RallyNorth.net

Newburyport unflappable in its mission for state title

Thursday, November, 15 By John Shimer
Staff writer

If last year was its coming out party, then this year Newburyport announced its presence with authority (to quote Tim Robbins from the movie "Bull Durham").

A year ago, Newburyport may have only played two bad games. The first being against North Reading | a team the Clippers traditionally had trouble playing | losing 1-0 in the middle of the regular season.

The second one ended up being much more costly.

Coming off an emotional high after beating St. Mary's in double overtime in the North final, Newburyport looked flat in the state semifinals against Norwell. A Taylor Bresnahan strike put Newburyport on top to start, but it was only a matter of time before Norwell tied the score.

Then, in overtime, what looked to be inevitable occurred; a quick counter down the left side, a perfect cross, and easy score by Norwell bounced Newburyport out of the tournament. For a team that had virtually no distractions all of the 2006 season, the final two games proved to be an emotional roller coaster it just could not handle.

This year, the Clippers just seem to be on a mission. All of their stats are even better than their record-breaking season of a year ago; 79 regular-season goals compared to 67, nine regular season goals allowed to 11, and now 17 tournament goals scored to 11. (Both seasons they allowed three goals in the state tournament.)

And the 2007 Clippers have been mired in two potentially big controversies | the Ipswich recruiting accusation and the non-Amanda Webster comment | each which could have totally shifted the championship focus the team into a dark cloud of pessimism but did not.

This Clippers team has persevered and used what everyone else has said against them to motivate them to do even better.

"We try not to focus on what has been going on in the paper," said Maggie Mahoney, who scored both goals in last night's 2-1 win over Norwell. "We forget about it, and try to show people that they are wrong. "Everything that has been said against us, we use as motivation, and we believe everything that has happened has been the result of hard work."

You can see it in the way they play, they chant it in every huddle on the sideline right before they run out on the field to play | it being intensity. Even after hardly being tested through the entire North sectionals and then having to play a team of near equal ability, the Clippers have never missed a beat the entire season.

"Our intensity level was just so much higher tonight. We take losing very seriously, and we just don't accept it," said Bresnahan.

With a second crack at Norwell, the Clippers doled out the last bit of revenge to anyone that has either beaten them or critiqued them inside of the last year.

"At the beginning of the year, we always said we just wanted one more chance to play Norwell," Mahoney said. "A team can beat us once, but it is going to be hard to beat us twice." Now the business-like Clippers have advanced farther than any team in school history.

Additional stories:

• Clippers one win shy of capturing state title