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Billings boots girls’ soccer past Norwell, 2-1

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Junior Alexis Billings (No. 13) defends Kristi Vierra (No. 5). / Photo by: Sue Moss

Alexis Billings scored the winner to send the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team past Norwell, 2-1.

Often what Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer junior Alexis Billings does on the soccer field doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.

Well, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, it did.

With roughly 14 minutes remaining, she gathered the ball at the top of the penalty box and fired a shot into the left corner of the net, to send the Panthers past Norwell, 2-1.

“It felt so good,” Billings said. “I was so happy. I hugged all of my teammates as hard as I could.”

Billings was also tasked with marking Norwell’s top player, Wake Forest-bound senior Kristi Vierra, and Billings held her off the scoreboard.

“She’s not tallest player on the field,” W-H head coach David Floeck said of Billings. “But she plays a lot taller than she is. She does a lot of dirty work as well. It was nice to see her rewarded.”

“[Vierra] is amazing,” Billings said. “I play club soccer with her so I know how she is. She’s definitely a threat on the field.”

The Clippers struck first, getting on the board about 15 minutes in.

The Panthers responded before the half, when sophomore Nora Manning took a cross from classmate Olivia Borgen and sent it in the back of the net, tying it at 1-1.

“We’re resilient,” Floeck said. “We don’t like to fall behind but the team has shown a propensity to come back.”

The Panthers now await their opponent in the playoffs.

“Norwell’s a good team,” Floeck said. “They’re getting ready for the tournament and so are we. We’re both getting ready before the tournament starts.”

Borgen nets hat trick, Floeck notches 350th career win

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Consistency.

It’s been the hallmark of David Floeck’s tenure at the helm of the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team.

He hasn’t had a losing since 1999 and his staff has remained in place — for the most part over his 24 years.

Today — powered by a hat trick from sophomore Olivia Borgen — Floeck notched his 350th career win with a 3-0 victory over Silver Lake.

“We’ve has a consistent staff and a lot of good players come through here,” said Floeck, who’s churned our three D1 players over the past two years. “We say we want to get better every day and keep it going so we do enjoy that success.”

Borgen struck for two of her three goals in a 10-minute span in the first half and capped it in the 60th minute.

“She’s been a spark plug in finding the back of the net,” Floeck said. “We have some others who have been struggling finding the back of the net but we hope that’s going to round itself out as we head into the tournament.”

Sophomore Ava Melia and seniors Samantha Perkins, Erin Wood and Courtney Woodward anchored the defense in front of junior goalkeepers Reese Codero and Kylie Colclough.

“We’re coming together back there,” Floeck said. “We gave up some goals earlier on the season that we don’t usually, but we’re coming together.”

The Panthers (11-1-1) secured their first Patriot League Keenan Division title since 2015 on Tuesday with a 2-1 victory over Plymouth North.

“We want to get better every day and we felt if we did that, certain things would come our way along the way,” Floeck said. “We want to get better every day and get into the tournament and hopefully have some success.”

Season Preview: Flexibility and depth are strengths for girls’ soccer

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24-year head coach David Floeck. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Panthers made the postseason last fall, but were unable to make the bang they hoped for, bowing out to Hingham, 2-1, in the Div. 1 South quarterfinals, capping the season at 14-2-4.

For the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team, the goal remains the same.

“We want to get better every day and to be playing our best soccer towards the end of the season and hopefully that means we’re in the tournament and we can make some noise in there,” said 24-year W-H head coach David Floeck, whose team hasn’t had a losing season since 1999.

The Panthers made the postseason last fall, but were unable to make the bang they hoped for, bowing out to Hingham, 2-1, in the Div. 1 South quarterfinals, capping the season at 14-2-4.

“Going out in the second round of the tournament, that’s not something we wanted to see happen,” Floeck said.

Finding the back of the net was admittedly a challenge for W-H, which scored a nine-year low 51 goals. Now, with 44 of the goals back, scoring shouldn’t be an issue anymore. The now-sophomore trio of Olivia Borgen (eight goals), Nora Manning (eight goals) and Kelsee Wozniak (team-high 11 goals) netted over half of those tallies last season.

