West Canaan
She supports the school’s attempts to form forming a girls team, which Pelton admitted would be good for the sport as long as it remains sustainable. But playing for a girls team this season would have meant giving up on her dream.
The effort to form a girls team for the first time in Mascoma’s history fell through before the fall season, despite the financial backing of Mascoma’s school board. John Kelly, Mascoma’s athletic director, used some of the funds to purchase girls’ jerseys, new equipment bags and nets.
By preseason, there simply weren’t enough girls to form a full squad.
Those who did play soccer said they preferred to play with the boys. Pelton was one of them.
As a middle-schooler, Pelton decided against a switch to field hockey or volleyball — Mascoma’s two other fall girls sports offerings — because of her commitment to soccer. She’s now the starting goalie for the Royals, a senior captain and one of two girls — with junior Olivia Bean — featured on the varsity squad, whose coach, Keli Green, is a woman.
Pelton wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I was all for a girls team. I still am all for a girls team,” Pelton said on Thursday afternoon after Mascoma’s 5-0 win over Fall Mountain. “But I’ve been with these guys since kindergarten. They’re my best friends. They’re what I know. So I was like, ‘I’ll go for a girls team. I’ll push. But I don’t want to play on a girls team.’ My set goal since I was little was varsity goalie. I’ve got that my senior year. If I have to play on a girls team, I don’t get that.
“I’ll push, but I’m not giving my dream up.”
It’s a rebuilding year for the Royals, who lost 10 seniors to graduation and their coach — Ryan Limero — to an assistant coaching job at Colby-Sawyer College.
But first-year head coach Green, who has coached the program’s junior varsity team since 2008, sees an inexperienced team that has turned a corner. That progress showed in what Green said was her team’s best offensive showing of the season.
“Our first game was an 8-0 (loss) against Belmont,” Green said. “To think like, ‘Oh my god, we suck.’ That was literally how we felt. It was a tough way to start the season and tough for the sophomores to say, ‘Wow, we are so not ready for this.’ … What I can say is the players are figuring the game out and figuring each other out.”
Mascoma scored four goals in a 24-minute stretch of the first half.
Brennen Murphy started things off with his second goal of the season, burying a rebound off of a shot from Ben Seiler for the early lead in the 13th minute. Dylan Pelton added to it five minutes later, scoring off a cross from sophomore midfielder Gavin Giovagnoli.
Cam Stebbins and Seiler added goals before the half. Dylan Pelton added an insurance goal in the second. Pelton made three saves in the first half. Sophomore keeper Connor Thompson made another three saves after halftime to preserve the shutout.
Pelton said the team has been different since departure Limero, who she said brought a youthfulness to practice and was able to speak their language.
“(Ryan) brought the music and the good times and everything,” Pelton said. “He could get down to our teenager level. (Green) can, too. … The feeling isn’t exactly as young this year. It’s not as loose, but I think it’s coming back a little bit.”
Added Justin Andrew, another senior captain: “We all miss Ryan, but it’s been not too different because it’s a familiar face. She knows our strengths and weaknesses. It’s been really nice.”
Green said the new role has taken some getting used to.
“Ryan was what I wanted for the kids. I wanted a young, cool soccer guy to run this team,” Green said. “I waited to put in for the varsity job. I was like, ‘OK, I want another 24-year-old cool soccer guy to show up and be that person.’ Right now, I don’t have that varsity experience. I’ve never coached to win, I’ve always coached to develop. It’s a different mindset.”
For Pelton, establishing a sustainable girls squad is the school’s first big step. She went through middle school with a full girls soccer team, a number that dwindled to three by high school because of the lack of opportunity. Most, she said, switched to other sports. Some just quit soccer all together.
“I know a lot of girls who say, ‘if there was a girls team, I’d play, ’” she said.
Playing soccer was Pelton’s main goal. She didn’t care who her teammates were, what team she had to play on. She just wanted to play.
If anything, playing with the boys program, Pelton said, has helped push her to be better.
“I’ve always been told by a million different people, ‘If you played on a girls team, you’d be a superstar,’ ” Pelton said. “I don’t want to be a superstar. I want to be challenged. I want to play hard. If I’m known, I want to be known as that girl goalie. I don’t want to be that superstar on the girls team.”
The Royals (4-3) host Bishop Brady on Saturday for homecoming.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.