RallyNorth.net

Clippers beat Ipswich to capture second straight sectional crown

Tuesday, November, 13 By John Shimer
Staff writer

"Forget about vengeance and focus exclusively on excellence."

That was the pregame message Robb Gonnam delivered to his No. 2-seeded Newburyport girls team before they played No. 8 Ipswich in the Division 3 North final at Acton-Boxborough High School's Leary Field.

Earlier in the season, after the Clippers beat the Tigers, 9-3, Ipswich coach Manny Lopes made some faulty claims to the Ipswich weekly paper that Newburyport recruited its players for the girls' soccer program. Lopes later apologized.

The message resounded loud and clear to the Clipper players, who once again looked head and shoulders above their competition, beating the Tigers, 6-1.

Newburyport moves on to the Eastern Massachusetts final | the state semifinal game | tomorrow at Quincy's Memorial Stadium at 5 p.m. The Clippers will be facing familiar foe Norwell (also nicknamed the Clippers), who beat Newburyport, 2-1, in the same round a year ago.

If you arrived late yesterday, you would have missed at least one goal as the Clippers wasted little time putting the game away. Accurate, fast-paced combination play in the middle of the field was what Newburyport used to spell doom for Ipswich. The Clippers' business-like approach in their offensive end saw them score four goals in the first half | at the 37:42 mark, at the 28:56 mark, at 13:39 mark and at the 12:41 mark (time counts down).

"I was impressed with the way we played balls to feet with one or two touches, our anticipation of those passes, and then the runs we made off those passes to finish off the play," said Gonnam of his team's brilliance on the field. "It is hard to defend the way we played today because when the defender tries to guard the player with the ball, a split second later the ball is gone and the defender has to guard another player. Our style does not give our opponents a chance to set up marks on our players because our players are constantly in motion."

The only way Ipswich was able to stop Newburyport's attack was by the outstanding goalkeeping again of the Tigers' Lia Webb, who parried shot after shot. However, that gave the Clippers several corner kick opportunities that they just could not miss.

Three times in the first half and once in the second half, the Clippers scored directly off corners, for a total of four corner-kick goals.

"I was surprised because in our training before the game the girls looked sloppy in our corner-kick drill and also because we are not a particularly tall team," said Gonnam of his team's dominance in the air in the Ipswich box. "We did a good job of getting on the end of balls and making them count with one-touch hits."

Captain Colleen Coviello said it wasn't a case of what Ipswich was trying defensively but more a matter of the Clippers wanting it more as to why Newburyport finished at such a high percentage off corners.

"The girls that took the corners today did a good job of timing and finding people," said Coviello, who connected with a header for the Clippers' second corner goal. "And Taylor (Bresnahan, who scored two goals off corners | one header and one side volley) jumps like a gazelle out there; she's just an animal."

After seeing Newburyport for a second time this season, Lopes said he thought it would be hard for anyone to beat the Clippers the rest of the way.

"Last year when I heard that they (Newburyport) had lost, I thought how could they possibly lose with the team that they had, but I told Robb (Gonnam) after today's game he has to beat Norwell," said Lopes, who had nothing but compliments for the Newburyport team. "Newburyport is a class team and they have the top 11 girls, not just in Division 3, but possibly Division 2 as well. They just need to get psyched up for that game."

Both Newburyport and Norwell did what they had to do, and now the dream matchup will be played out one more time.

Additional stories:

• Newburyport corners Ipswich girls soccer in North final