“They’ve worked on the physical part of their game and came back bigger, stronger and faster,” Floeck said. “They certainly have worked on things they needed to work on. We’re extremely impressed with the type of years they had last year, but if they duplicate that, we’d be disappointed because that means they didn’t grow.”

A striker, Wozniak was an EMass first-team selection and earned a spot in the Patriot League All-Star game, and she should be the catalyst of the offense yet again.

“She has the chance to go down as one of the best players we’ve ever had in this program when it’s all said and done,” said Floeck, whose program has churned out All-Americans in three straight seasons. “I don’t know that we’ve identified a ceiling for her yet. She has tremendous potential.”

Senior midfielders Riley Bina (captain), Anika Floeck and junior midfielder Alexis Billings will also be crucial assets to the offense.

Though, question marks do loom, in terms of experience, on the other end of the pitch, with the graduation of defender Olivia Johnson (starter for Endicott College), four-year starting goalie Skylar Kuzmich (starter for Hofstra University) and All-American back Sammy Smith (starter for Boston College), all of whom were captains last fall.

But the Panthers do return some talent back there, in seniors Sam Perkins (league all-star last season), Erin Wood, Courtney Woodward (captain) and sophomore Ava Melia.

In net, there’s a healthy competition going on between juniors Reese Codero and Kylee Colclough.

“They’ve been working with [Skylar Kuzmich] all along and both gotten varsity experience due to injuries or different opportunities,” Floeck said. “We feel pretty good about both of them. If we think both are at the same level, we can split them or they can play different games.”

Floeck said the Panthers’ strengths are their flexibility and depth.

“We have a number of players that play different positions,” said the coach. “We have a number of people who can put the ball in the back of the net, so if teams start to take away one aspect of what we’re doing there’s other players that can take advantage of that. We’ll have six or seven kids on our bench that can come in and score or help us defend.”

W-H opens its campaign at home Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 6:30 p.m. against league foe Plymouth South.

“We had a couple games that we didn’t perform at our best and it cost us the league championship,” Floeck said. “We’re gonna try to work on that to make sure we don’t have those missteps because we’re in a league where if you go out and lose a game or tie a game you shouldn’t have, it’ll cost you.”

 

In midst of ‘biggest accomplishment’ yet, Hanson’s Sam Mewis reflects on where it all started

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2019 USWNT Studio Shoot of Sam Mewis

W-H alum Sam Mewis made the US women’s national team’s roster for the upcoming Women’s World Cup.

Named to the U.S. women’s national team’s roster for the upcoming Women’s World Cup in France, Sam Mewis often reminisces about her days playing soccer at Whitman-Hanson Regional High.

“I remember winning South sectionals and the joy of winning and how fun it was to do something that had never been done before,” said the Hanson native. “I still look at pictures from that game and I just remember how goofy we were and how much fun it was.

“Once on the bus we had this stupid trophy, we like taped a squirrel to it, and it was like a really weird thing and one time we left it in a restaurant after a game and Mr. [David] Floeck like stopped the bus and went back to go get it,” she added. “Those are the things that kept it so fun for us.”

For the 26-year-old Mewis, who was indulged in traveling with youth national soccer teams back in her teens, such times strengthened her passion for the game.

“I think that had the program not been so much fun, and had I not had such good friends on the team, I might have started to get stressed about soccer and maybe approach the game with a little more gravity,” Mewis said. “What Whitman-Hanson varsity soccer taught me was the best thing about it was I get to be outside playing with my friends, laughing, enjoying it. I should be my best self when I’m playing. I should enjoy it. I should want to laugh and smile when I’m playing. My memories there were so ridiculous, like in the locker room hall singing and dancing and we would throw glitter around.”

Mewis said her time playing at W-H has carried her to where she is now.

“I could have started to approach the game differently as I got older but because of the way the program handled me and handled the team, I was able to keep enjoying it and keep playing soccer with a smile on my face,” Mewis said

“I’m always able to bring that sense of freedom I had playing there with me, and I think that’s really when I play my best.”

She’s also injected that feeling of joy and freedom into her teammates.

“Now before national team games, I’m dancing and singing in the locker room and trying to make other people laugh and make sure everyone’s loose because I know that that’s what works for me,” said Mewis, who first made the U.S. U-17 women’s national soccer team in 2008.

