St. Paul girls soccer put together one of the finest seasons in program history in 2016.
The run ended for the Falcons on a windy — understatement — Friday afternoon on McPhee Field. St. Paul played in a quarterfinal for the fourth time, and came up short for the fourth time.
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| St. Paul’s Julia Dess (40 in white) can’t hide her disappointment as a Falcon shot ends up wide right of the Old Saybrook goal during Friday’s Class S quarterfinal. |
The Falcons had an early 1-0 lead, but the Old Saybrook Rams scored three unanswered goals to claim a 3-1 victory and move on. Old Saybrook, the No. 13 seed in the Class S bracket, will play Shoreline Conference foe and No. 24 seed Portland in the semifinal. It’ll be the third time the Rams and Highlanders have met this season, with the teams splitting the two regular season matchups. Old Saybrook and Portland were Class S co-champions in 2013. The Highlanders were the outright champion in 2014.
St. Paul, the No. 12 seed, saw its season end with a record of 12-6-3. It was the final match for Falcon seniors Alessandra Milardo, Naomi Wells, Paulina Varela-Marin, Lyndsey Martin, Sydney Palma and Alexa Morneault. Milardo and Morneault were senior captains.
St. Paul won the most matches in program history this season. The Falcons tallied 10 of those during a 10-4-2 regular season. St. Paul lost in the quarterfinal round of the NVL Tournament, but bounced back with Class S wins over No. 21 Lyman Memorial and No. 5 Housatonic.
That set up Friday’s quarterfinal against Old Saybrook. The Rams missed the state tournament last year after playing in the rugged Shoreline Conference. Old Saybrook returned to the tourney, and it picked up wins over No. 20 Litchfield and No. 4 St. Bernard in the first two rounds.
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| Kendall Davis (10 in white) scored St. Paul’s lone goal of the match. |
Going into a gusting wind, St. Paul struck first on a Kendall Davis goal off a Julia Dess assist just under the 28-minute mark of the first half. The Falcons had the lead, but the Rams had the wind at their backs.
Old Saybrook scored twice with the wind for a 2-1 lead.
At the half, St. Paul head coach Jim Husbands encouraged his charges to play like fastbreak team they have been all year.
The Falcons had some chances in the second half, but none connected for the equalizer. The Rams added another goal with 20:49 to play in the match to go ahead 3-1. That’s where the score ended.
St. Paul has potential for another good season next year, but this loss will sting.
