HS soccer: Bishop Feehan girls upset No. 1 Natick in D1 semis
WEYMOUTH — When John Scibilia took over as interim head coach at Bishop Feehan, he only knew he was going to be leading one of the most decorated girls soccer programs in the Commonwealth.
The Shamrocks winning tradition continued Monday as Colby College commit Neve Taylor sniped a pair of goals, including the game-clincher in double overtime, and No. 4 Bishop Feehan knocked off top-ranked Natick in a 2-1 stunner during the Div. 1 girls soccer semifinals.
“For a coach and for my bloodwork, (nail-biters are) probably awful,” laughed Scibilia. “But it gives me the most amount of faith that I could ever have in this team, the belief that there is no insurmountable odd that they can’t climb. They’re the rock, that they let the waves wash upon. They feel it, they bring it in, and they keep pushing back. No matter the opponent, they keep pushing, and pushing and pushing. That’s the testament to their will, and their ability to come together as a team and persevere.
It was a rematch of last year’s Div. 1 championship, and things started off shaky to say the least for the Shamrocks (17-2-3). After engaging in a scoreless affair with the Redhawks (19-1-1) for the first moments of regulation, Natick drew a corner kick in the seventh minute. Abby McCauley hooked an attempt, which whistled through traffic before skipping off the far post and into the net to put Natick ahead 1-0.
However, Bishop Feehan had an answer. Following a free kick in the 30th minute, Addison Hansbury lofted a pass into the box. In a surgical sequence, Taylor swooped in on the back end, tapping a shot into the net to tie the game at 1-all.
From that point on, the score would hold until the end of the regulation, forcing overtime. After neither team was able to find the net in the first session, Taylor gained a bit of separation on a breakaway in the second, and settled for a point-blank shot.
The senior sniped the net, and the Shamrocks avenged last season’s finals loss in the best way imaginable.
“It means everything,” said Taylor. “I think a core word for this season is resilience. I think we had coaching changes, we had all sorts of ups and downs. But this program has been phenomenal, four Final Fours in the last five years. I think this team really put everything into this season. I’m proud of each and every one of those girls. We put all the hard work and training in everyday. I’m just really happy that our hard work is able to manifest itself in something like this on a big night.”
Lost in the celebrations, an animated Scibilia was still at a loss for words after the miraculous comeback.
“These girls, they felt comfortable with me, and Coach Jon (Walker) and Coach Chris (Hinckley),” Scibilia said. “We knew them, so they knew that the standards were going to be the same. Nothing was going to change. We’re still coming into work, still coming in with the same expectations. They rose to meet them, and then some.”