over defending Class A champion Windham on Sept. 14 is what drew the attention of the rest of the conference, but Zarrilli is adamant her team is still improving under the leadership of a small senior class of five players.
“I still feel like we’re a work in progress,” Zarrilli said after an 8-0 win at Westbrook last week. “Suddenly we were getting noticed because of our Windham game. The coachability of this group is phenomenal. If we have a breakdown, if something happens, we talk it through and we go out and we’re better … (the seniors) come together really well. They don’t judge each other, and they bring everybody up with them.”
Among the seniors lost to graduation were three first-team all-SMAA selections: midfielder Maddie Michaud and defenders Erin Castonguay and Lexi Waterman. The returning players knew the team lost a lot of talent. But they also knew they had a strong group of younger players.
“We knew we had a lot of roster changes, but we knew the girls coming up were going to work just as hard as anyone last year. A lot of the time, hard work beats talent, and that’s what we focus on this year,” said midfielder/forward Faith Connolly, one of four senior captains, along with midfielder Erin Lawrence, midfielder/forward Katie Gooch and goalie Katie Martin. “I think we expected to be just as good as we were last year. We still have a talented group.”
Gorham’s roster features seven sophomores, five of whom typically start.
“We have a lot of girls who are excited to be here and want to work hard, and it’s paying off well,” Lawrence said.
It’s not that those sophomores weren’t ready to play varsity soccer as freshmen last season, Zarrilli said. It’s that with 15 seniors last year, there were not many opportunities for the youngest players. Now, the underclass players are taking advantage of their opportunities. In last week’s win over Westbrook, sophomore forward Ashley Connolly scored twice in the first 2½ minutes to stake the Rams to a 2-0 lead. Sophomores Lindy Moreland, Lily Tukey and Bailey Hatch also scored in that game.
“Kudos to them for putting in their time in the offseason, doing their time last year on JV, and swinging up (to varsity) and getting their minutes when they could. They’re a very competitive group. They like each other, they like to win, and they have fun together,” Zarrilli said.
Offensive balance has been a key, Zarrilli said. The Rams do not rely on just a few players to score. Sophomores Piper Forgues and Lindy Moreland, along with Ashley Connolly, have shown a knack for finding the net. So have junior Kaitlyn Nichols and seniors Faith Connolly and Gooch.
“I always think that’s the most successful team you can have, when you have balance, when you’re not looking to one player. We also practice moving those players to different positions. If one player’s in a certain position and she’s getting marked, we move her to another position and another player can come in,” Zarrilli said.
For example, with a 5-0 halftime lead against Westbrook, Zarrilli moved sophomore backs Tukey and Hatch to the attack. Both scored a goal.
“To their credit, they’re just willing. They haven’t come in with the attitude, this is my position and this is only my position. They do what’s best for the team,” Zarrilli said.
With tough games coming up against Sanford and Thornton Academy before the playoffs, the Rams know they have to maintain the attitude they’ve carried thus far this season.
“We have a lot of technically good players, but so do a lot of other teams. What’s doing it for us is our headspace is right. It’s the hard work behind the scenes,” Lawrence said.
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