But Mewis said her days at Whitman-Hanson most importantly helped instill a sense of confidence — that she can accomplish virtually anything she sets out to do.

“Coach Floeck and coach [Tom] Zamagni are two people who have told me I would get here from the beginning,” she said. “I think that is quite rare, to have people who have never doubted you. I really just feel like the people from Whitman and Hanson just always thought that I would make it. They’re not the people who doubted me, they’re the people who have been on my team the whole time.”

After all, making USWNT’s Women’s World Cup roster has been Mewis’ dream since watching the U.S. win the cup in1999.

“I kind of slowly made steps toward it,” she said. “Making youth national teams was an important step and then committing to play soccer at UCLA was another step. I had all these small steps along the way. I knew really early on that this was what I wanted to do and kind of just took the steps to get there.”

As she prepares for her first Women’s World Cup, Mewis, who scored twice in a U.S. friendly win over South Africa on May 12, said she would be content helping her team in any way she can.

“Whether that’s playing a role coming off of the bench and hopefully bringing the team some energy or just being the best teammate I can be, I really just want to make sure that I’m in a position where I’m healthy and available for selection and ready to help the team if they need me,” Mewis said. “I’m really just focusing on playing the role I’m given and trying to contribute positively to the team environment so we can succeed.”

The Women’s World Cup begins Friday, June 7. Team USA’s first game is Tuesday, June 11 against Thailand.

“Making the roster – to date – I think is probably my biggest accomplishment,” Mewis said. “I feel like this journey – the past couple of weeks – I have reflected a lot on really where it all started.

“I think that sharing the accomplishment with all of the people who have made it possible is probably what is so special,” she added. “I think that kind of reflection and appreciation from where I’ve come from and all the people who have helped me get here has been huge and really what has made this so monumental for me.”

On hanging tough: Comendul goes from stopping goals to scoring one for UMass women’s soccer

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Ari Comendul. / Photo by: Doug Keller

Ari Comendul convereted to a midfielder for her senior season.

All Ari Comendul could do was watch.

After her first three seasons on the UMass women’s soccer team, she received zero playing time.

“I had a lot of trouble breaking through that starting [goalkeeper] position,” said Comendul, who hails from Whitman.

The constant commitment to practice, with no results to show for it, began to take a toll on her.

“Everyone thinks of quitting at one point,” said Comendul, who began playing soccer at age 5. “It was hard. It was a grind every day, and no matter how much money you’re on, you really question if it’s worth it.”

Not playing was uncharted territory for Comendul, who, as a senior and the starting goalkeeper, helped lead the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team to the Div. 1 state finals in 2014. But a position change was anything but new to her. She didn’t step into goal until the middle of her junior season in high school, when she converted from forward.

“I honestly think we were at halftime, and I think our goalkeeper got hurt and our coach was like, ‘Who wants to go in net?’” recalled Comendul. “And for some reason my hand just shot up, and then I went in and I did well.”

So, with experience as a goalkeeper and forward stemming from high school, Comendul made the switch to midfielder this past spring in advance of her senior season at UMass. First-year Minutewomen head coach Jason Dowiak was the one who suggested the move.

“Having three goalkeepers, it’s tough to share the minutes,” Dowiak said. “I knew Ari had a little bit of experience playing the field and we just talked about it really. Weasked her if she was interested in the idea and she was more than interested, she was excited about it.”

After playing half the game in the field at first, she received significant minutes in UMass’ final spring bout against Holy Cross.

“We were just really light on numbers, and she ended up playing really well,” Dowiak said. “She was really productive and grasped a lot of the concepts we had been talking about.”

Dowiak said Comedul’s position change shone a light on two of her best attributes: unselfishness and leadership.

“She’s willing to kind of play whatever rolethe team needed,” he said. “I think she set a great tone for the mentality of the ‘Do what’s best for the team.’” Comendul didn’t just make the switch, but she was pretty effective as a field player as well. The biochemistry and molecular biology major played 278 minutes and had a goal and an assist on the season for UMass, which finished 11-6-1, surpassing the 10-win mark for the first time since 2011.

