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Sports

KP Girls Soccer Has Backs Against the Wall After Loss to North Attleboro

North Attleboro hands Warriors 2-0 loss, leaving the Warriors in need of three wins in three games for tournament berth.

In a must-win situation, King Philip fell short, putting their tournament hopes in
dire straits.

North Attleboro, another team on the bubble of qualifying for the
tournament, came into Wrentham and handed the Warriors a 2-0 setback on senior night. 

The win improved the Red Rocketeers to 6-7-1, while KP dropped to 4-6-3 with only three games left on the schedule.

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If the Warriors are to secure the final three wins, all at home, they’re going to have to learn how to find the back of the net on a regular basis.

“Tonight, the effort, intensity and enthusiasm were there and that’s awesome. The girls had real heart to play today,” KP Coach Greg Massotti said. “They did
everything they could, but we need to execute and figure out how to score
goals.”

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According to the Warrior coach, the team is not taking its time when it does move the ball into enemy territory, and that’s killing them.

“We’re not executing in front of the net, we’re panicking,” he said. “They’re not
relaxing or using their skills to beat people one-on-one, instead they much
rather rush and try to shoot the ball. That’s why you’re seeing balls high and
wide [of the net].”

Although the Warriors had difficulty scoring, they were controlling
the game, especially the first half. North Attleboro, though, was able to chip two balls over the head of keeper Jill Valente. At the 32:57 mark, Erica Alfonse kicked the ball toward the King Philip net, Valente decided to come out for the ball and Brooke Mayer chipped it over her head for not only the first NA shot, but the first goal as well.

Some 14 minutes later, Jamie Grinavich would once again beat Valente on
a shot over her head as she came out after the ball. The Red Rocketeers would
have only three shots in the half, scoring twice en route to the victory.

“I thought that Jill didn’t come out aggressively enough, a little hesitation on
those balls where it’s over the sweepers head,” Massotti said. “In that
situation, the keeper has to be another defender out there.”

Despite coming away with the victory, NA Coach Bill Wallace thought his team was outplayed for a significant amount of time.

“Three shots in the first half – that’s the first time this year that we’ve been
outplayed and wound up on the left side of the ledger.  For us, this is a huge step, as we’re still fighting to make the tournament," the Red Rocketeer Coach said. “That’s a good team. The first time we played them, they beat us 3-2, scoring three goals in 15 minutes, then we dominated the other 65. Today was kind of a flip.”

King Philip begins their final three home games of the year  when Foxboro comes to town on Friday afternoon, while North Attleboro travels to Franklin – both in search of a tournament berth.

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