MALDEN HIGH SPORTS: Tornado Girls Soccer, Girls Volleyball are ‘En Fuego!’

Soccer has 7-game unbeaten streak, soars to 8-2-1; ‘Lucky 7’s: 7 wins in a row for Girls Spikers

Malden Boys Soccer sweeps Somerville in 2-1 win

By Steve Freker

  En Fuego!!

There is no other way to describe the way the Malden High School Golden Tornado Girls Volleyball and Girls Soccer teams have taken the Greater Boston League by storm the past two-plus weeks. Both Coach Rick Caceda’s Soccer girls and Coach Dan Jurkowski’s Volleyball squad are riding massive 7-game winning streaks, heading into this week of play. Malden Girls Soccer was 6-0-1, while Girls Volleyball won 7 straight games and is now squarely in the mix for a possible GBL title.

The Tornado Volleyball girls have recorded wins over Arlington (3-1), Lynn English (3-1), Medford (3-2), Everett (3-1) and Somerville (3-1), and shutout wins over East Boston (3-0) and Chelsea (3-0 on Monday). “What has been especially important is that [five] of those games were on the road. We have really been working well together and it is a good time of year to string some wins together,” Coach Jurkowski said, with his team improving to 9-4 overall, 6-3 GBL.

Malden was poised to clinch an MIAA Girls Volleyball Division 1 State Tournament berth with a win on the road at Lynn Classical (after Advocate press time) on Wednesday. Malden also had a road game at Lowell today at 5:30 p.m. Malden returns home Wednesday, October 15 against Lynn English at 5:15 p.m. in the Finn Gym at Malden High. Senior Night is Monday, October 20, at Finn Gym versus Medford.

Malden High Girls Soccer is on a 7-game unbeaten streak to improve to 8-2-1 overall. Included were shutout wins over Everett (5-0), Medford (6-0) and Lowell (5-0).

“We are playing well on both ends of the field and our goalkeeper [freshman] Sofia Leon has been outstanding all year,” Malden Head Coach Rich Caceda said.

Malden needs just three more standings points (2 points win/1 point tie) to qualify for an MIAA Division 1 State Girls Soccer Tournament berth and could have achieved that on the road at Medford yesterday (after Advocate press time) and Tuesday, October 14, at Lynn Classical. Both are 4:15 p.m. starts.

Malden Boys Soccer sweeps Somerville with 2-1 win; Belatreche is solid in goal (9 saves) in Tornado debut

Malden High Boys Soccer got a first-half goal by senior captain Mike Joseph and the eventual game-winner by junior Abdul Kalefa with 7:53 left to play in the second half to take a 2-1 win over Somerville at Pine Banks Park on Tuesday. Senior Mateus Martins assisted on both goals. Senior captain Yasser Belatreche made his debut in goal for Malden and was sensational, making 9 saves and leading his team all the way.

“We needed that game. We played most of the way to get a win in other recent games, but could not finish it off,” Malden Head Coach Jeremiah Smith said. “Today we did. Yasser [Belatreche] really stepped up and showed a lot of leadership today.”

Malden improved to 3-5-4 overall with the win, needing 8 more standings points over its final 6 games to qualify for the MIAA Division 1 State Boys Soccer Tournament, based on 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.