Tide girls soccer eager to get going with talented underclassmen

Everett opens up the regular season at home against Brockton Tuesday

By Joe McConnell

Everett High School (EHS) girls soccer coach Dom Persuitte is beginning his third year in charge of the program, and he can’t wait to get going.

“I’m extremely excited to start this season, because we have a lot of promising talent and depth on the roster,” he said. “The depth is coming from the underclassmen, who have big shoes to fill after we graduated a whole team of seniors last year.”

Persuitte is employing three captains this year, and they among them include seniors Yelsa Garcia and Emilia Marie-Babcock. Both players have been starting since their freshman year. They will be joined by junior defenseman / midfielder Casey Martinez, and she too has been a starter since ninth grade.

The Crimson Tide participated in a jamboree last Sunday to get ready for the upcoming season. They went up against Mystic Valley and Bedford. They tied Mystic Valley, 1-1. Kayla Andrade netted the lone Everett goal. It was her first career varsity marker, and it was assisted by Garcia after she pushed the Mystic Valley goalie to the side to give her teammate an opportunity to tap it home.

The scrimmage against Bedford was another solid effort by the Tide, despite giving up two goals. Babcock played very well in net, a relatively new position for her after she took it over last fall.

“This team has some serious promise and talent, and I truly believe we are going to make noise in the Greater Boston League (GBL) this year,” said Persuitte. “I have a great group of girls this year.”

Bridget Cifuni is Persuitte’s assistant varsity coach, while Leah Ferullo heads up the JV team. “Leah is one of my former players, who captained the team when I took it over two years ago. She is going to be a great addition to my staff.”

The Tide girls will open up the regular season against Brockton at 7-Acres on Tuesday, Sept. 3 (4:30 p.m.). They will then welcome Medford to town two days later. This game will begin at 4:15 p.m. They will be at Methuen tomorrow morning (Sept. 7) to take on the Rangers at 11 a.m., before returning home to go up against Malden Tuesday afternoon at 4:15 p.m.

2024 Tide girls soccer varsity roster

The 2024 EHS varsity roster includes the above-mentioned captains Garcia, Babcock and Martinez, and their teammates are senior midfielder Hilary Monja, senior defender / midfielder Alondra Flores, junior forward / midfielder Kathleen Desouza, junior forward Gisele Erazo, junior midfielder Luna Sepulveda Masselli, junior midfielder Gabriella Lones Rivera, sophomore forward / midfielder Kayla         Andrade, sophomore defenseman / midfielder Sofia Arana-Quintanilla, sophomore midfielder Layla Leles, sophomore midfielder Mariana     Rodrigues, freshman goalie Ashley Heath, freshman defenseman / midfielder Gissell Lemus, freshman midfielder Rosa Romero, freshman defenseman Nicole Lemes, freshman defenseman Leilany Rodrigues, freshman forward Mariana Franca and     freshman defenseman Tiffany Aguilar.