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Tornados KOed by #1 Chelmsford Saturday; Grafton blanks Malden Girls Soccer in States opener, 4-0
By Steve Freker
Head Coach Dan Jurkowski and the Malden High Girls Volleyball Team rode the bus 94.3 miles west to Springfield Central High School last Thursday, the longest State Tournament road trip by any Tornado team, any year, ever. Then they completed the 188.6-mile roundtrip back to Malden with a 3-1 win!
“It definitely wasn’t an easy day all-around,” Coach Jurkowski said, as his team won its sixth straight game, since going 9-6. “I don’t think any high school kids are used to driving 100 miles on a bus after a full day in school to go play a game. Plus, this was a state tournament game.”
Despite the longest road trip in Golden Tornado postseason history, Malden (15-6) was able to roll out to wins in the first two sets, 25-17 and 25-20, putting the home team in the hole, down 2-0. Springfield Central then showed why it has put together an impressive 16-4 season mark when it cut the lead in half by winning the third set, 25-21. “We knew [Springfield] was not going away, fortunately we were able to put it together and take the next set,” the Malden coach said.
The visitors edged out a 25-23 win in set four and won the match, 3-1. “It was impressive for our team to make that trip, that distance and then win on the road,” Jurkowski said, noting the gym they played at “was huge, I have never seen a high school fieldhouse that big. But our girls were not intimidated.”
Coach Jurkowski noted that the 94.3-mile bus ride home after the game was like a scene out of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” (i.e., “not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”) as everyone but him (most of the way) was sound asleep!
No rest for Malden, blanked Saturday by #1 Chelmsford
Malden’s “prize” for its solid win over Springfield Central was a Saturday night date on the road at Chelmsford versus the #1-seeded and unbeaten Lions. Something had to give in terms of winning streaks, with Malden at six and Chelmsford unbeaten all season (20-0). As it happened, the heavily favored Lions blanked Malden, 3-0, and advanced. Malden, unable to come back from big deficits in each set, saw its winning streak snapped at six, and its season ended with the sweep and loss, to finish the Tornados at 15-7 overall.
“We improved as the season went on and that is something we wanted to do,” Coach Jurkowski said. “There’s no question Chelmsford is what its record says it is, the top team out there. I would not be surprised if they go all the way.”
Malden Girls Soccer team blanked by Grafton in State Tourney opener, 4-0
Malden High girls soccer opened MIAA Division 2 State Girls Soccer Tournament play on Monday as the #40 seed. Head Coach Rick Caceda’s team traveled to central Mass. to take on #25 seed Grafton High School in a preliminary round game.
Grafton scored two goals in each half while Malden could not get its offense going, despite some decent chances, and fell to the hosts, 4-0, ending its season with an 11-6-2 record. Grafton got goals from four different scorers — Aoife Campbell, Libby Fletcher, Cait Maiuri and Aubrey Bristol — as the Grafton Gators improved to 8-7-2.
Despite the loss, Malden still fashioned its best record in several years with double-digit wins. Coach Caceda’s team also managed to qualify for the postseason with one of his youngest teams, just four seniors. Malden had a primarily underclass unit in its starting team, including freshman goaltender Sofia Leon, who recorded 7 shutouts in 10 wins and 1 tie for the Tornados. Another top player returning next season for Malden will be junior captain Amelia Berliner.
“It is never a good day to see our season end, but our girls accomplished a lot this season and showed a lot of positives,” Coach Caceda said. “We had a very young team overall and we would like to see even more improvement next year.”