“It’s just a cool story,” Dowiak said. “You never hear about a goalkeeper changing positions and then becoming really impactful on the field. As a wing player, she made herself dangerous and she made players around her dangerous. She had a really good eye for the final pass. I’d say we missed some really good opportunities that she created.”

The goal came in the fifth game of the season Sept. 7 in an 8-0 victory over Chicago State. “It was funny,” Comendul said. “It was just awesome.”

Comendul said at times she felt like a freshman during the transition.

“My positioning was off a lot of the time, and it kind of just hit me one day that, ‘I need to stop trying to become a midfielder and just start being one and adopting the mentality of the position,’” she said.

Dowiak said it was Comendul’s intelligence, both on and off the field, that allowed her to succeed in the switch.

“She’s an incredibly gifted student,” Dowiak said. “She was able to process tactical information and ideas, as well if not better than most.”

When all was said and done, Comendul said she’s forever thankful she continued stick it out through the difficult times.

“I’m so happy I never quit,” she said. “I held that version to the past version of myself that I would stick it out and I did. I’m really grateful I ended on a high note.”

Season Review: Freshmen kick it into full gear for girls’ soccer

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Freshman Nora Manning. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The freshmen accounted for nearly 53 percent of the Panthers’ goals this season.

Coming into the season, 23-year head coach David Floeck wasn’t sure what to expect out his Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team.

The Panthers were looking to make up for the graduation of nine seniors, most critically Lauren Bonavita, who cemented herself in program history with a 43-goal senior season to become its all-time leading goal scorer with 113.

He knew his team was going to be young, and that one girl wouldn’t replace the foot of Bonavita, it was going to be a joint effort. But if you told him over half (27 of 51) of his team’s goals would come from freshmen, he would have never imagined.

“Certainly, I think the impact our freshmen had was a nice surprise,” Floeck said.

Freshman striker Kelsee Wozniak led the way with 11 tallies to go with seven assists for the Panthers, who finished the season with a 14-2-4 record after a Div. 1 South quarterfinals loss to Hingham, 2-1. Along with being named a league all-star, she was selected as First-Team All-Eastern Mass.

“For her to come in as a freshman and lead our team in scoring was certainty a tremendous accomplishment,” Floeck said.

Wozniak pumped in multiple goals on numerous occasions, including a hat trick in a 5-1 season-opening win against Notre Dame Academy of Hingham.

“She’s very good technically, her skills are excellent and she’s an outstanding athlete,” Floeck said. “You put those two things together with the fact that she’s an extremely competitive kid, and that is what makes her so special.”

Fellow freshmen Olivia Borgen and Nora Manning added eight goals apiece, which was good for second on the team.

“Olivia Borgen, who is a very talented player, some of her development is going to be around just getting stronger,” Floeck said.

“Nora brings great athleticism and speed, and hopefully she will continue to get better in the technical part of the game and kind of understanding her role as a striker.”

However, scoring wasn’t the Panthers’ strength, as they tallied just 51 goals on the season, a nine-year low for the program, according to Floeck.

“Last year with Lauren scoring all the goals, we were still a really good defensive team, and maybe that got overshadowed a little bit,” Floeck said. “I think this year we really relied on that defensive posture that we’ve had, and that was kind of our strength.”

In net, four-year starter, senior captain Skylar Kuzmich, helped the team to eight shutouts. The Hofstra-bound goalkeeper was named a Patriot League All-Star and was selected as First-Team All-Eastern Mass.

“She’s been rock solid for four years, and from a coaching perspective there’s something great when you know game in and game out you’re going in with a goalkeeper who is confident and can play at a high level,” Floeck said. “It’s not always easy to find goalkeepers who can do that.”

In the back, Patriot League All-Star and junior Samantha Perkins, classmate Erin Wood, senior captain Olivia Johnson and freshman Ava Melia were standouts.

In addition to netting seven goals, Boston College-bound senior captain Sammy Smith often defended and most of the time locked down the opposing team’s best offensive talent. She was named an All-American, selected as First-Team All-Eastern Mass. and tabbed a Patriot League All-Star.

“Sammy is just a dominating presence on the field, whether it’s in the back, whether it’s in the midfield, she just can turn a game around with her speed, her athleticism, her skills,” Floeck said. “There’s not another Sammy Smith out there.”

