Me Hornets Sammy Bothwell and Becket Spencer race their Marblehead opponents down field in a game on Saturday the 15th at home.
Photo Paul Clark
When asked to describe the play of the girls and boys Manchester Essex soccer teams in 2022, coaches for both squads kept coming back to the same word: “Resilient.”
Playing in the Cape Ann League is no cakewalk, and both teams have had their own struggles in addition to the high level of competition – including injuries, illness and fatigue. But both Hornet squads have been able to overcome all of this to amass records in the .500 range at the start of this week, and the opportunity to qualify for the postseason with strong play over the season’s final few games.
For example, the girls’ soccer team is 6-6-4 overall, and was ranked ninth in the MIAA Division 4 Power Rankings (the top 32 teams in the power rankings qualify for the tournament) at the start of the week, with only two games left in the regular season (at Georgetown on October 25 and against Ipswich on October 27). It’s probably a good bet that the Hornets will make the tournament by virtue of the strength of their schedule whether or not they win out in their last two games, but to get to this point the team had to overcome a good deal of consistency to start 2022.
“The first weeks of the season were not easy,” explains ME girls soccer coach Christo Manginis. “When that happens, a team has a choice: they can get upset and start pointing fingers and finding people to blame, or they can take responsibility and use tough losses as motivation. This team is resilient and that is why we have been successful so far.”
That resiliency eventually paid off: Manginis points to the Hornets’ 3- win over Whittier on October 19, a game in which Manchester Essex seemed unable to break through early on in the contest.
“We beat Whittier 3-0 last week but were tied 0-0 with 18 minutes left despite having almost 40 shots to Whittier's three,” he explains, adding: “No team plays their best in every game, but we are doing well to control what we can even when we are not playing particularly well.”
For the boys’ soccer team, injuries and illness have been a bugaboo for a squad that is 6-8-2 overall and ranked 29th out of 32 teams in Div. 4. If they are able to win out in their last two games of the season against Georgetown and Ipswich, they should qualify for the tourney.
“They are both beatable, but they will be tough games,” explains ME boys soccer coach Rob Bilsbury. “If we get those two wins, we will be .500 and they can’t keep us out of the state tournament, it guarantees us a spot after months of scrapping and fighting. We’re playing really energized soccer the past few games, I’m hoping we can finish strong this week and head into the tournament playing well.”
Bilsbury points to the last couple of games as examples, citing a 4-2 loss to larger school Lynnfield on October 21 as his team playing potentially it’s best match of the season, followed by a crucial 3-3 tie with Hamilton-Wenham two days later. Making the challenge even greater was the fact that the Hornets were without either of their goalkeepers due to injury in both contests.
“We’ve been showing some amazing resilience,” says Bilsbury. “Both goalkeepers had injuries, we had a lot of kids sick on the team, and we had other kids jumping in and filling roles. This is an awesome group in terms of they are willing to play hurt and sick and fill the voids left when we lose talented players. In either of those games, we easily could have put our heads down and said, ‘Today’s not our day,’ but we kept clawing and fighting that, even with our depleted lineup.”
Brodie Tolo and Sammy Bothwell played well in those particular contests; center-middie Charlie Langendorf acquitted himself nicely in the first half against Lynnfield, taking over for both injured goalies. Ali Erdogan bounced back from an early season injury to put together a fantastic sophomore campaign, while Logan Desouza has played all over the field, from striker all the way back to defense, while adding a vocal element as the team’s top communicator. Senior Jack Newton utilizes his speed to cover a ton of ground on defense, while senior captains Finnegan Lawler, Becket Spencer and Ryan and Brady Gagnon have provided strong leadership through tough times.
The list is just as impressive for the girls’ team. Mechi O’Neil has scored in the team’s last four games in a row, combining with fellow Captain Pippa Springler as top offensive options for the Hornets (Springler has 22 points this season). Also, of note has been the play of captains Kendall Newton at right wing (scoring a crucial goal in the previous matchup with Georgetown) and Mackay Brooks, an anchor on defense for the squad in 2022.
“I could go on and on about how well the players have done all day long,” says Manginis. “Charlotte Crocker has been an important presence in the middle of the field, both helping out defensively and starting most of our successful attacks. Ella Arntsen is another player who has surprised. She is playing a new position but has been key to our defense and actually scored five goals as well.”
The girls are not only hoping to qualify and earn decent seeding in the Div. 4 tournament, wins in their final two games would help them to clinch second place in the CAL Baker division. While it should be no easy task, these two teams have shown time and again that they are resilient and can handle this type of adversity, something the girls squad learned earlier this year.
“The key moment in our season was after our 7-0 defeat to Hamilton Wenham,” says Manginis. “At that moment our players decided to redouble their efforts and become the team that I knew they could be. A last-minute goal to tie 2-2 away at Pentucket was the moment when the team started to believe that they could compete with anyone they play, and they have done that since.”
It’s a lesson the boys have taken to heart in 2022 as well.
“I think we’re playing with a hungry mindset, which is really important, especially finishing the regular season,” says Bilsbury. “We have to have a good week, but I think we know that. All that adversity that allowed us to get people like Ali Erdogan into important game situations to show what they can do, and they’ve done that.”
