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Valley Girls’ Soccer Kicked it Into Another Gear in 2019

The Valley Regional girls’ soccer team took a huge leap forward this season by earning five more victories than last year on their way to a record of 11-7-3. The Warriors also made some noise in the postseason, advancing all the way to the Shoreline Conference Tournament final and then notching a win in the Class M State Tournament. When all was said and done, Lauren MacDonald’s squad enjoyed plenty of success in her first campaign as Valley’s head coach.

The Warriors turned some heads when they made a run for the Shoreline title after entering the tournament as the No. 4 seed. Valley toppled No. 1 seed Portland in the semis and nearly pulled off a comeback win when it faced Haddam-Killingworth in the conference final. The Warriors were down 2-0 just 15 minutes into the game, but battled back to tie it up before ultimately taking a 3-2 defeat.

Coach MacDonald feels proud of what her team accomplished this year. When the season started, MacDonald, assistant coach Megan Perkins, and all of Valley’s players got together and outlined their objectives for the season. After attaining those goals and then some, there’s no doubt that the 2019 campaign was a complete success in everyone’s eyes.

“I think overall it was a great season. We accomplished all the goals we set at the beginning. We wanted to make Shorelines and get past the first round of states,” said Coach MacDonald. “The girls also really wanted to beat Morgan this year, and we were able to accomplish all of those goals and grow as a program. It’s a big part of sports seeing your growth throughout the season and what you’ve accomplished.”

Coach MacDonald believes that the Warriors had plenty of skill to reach the level of play that they did. The missing component seemed to be that the players needed to see that talent themselves and understand that they could be as good as they were this season.

“I think the talent was always there. The girls just had to believe in themselves and what they were capable of. Megan and I came in and really emphasized that,” said MacDonald. “Megan was enthusiastic all the time and screaming from the sidelines to get the team riled up, but it was their desire and want to be there and accomplish their goals. We just tried to push them.”

Once the Warriors started to believe in themselves, they also started to click as a team. Senior captain defender Caroline Baldwin and fellow captain Sam Calamari tried to foster an atmosphere where the team would function as a cohesive unit rather than a bunch of talented parts. Coach MacDonald believed that everything fell into place in a 1-0 road victory against East Hampton on Oct. 12 when the team qualified for the Class M State Tournament.

“I think it was our East Hampton game where it really came together. The girls could feel the connection on the field. Caroline Baldwin said to me that after that game we realized that we could come back from anything,” said Coach MacDonald. “The Shoreline final was a huge recognition of the entire season and how we never gave up. I think it was just emphasizing team bonding. We grew into a family. In the end, we always knew we were there for each other.”

While Calamari helped to foster connections throughout the team, she definitely had a special relationship on offense with fellow senior Ava Duval. Calamari tallied nine goals and 24 assists, while Duval had almost the inverse with 25 goals and 8 assists. Both earned All-Shoreline Conference First Team honors, and Calamari was Valley’s Most Valuable Player while Duval was the team’s Offensive Player of the Year.

“They were definitely a huge part of our success offensively,” said MacDonald. “We were fortunate to have support throughout the field, but they had the peanut butter-jelly connection on the offense. They nearly had identical numbers but reversed.”

Another big part of the team was senior defender Jeni Caulfield. Caulfield earned All-Shoreline Conference Second Team honors for her staunch stands in the backfield, and she was also the Warriors’ co-Defensive Player of the Year along with senior goalie Lexi DellaRocco. The two of them made a formidable force for offenses to deal with.

“Jeni knew that she could be an offensive threat in certain situations, but she was a defensive player through and through. The ball was kind of a magnet to her,” MacDonald said. “Lexi was always a huge vocal part on the field, but toward the end of the season a light flipped on and she really stepped up and came through. She kept us in a lot of games especially against Portland in Shorelines. She had an amazing game. That was one of her top-3 games of the season.”

Winning the Coaches’ Award for the Warriors was junior Maddie Costello, who exemplified the dedication to growing and improvement that made Valley so solid this year. Maddie will be a senior captain next year along with Hannah Jenkins.

“Maddie is the type of individual who’s asking questions and how she should improve. She’s one of the most genuine people, and she asks how your day was. She’s just a born leader,” MacDonald said. “She’s actually one of our captains for next year with Hannah Jenkins. They just get along with everyone on the team. Hannah hasn’t always been a starter, but she had crucial plays on defense. They are very personable and get along and they’re very vocal too.”

A couple of other players earned individual awards from the Warriors. Senior Lauren Allen was named the Most Improved Player, and sophomore Taryn Frazier grabbed the Warrior Award for team spirit and sportsmanship.

“Lauren is a player who I didn’t get to know to well last year. I thought she was really quiet and shy, but it turned out she’s pretty fun and goofy. She could play a lot of different positions, and she shined so bright this season. I knew Most Improved had to go to her not just because of her soccer, but her overall confidence,” MacDonald said. “Taryn was always positive. She was out three different times due to injury, but before games she would write a speech so she could be there for her players even though she couldn’t play. For a sophomore to be able to do that was huge.”

As for the Warriors’ future, next season will definitely have a different feel to it. There are a lot of departing seniors, and Coach MacDonald will be looking for a bunch of players to step up to fill some of the void.

“Keep the culture. That’s the goal. We’re losing eight seniors, and seven of them were primarily starters. I’m not really worried about that, though, because we got a lot of younger players into games,” MacDonald said. “We also have our offseason program that will help them make connections on the field and accelerate us in to the kind of future we want to have.”

In the end, Coach MacDonald feels tremendous gratitude for being able to coach this group, but it’s bittersweet in that she only had one short year with this talented senior class.

“I’m just sad it’s over. I’m really going to miss this group of seniors,” MacDonald said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group to kick off my coaching career at Valley. I’m sad I can’t coach them all year long. It was a great season.”

From the Sidelines

The Valley Regional girls' soccer team's varsity roster included senior captains Caroline Baldwin and Sam Calamari; seniors Lauren Allen, Ashley Bill, Jeni Caulfield, Lexi DellaRocco, Ava Duval, and Celia Ghilani; juniors Maddie Costello and Hannah Jenkins; sophomores Ellie Cost, Taryn Frazier, Caroline Hutchinson, Bitzy Klomp, Alexis Massey, Sophia Surber, and Erin Ward; and freshmen Grace Abderhalden, Elizabeth Allen, Olivia Baldwin, Anna Benson, Reagan Doyon, and Eileen Russell.

Head Coach Lauren MacDonald completed her first season as head coach of the Warriors. MacDonald's assistant coach is Megan Perkins.

The Warriors' wins this season came against Old Saybrook (4-1), Westbrook (6-1), Cromwell (5-1), Amistad (6-0), North Branford (2-1), East Hampton (1-0), Hale-Ray (8-3), and Morgan (4-1). Valley dropped games to Woodstock Academy (2-0), Haddam-Killingworth (6-3 and 5-2), and Cromwell (2-1). Valley also earned ties with Portland (3-3), Old Lyme (2-2), and Old Saybrook (3-3).

In the Shoreline Conference Tournament, Valley earned the No. 4 seed and took down No. 5 seed Coginchaug (1-0) in the quarterfinals. Then in the semifinals, the Warriors took down top-seeded Portland (3-1) before losing to No. 3 seed Haddam-Killingworth in the final (3-2).

In the Class M State Tournament, No. 16 seed Valley defeated No. 17 seed Oxford in the first round by a 4-0 score. The Warriors lost to No. 1 seed Granby in the second round by a 7-0 margin.