Floeck said the high point of the season was Oct. 1 when the Panthers battled Hingham to a 0-0 tie on the road.

“We felt like our team, for that point of the season, really showed they could compete against one of the best teams around,” Floeck said.

“From there we felt like, if we could just fix some of the little things, that we were going to be a team that was tough to beat.”

Three weeks later, the Harborwomen knotted W-H up, 1-1, at Dennis M. O’Brien Field. The Panthers fell into an early 1-0 hole, which was a problem all season, before junior Riley Bina (six goals) scored the equalizer late.

“We had a number of times where we fell behind teams,” Floeck said. “What this young team showed us is they were very resilient and didn’t get down too much on themselves.”

W-H hung with Hingham all season in the Patriot League Keenan Division standings, but a 2-2 tie against Plymouth South in late September proved costly for the Panthers as the Harborwomen won the division by one point.

“I do think we were good enough to win the Patriot League, and I don’t know if I would have said that coming into the season,” Floeck said.

Floeck said he’s looking to see improvement in the goal scoring department next season, but noted it’s not going to happen overnight with such a young nucleus.

“We had games where we really struggled scoring and that’s why we tied more games than we’re probably accustomed to,” Floeck said. “I think that’s going to come with the continued growth of these young players, and that’s what’s encouraging that they’re young, so we know that they’re only going to get better.”

‘More like family’: Zamagni an inspirational presence on girls’ soccer sideline

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Tom Zamagni has coached at Whitman-Hanson for 24 years.

In Tom Zamagni’s office, there’s little space left empty, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

Every banner hanging signifies pride, every scrapbook sitting on the table causes a chuckle, every picture adorning the wall recalls a memory. But they all signify relationships.

It’s a collection — that’s inching into his sitting room — Zamagni has been piecing together for the past 24 years he’s been prowling the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team’s sideline. It’s journey that began from an inside tip.

“My oldest daughter came home as I believe a sophomore and said, ‘Dad, there’s no JV coach right now up at the high school,’” Zamagni recalled. “I thought, ‘Well, I think I know enough to go up and do that.’”

One of his favorite photos lies in a scrapbook. It’s of him and David Floeck walking down to Dennis M. O’Brien Field for practice. It’s a friendship that formed nearly 22 years ago after Zamagni was ready to quit coaching after two seasons due to a heavy workload off the field in the finance industry.

“I told him, ‘You need to join me at the varsity level and when you can’t make it, it’s not a big deal,’” Floeck said. “And I don’t think he’s ever missed a day in all these years.”

Floeck found Zamagni’s multi-sport knowledge appealing. This stemmed from his time playing shortstop and coaching St. Joseph’s The Worker Catholic Church’s softball team, as well as playing baseball.

“He brings a different perspective or a way of looking at something from his athletic background,” Floeck said of Zamagni. “From my perspective, it makes me kind of think about the decisions or some of the things we look at, and I really find that to be awesome because it challenges me as a coach and it helps me to see things from many different angles.”

Messages conveyed

Under Floeck, Zamagni initially served as the goalkeeper coach. Kerry Flood, a 2010 W-H alum, spent four seasons being coached by Zamagni in net.

“He had a significant impact on my development as a goalkeeper, since I had never been committed to the position prior to high school,” Flood said.

Flood, who can be seen in numerous pictures around her former coach’s office, said Zamagni provided a wealth of knowledge and source of inspiration on the sideline during her playing career. However, his most impactful moment to her came in 2009 prior to a state semifinals game against Acton-Boxboro.

“To say I was nervous was an understatement, as we had been preparing for this moment all season,” Flood recalled. “I remember my conversation with coach Z before that game. He told me, ‘Do not let the moment be bigger than you. This is a quality team and you are a very talented keeper. Stay focused and give it everything you have.’”

It’s simple messages like that Zamagni hopes resonate with his players.

“The most important thing for me is trying to teach the kids life lessons through soccer and then they come back years later and tell us what a wonderful experience they had,” he said. “Sports is like life situations, so if bad things happen to us, that’s life. We fall behind, I say, ‘Now what? So what? What are we going to do about it?’”

