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09/14/2020 12:00 AMThe North Haven girls’ soccer team turned in a solid campaign in its first year with Head Coach Gary Collins last fall. North Haven lost seven of its first eight games, but subsequently went 4-1-3 down to stretch to earn a berth in the Class L State Tournament. With the graduation of several key seniors, Coach Collins will be relying on a young club in whatever form any 2020 season takes.
Given the complications that COVID-19 has presented for high school athletics this year, Coach Collins and his players are doing their best to prepare for any scenario. Right now, the biggest priority is for everyone to get into and stay in game shape as North Haven participates in conditioning and non-contact skillwork in groups of 10 people or fewer.
“Right now, we are basically trying to get everyone fit and maintain fitness. We’re doing a little ball work, but we are very limited,” said Collins. “We can’t do tactical practices the way we want to. We’re working hard with the limitations that we have now.”
North Haven’s senior captains have been leading the charge at the team’s practices thus far. The captains for this year are Emma Christoforo, Carly Fresher, and Megan Russo. Last year, Russo made the All-SCC Second Team and was also named North Haven’s Most Valuable Player.
Coach Collins is impressed with the leadership that his captains have displayed and believes that they still have room to grow.
“They all bring something different to the team. Megan will be the most vocal one on the field. Her leadership is by example, as well. She’s a hard worker. She did a lot of good stuff for us coming out of the season last year,” Collins said. “With both Carly and Emma, we hope they assert themselves with the team, being main figures in the backfield. They’re doing a good job helping get the players ready this season. It’s a very young team that we have right now, and we want them to be aggressive. That’s one of our main focuses. We’re hoping that they can carry that into the season.”
Coach Collins believes there’s a good chance that Russo will move up onto the attack this year to play alongside junior forward Ada Forbes. However, Russo can play multiple positions, so Collins has some flexibility when it comes to who lines up beside Forbes, who led the team with nine goals scored last season and can pose plenty of problems for opponents. Collins hopes that having another presence up front will help draw some attention away from Forbes.
“Ada’s one of those players that has speed, athleticism, and she’s getting better with her technique. She’s one of the fastest players in the league. We want to exploit her speed. She was our leading scorer last year,” said Collins. “We want to find someone to partner with her to make it a bit easier. Once teams know she’s that player, they will try to lock her down. We have to figure out who’s up there, whether it’s Megan or someone else, to take pressure off Ada.”
North Haven has a solid cadre of goalies ready to stand tall in net this fall. This includes last year’s starter, junior Sophia Chagnon; along with fellow junior Annalise Moulis, who was also a keeper on the varsity team; and incoming freshman Erika Fronte. Coach Collins is excited to see all of his goalies pushing each other through friendly competition.
“It comes down to who really pushes and wants to run away with it. It’s been competitive, and that’s what you want out of the goalkeepers. You want them to challenge each other,” Collins said. “In our training sessions, it’s been a lot of fitness and a lot of shots on goal. We want to keep them in shape and game ready. We hope they continue to push each other, and we’ll go from there.”
North Haven should be pretty solid on defense with plenty of returning starters, including senior captains Christoforo and Fresher. Sophomores Giavanna Damone and Ilana Blumenthal are also returning starters on the back line.
“We’re counting on the those four in the backfield. They look pretty sharp with the ballwork now. We just have to get their legs ready for when we get into the full practice,” said Collins. “They have good touches on the ball right now. We want them comfortable with the ball on their feet. We know they are aggressive players, and they’ll bring it when practices go full swing.”
The midfield may be North Haven’s biggest opportunity for some up-and-comers to get valuable playing time. Coach Collins has a few players in mind to write into his lineup and, if full practices do begin on Monday, Sept. 21 pending an announcement by the CIAC, he hopes to see a few people step up at the midfielder’s position.
“We have Lily Coish and Sophia Acquarulo that we are penciling in the middle right now. Sophia is a great worker. She turned the season around for us last year. I think she’s highly motivated,” Collins said. “Lily can move around, but we’ll use her in the midfield. She has speed, technique, skill, and makes good decisions. Her touches are even much better than they were when she was a freshman. She did a lot of work in the offseason. She can hold her own with her quickness and technique and get out of pressure. Our concern is outside midfield. Those are the positions we have to plug in.”
For now, though, Coach Collins’s biggest concern is even having a season. North Haven is a young team trying to build up its program, and a canceled campaign could certainly have a negative impact on that. Of course, first and foremost, any season needs to be safe for all parties involved.
“You don’t want to lose a season, even if it’s just five or six games. We’re hoping for a season. The girls have been putting in a lot of work,” said Collins. “I think overall, we just have to get them prepared and ready...and just stay focused on what we have been doing. Hopefully, we get to see these kids play, four, five, or six games, whatever it may be.”