Luck Runs Out for Feehan Girls Soccer Team with First Loss

One goal was all that was needed for the Oliver Ames girls’ soccer team in its win over top-seeded (and previously unbeaten) in the Division 1 South semifinals held Friday afternoon at Medway high school.

After a scoreless tie through regulation, junior midfielder Kendall Andrew was heroic in the first overtime session to give OA the 1-0 victory and send them to the south sectional finals where they will face Whitman-Hanson in the south sectional finals Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. The game will be held at Taunton High School

“We always say it takes two [to win],” Andrew said. “But today it only took one. It feels great to get the winner and advance.”

Senior midfielder Emily Grotz, who sent a nice cross-corner pass to the junior in the penalty area, set up the only goal and tallied her second assist in as many games.

“It was a great pass by Emily,” Andrew said. “All I was thinking about was to just place it in the back of the net and advance to the south sectional final.”

Much like Wednesday’s win over Needham, OA coach Britt Sellmayer and company got vengeance against the team who knocked them out of last year’s tournament.

“What a win,” said Sellmayer, whose team improved to 16-2-3 in 2011. “Feehan is a great team and they had their chances but we were just a little luckier today. They had a few more shots than us…but hey that’s soccer. We hung around long enough and we had our chance and Kendall finished it for us on a great play.”

Despite having several chances, particularly during the second half, Feehan coach Phil Silva knew his team just didn’t get the lucky bounce they needed to advance.

“It was a tough, competitive contest that was down to one goal,” he said. “Unfortunately we just didn’t get the lucky bounce and they got the winner in overtime.”

For about 60 minutes, both teams had their share of chances. Grotz had OA’s best chance (before Andrew’s tally) at the start of the second half to score her first goal, but Feehan goalkeeper Justine Miller made a nice save near the goal-line for one of her seven saves.

Midway through the second half, Feehan put together a relentless offensive attack thanks in part to its strong presence in the middle of the field. The Shamrocks had several near misses in the last 20 minutes; including a goal that was waived off in the 75th minute due to senior forward Annie Galvin being offsides.

Feehan’s best chances came during the last 10 minutes of the second half. But thanks to some key stops from senior goalkeeper Alexis Duffy-Protentis (12 saves), who made a crucial save off the goal post with about 10 minutes left in the second half – on Galvin’s shot – and Michaela Simoneau’s game saving stop with Duffy-Protentis out of position just before overtime, OA kept the game scoreless.

“It was definitely a team effort today,” Duffy-Protentis said about Simoneau’s effort. “There are times where I will have to come off my line and something unexpected happens. But the fact that she dropped back like that really helped me out and I certainly appreciate that.

“I really get excited when I get under pressure like that,” Duffy-Protentis said about her second half save. “I just got right up into position and I kind of hit it right up and I saw it hit the crossbar and then recovered after that.”

Feehan, which captured the Eastern Atheltic League title earlier this year, ends its season at 18-1-1.

“It was a terrific year for us,” Silva said about his team’s season. “We won the Eastern Athletic league, earned a top seed in the sectionals and only lost one game all year. We had a great senior class and their contributions to the program will certainly be missed.”