Flood rejoined the program in 2015 and eventually took over training the goalkeepers, while Zamagni shifted to drawing up game plans for the defense, but he still keeps his eyes on the whole field.

“He sees things from a different perspective and sometimes I come back and say, ‘No way, that won’t work,’” Floeck said. “Then a few minutes later I’m like, ‘Well, what I’m doing isn’t working so maybe it will.’”

Sometimes it’s minor – like a defensive adjustment.

“He’ll say, ‘Listen, we really need to put this player on this side, it’s a better matchup for us,’ and I’ll say, ‘Jeez, no,’ and he’ll say, ‘Listen, will you just give it to me please and let me do it?’” Floeck said. “And I’ll capitulate and we’ll do it and a lot of those times he’s spot on.”

Relationships through coaching

Over Zamagni’s 22 years as Floeck’s assistant, the Panthers haven’t had a losing season since 1999, have won numerous Patriot League titles and made a trip to the state finals. The success is gratifying, but the bonds he has created along the way are even more rewarding. He’ll even miss work to watch a W-H girls’ soccer alum, such as this past season when Marina Kelly, class of 2014, returned to Dennis M. O’Brien Field in a different uniform – as Scituate’s JV soccer coach.

“I had to cancel a meeting so I could get up there and see it,” Zamagni said.

In his spare time, Zamagni, if not at the youth soccer field in Hanson watching his grandchildren play, is keeping tabs with alumni — whether it’s a trip to Rhode Island to watch them play, a simple text or over breakfast.

Flood said it’s that type of dedication to the program’s alumni that makes Zamagni an irreplaceable presence on the sideline.

“Coach Z keeps all of the alumni informed as to which games to go to and how the current team is doing,” Flood said. “It is great to see former teammates coming to our games and cheering on the program. Coach Z keeps in touch with many of his former players and continues to have an impact on their lives.”

Past team captain and freshman at Manhattan College Eve Montgomery said Zamagni’s selflessness stood out to her.

“He would be standing there from the sidelines supporting me no matter what,” Montgomery said. “He does everything and anything he can to help better other players. That’s what makes him so special. I believe he’s a vital part of the Whitman-Hanson soccer team [and] without him there’s a piece of the team missing.”

Former All-American Lauren Bonavita, currently playing at UMass Amherst, said Zamagni was more than just a coach to her.

“He calmed me down when I need it and challenged me when he needed more from me,” Bonavita said. “He’s more like family to me and I know I’m not the only one who thinks of him this way. I’m grateful for his coaching and friendship.”

Reason to return

Zamagni said his main motivation to come back every autumn is because of the bonds he creates.

“There’s five or six seniors that I don’t really want to leave,” he said. “That continues every year, so I don’t know how I’m going to retire because there’s always those seniors that are there that you have that special relationship with. It’s hard to think about walking away.”

And walking past countless memories from the past two-plus decades in office on a daily basis plays a major role in that mindset.

“It keeps me going,” Zamagni said. “You can’t put a price tag on that.”

Bonavita a score for UMass’ women’s soccer team

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Bonavita against UMaine. / Courtesy photo: Thom Kendall Photography

Lauren Bonavita, of Hanson, put forth seven goals in her freshman campaign, which was tied for the team high.

When Jason Dowiak was announced head coach of UMass Amherst’s women’s soccer team last December, Lauren Bonavita was the first person he called.

Since Dowiak had not recruited the incoming class, he needed to find out more about the team’s incoming freshmen. Dowiak had a solid idea of just what Bonavita, coming off a 43-goal season and 113-goal soccer career at Whitman-Hanson Regional High, would bring to the team – a dynamic scoring presence. Further game footage sent over by Bonavita affirmed his thinking.

“I got to see three or four mostly high school games,” Dowiak said. “What was unique about Lauren was her knack for being able to create really good, quality scoring chances. I think in one of the high school games she sent me she scored four goals.”

During the spring, Bonavita, who hails from Hanson, impressed him, while playing for her club team FC Boston.

“I think out of four or five spring games that we watched her play, only one of those games did we walk away saying ‘Ah, we kind of expect more,'” Dowiak said. “All of the other games she was the best player on the field and it wasn’t even close, and she was scoring a boat load of goals. I think in a matter of seven or eight club games last year she had 13 goals and 13 assists.

