Bethel
Hannah Anderson’s 10th-minute goal was all Proctor needed in a 1-0 win over the Phoenix on Saturday in the VPA Division IV girls soccer championship game at cold, damp Bethel Athletic Fields. The third-seeded Phantoms won their fourth straight title and fifth in six years while denying the top-ranked Phoenix in their first title match.
Sharon (15-2) had a simple strategy: Get the ball to all-everything senior Mallory Lloyd — who has an amazing ability to pass the ball to herself by kicking the ball downfield and outrunning defenders for it, hope for a goal, and then let the defense (just 13 goals allowed all season after Saturday) do the rest.
“Our D is pretty rock-solid, and our game was just to counterattack using Mallory’s speed, and that’s sort of been our M.O. all year,” Sharon coach Blake Fabrikant said. “People get a scouting report on her, but they don’t realize how athletic she is.”
Proctor (15-2-1) controlled the tempo from the get-go and made life very busy for Sharon keeper Abby Levy, who was credited with only five saves but handled the ball all day.
Despite the intense pressure, the Phantoms broke through with a soft touch. Anderson lofted a high arc from about 25 yards out, and the ball landed just to the right of Levy and into the net at 9:36 for the unassisted goal.
Sharon, which outshot Proctor, 10-9, had more chances as the half went on. Lloyd, who scored her 100th career goal during the regular season, lofted a shot that was just over the net. She later sent a perfect pass from the left sideline to Grace Dorman, who was waiting in front of the net, only for her shot to be stopped by Proctor keeper Isabel Valerio (four saves). Another Dorman shot landed just to the right of the Phantoms’ cage.
“I thought it easily could have been 3-1 in the first half,” Fabrikant said. “Had we finished those chances, I feel it could have been a different game. (When) we get a cushion, my tendency is to put Mallory back and just sit there. So we had the game plan we wanted, we had the opportunities we wanted, we had the looks we wanted; we just didn’t capitalize.”
The second half grew chippier as the clock wound closer to zero. Lloyd left briefly after a collision that saw her clutching her elbow as she left the field, and teammates Jasmin Johnson and Maya Johnstone — the latter already wearing a large cast on her right arm — were helped off the field with injuries.
In the game’s final minutes, the Phoenix went on an all-out attack and nearly hit the jackpot. A Dorman shot from the left sideline was stopped by Valerio, a Lloyd cross was intercepted by a wall of Proctor defenders and a pair of Lloyd shots went just over the crossbar.
“It’s only the second time we’ve been down all year,” Fabrikant said. “Once you play like that, you become a little frantic. We were a little disorganized once we had to make up a goal.”
While the Sharon players were wrapped in tears and hugs as the Phantoms celebrated another addition to their bulging trophy case, they also felt a sense of achievement after their historic season that generated a buzz throughout the school as the title game approached.
“This is the furthest we’ve ever gone,” Lloyd said. “Past teams have been skilled individually, but this team has been skilled as a team. We really work well together.”