{"id":40955,"date":"2022-10-13T06:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=40955"},"modified":"2022-10-13T06:01:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T10:01:00","slug":"spirited-battle-with-shrewsbury-comes-up-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2022\/10\/13\/spirited-battle-with-shrewsbury-comes-up-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirited battle with Shrewsbury comes up short"},"content":{"rendered":"
By John Orrell <\/b>
\n Landmark Correspondent<\/i><\/div>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 Think of spirited high school sports team rivalries in the region, and you almost always conjure up Wachusett Regional High versus Shrewsbury High in matchups that build off the respective teams\u2019 intense competitiveness.<\/p>\n

Such has been the case for the Mountaineer girls\u2019 varsity soccer team, which hosted the Colonials Oct. 6 seeking to avenge an earlier season 1-0 defeat.<\/p>\n

Both squads remained scoreless into the second half, before Shrewsbury netted a pair of goals that would prove decisive in what was an energetic, playoff- feel contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur intensity\u2019s ramped up because we felt that last time we played them, we were very reactive instead of proactive, so our goal this game was really to set the pace on our own dictating play by pressing hard and forcing errors,\u201d said WRHS first-year head coach Emma Mailman. \u201cThat was our game plan today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that the scoreboard really reflects the play. Our effort as the season goes reflects the confidence. I\u2019m so proud of them. It\u2019s tough to go down 2-0, but this team puts in a lot of effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter losing to them 1-0 we took that to heart and came back ready to go this game,\u201d said senior Madison Grignon. \u201cWe always respect Shrewsbury because they\u2019re our rivals. Every time we get a chance to play them, we want it to feel this competitive. We have a mix of pretty much every grade here. At practice, we\u2019re all working together, giving 110 percent at practice, and that\u2019s what coach expects from us. So we all give it our best effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we were all pretty much determined because we lost to them 1-0 last time we played them. So I feel like everyone\u2019s energy was really up and we were really connecting offensively,\u201d added senior Ashlyn Panerello. \u201cWe were working hard to get a goal, and were really trying to help each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone puts in all their effort. We give it 100 percent whether it\u2019s in practice or in a game,\u201d echoed sophomore Kate Larose. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we all do well as a team. Today we did a real good job working the ball up and getting our crosses in, getting it to our wide players. I think we\u2019ve gotten better with that lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mailman, a 2016 WRHS alumna, is back to restore a winning culture to the program that has been absent since backto- back state championships in 2017 and 2018. Since her graduation from WRHS, Mailman has attended and graduated from Assumption University, where she played on the school\u2019s soccer team and earned her master\u2019s degree in business in 2021. She is presently an assistant soccer coach at Assumption.<\/p>\n

One area on which she has placed emphasis is scoring. The green and white have found the back of the net elusive, and have kicked practices into high gear for the remainder of the season. The squad dropped its second, third and fourth games, losing all by 1-0 scores. The team\u2019s record could have been 4-0 instead of 1-3 and made for an interesting playoff chase. With five games remaining, the Mountaineers are 2-6-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our last sessions, it\u2019s been 100 percent focused on our offensive attack,\u201d Mailman said. \u201cWe saw it tonight and had chances, but their goalie made some phenomenal saves with that weak side with her left hand. I\u2019m confident that in the next couple of games, we\u2019re going to put some numbers on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was nervous about some different factors, more off the field than on the field, but I haven\u2019t faced them. I feel supported by parents, the fans and the team more than I could have expected,\u201d she added. \u201cI love being back here. I love this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of the 2022 Wachusett Regional High girls\u2019 varsity soccer team are Renee Rettig, Emma George, Kaitlyn Johnson, Wikitoria Ucher, Charlotte Brisbois, Ashley Slavin, Katlyn Perna, Kate Larose, Jesse Ayers, Madison Grignon, Brenna Patenaude, Alyssa Senecal, Aila Head, Syd Line, Kassidy Mcghee, Ava Giorgi, Rahma Giwa, Ashlyn Panerello, Molly Kelley, Jillian Beando, Ava Warner and Abby Lei.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOLDEN \u2014 Think of spirited high school sports team rivalries in the region, and you almost always conjure up Wachusett Regional High versus Shrewsbury High in matchups that build off the respective teams\u2019 intense competitiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}