“And we were tracking, we started watching and we were like, ‘OK, so she had two or three that game. She had three in this one and then she only had one goal in this game but she had three assists. Obviously we started getting really excited of what she’s capable of.” When the fall arrived, that goal scoring was on full display for Dowiak’s Minutewomen and played a key role in their turnaround.

Bonavita tied for a team-high seven goals and added five assists as UMass went 11-6-1. It marked a four-win improvement on 2017 and the team’s first season above 10 wins since 2011.

In the Minutewomen’s opener against Maine, Bonavita set the tone of the fall in the 36th minute with the first goal of the season. “It was very, very exciting,” she said. In the first four Atlantic 10 games, Bonavita notched a goal and two assists – including the winning pass in a 1-0 victory over St. Bonaventure on Sept. 27. Thanks to this, UMass began conference play 4-0 for the first time in over 10 years.

“It’s not like all scoring,” said Bonavita, who was selected to the A-10’s All-Rookie Team. “It’s about helping the team and making the right decisions and helping the team and passing it to an open player. I was just able to help the team push toward the win whether it was offensively ordefensively.”

Bonavita said the most important thing she learned at W-H that translates into the college level is conditioning.

“Our fitness with coach [Dave] Floeck would be the two-mile run in the summer and just making sure you’re working throughout the sum mer to get your fitness up,” she said.

Bonavita also noted competing in a rigorous Patriot League throughout high school helped her to compete at the next level.

“Definitely playing against those high-competitive teams kind of set me up, I mean college is completely different, but setting me up for what I’m going to be looking at in college,” Bonavita said. “But Duxbury, Silver Lake and Hingham all have like club players who are playing in college, so it was definitely a high-competitive game and then coming to UMass it was similar and everyone was working together.”

Thanks to her strong performance this fall, Dowiak said he is excited to watch Bonavita’s growth over the next three seasons.

“I think that we’ve got an amazing player on our hands that we can really develop into someone that can come out and be productive against just about anybody,” Dowiak said.

Kuzmich’s path to the net paved by obstacle at young age

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Kuzmich during the semifinals last season. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Syklar Kuzmich is in her fourth year as W-H’s starting goalkeeper.

Faced with an obstacle at a young age that could have halted her soccer career, Skylar Kuzmich found her niche elsewhere on the pitch.

After jumping into the sport a few years prior, Kuzmich hit a bump in the road when she was 11. Running up and down the field was proving too much as her asthma was getting the best of her, leaving the then-middle schooler with two options.

“I could either quit the sport or become a goalkeeper,” Kuzmich explained.

She chose the latter. Then, she spent the next years in town and club play mastering the position before arriving in high school where she’d blossom into one of the state’s best goalkeepers.

Kuzmich, now a senior, has started for Whitman-Hanson Regional High’s girls’ soccer team since she was a freshman. The Panthers own a 58-5-3 record and haven’t fallen short of the South Sectional semifinals in her first three seasons, a span she’s posted 37 shutouts in.

“I always know that even if I mess up on defense, Sky is there and I trust Sky because she is an amazing goalie,” classmate and fellow captain Sammy Smith said.

Last season was when Kuzmich took her game to a new level, posting shutouts in 10 of 19 games. She earned Patriot League All-Star recognition.

After falling to league rival Hingham, 3-1, Oct. 17, W-H found itself with a rematch against the Harborwomen on the road in the South Sectional quarterfinals Nov. 7.

Kuzmich turned away numerous shots in the first half to keep the score deadlocked at 1-1, before the Panthers pulled ahead 2-1 in the second and that’s where it would stand.

“She made three of four saves there that absolutely gave us an opportunity to win the game,” head coach David Floeck recalled. “I’m hoping we don’t have to see too many highlight-reel saves but we’re happy that we have her there to make a few if she needs to.”

Kuzmich stopped 16 shots in the game.

“She makes these amazing saves and I’m jealous because I don’t know how she does it,” Smith said. “She’s like a ninja.”

Jealousy isn’t all that flows through Smith’s mind watching Kuzmich, a Hofstra University commit, protect the Panthers’ goal.

“I’m confident with her behind me in net at all times,” Smith said.

Kuzmich said that while she deals with the same struggles most all goalkeepers do, her attitude allows her to stay sane in net.

“After you let up a goal you have to have a goldfish mindset,” Kuzmich said. “Forget about it [and] move on to the next save. You can’t let it get in your head or else you’ll let in another one and part of that is you just need to be a little crazy too because one, you’re diving at the ball all the time and two, you have to forget something that just happened even if it was your mistake.”

Floeck said that while he’s had to circle in numerous players on the backline over the past few seasons and plans to do the same this fall, he can count on Kuzmich to put them in the right positions to succeed.

“We’ll have some different people on defense and she’s the one, she’s the conductor of that,” he explained. “I’ve said from Day 1 that one of her greatest attributes is the saves she never has to make because she organizes our defense so well that she shuts off opportunities before they get to her. She can still make the game-saving save, but she shuts off a lot.”

Smith is headed to ‘dream school’

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Smith in the Panthers’ home tilt against Pymouth North last season. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Senior Sammy Smith, an Eagle in waiting, wants to finish her senior season with a “bang.”

She was almost a Wildcat, but then the Eagles came soaring in.

Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer senior captain and back Sammy Smith was committed to the University of New Hampshire for soccer — a decision she made as a freshman — until a roster error paved the way for her “dream school” to come calling.

“For my club — the U-18 team that I play on — I’m like the youngest player on that team, so I qualify to play with the U-17 team and everyone on that team is good,” Smith explained. “They want to go to college and they’re seriously looking into college soccer.

“So, I played with them (the U-17 team) in one tournament and on the roster — the manager of that team — didn’t have me committed to UNH. So, all the coaches who came to that game were like ‘Who’s this? She’s not committed? I thought she was committed to UNH.’’’

So, the phone calls began as coaches tried to lure the two-time Patriot League All-Star and reigning first-team EMass selection onto their respective campus.

“One of the coaches at my club was like ‘All these colleges are contacting you, do you want to look into them?’’’ Smith recalled.

Smith obliged and she’s happy she did because Boston College was one of the them.

“In the end, BC has always been my dream school,” said Smith, who committed there in June. “I’m so happy to be able to play there next year.”

Smith might not even be the happiest one in her family about the decision.

“My parents are happy,” she said. “My parents are ecstatic. They didn’t mind the UNH — like two hours away — but right down the road, 40 minutes to BC, and plus my mom went there.”

W-H girls’ soccer head coach David Floeck said Smith, who has started for him since she was a freshman, is one of the most athletic girls he’s ever coached.

“She’s super quick and everything else, but her ability to change directions — while being full speed when most kids can’t do that, they have to take an extra step — gives her the advantage,” the 23rd-year head coach said.

“She is tremendous in tight spaces and if she gets in open space, she covers 60 to 70 yards dribbling the ball faster than people can do it without a ball. She’s just a supreme talent and that’s why BC snatched her.”

Panthers senior goalkeeper Skylar Kuzmich said having a player on the field of Smith’s caliber — someone who can excel at multiple positions and on both ends of the pitch — is an immense asset.

“Sam is a great player and it’s funny because she already does play offense when she’s on defense because she dribbles through everyone and then goes up field, but with her there, I feel great, but without her [at defender] we’re going to score goals,” Kuzmich said.

Smith said she doesn’t let the fact that she’s going to a top collegiate women’s soccer school alter the way she goes about her business.

“I try to get touches on the ball every single day,” Smith said. “There’s no moment where I’m not thinking about soccer. I watch soccer, I play it every single day, but I try to not let it get to my head. I don’t want to have a big head, like, ‘Hey, I’m going to BC,’ I don’t let it get to me. I play like a normal player.”

Smith’s commitment adds to a long list of Panthers girls’ soccer players to head to the Division 1 ranks. Lauren Bonavita and Taylor Kofton, both of whom graduated last spring, are in their freshman campaigns at UMass Amherst and Boston University, respectively.

For Smith, the goal this season is to end it and her Panthers soccer career with a “big bang.”

“Oh, I want to win a state championship,” she said.