Norwood Girls Soccer; Striving for Success
Nov 28, 2020 08:53AM ● By Chris TremblayMaren Giambanco Photos courtesy of Deb Giambanco
Throughout the past few
years, the Norwood girls soccer
team has always found themselves on the short end of the
stick when it came to goals, and
more times than not, it weas usually a blowout. Needless to say,
first-year coach Kim Brincklow
was going to find her inaugural
season a tough one.
In addition to taking the reins
of the Mustang soccer team,
Brincklow is also doing it during
a year in which the country is involved in a pandemic. Although
some of the fall sports got to actually take the field, they had to
do so with readjusted rules.
Tricia Wladkowski
The teams still played 11-v-11, however, there were no throw-ins and the referees were the ones setting the ball up on the field thus allowing the defenses to set up and get ready while the offense loses out on the quick transition. The Covid season has also taken away contact amongst the players and no heading of the ball. “Both those situations have been tough to adjust to,” Brincklow said. “The no contact is called quiet a lot, so it slows the game down and the girls are so used to heading the ball, they’ve had to become creative. They’re still attempting to head the ball then they realized what they’re about to do and they have to adjust in mid-air.” Six games into the abbreviated season of 10 contests, Norwood found themselves at 0-6, but the Coach is optimistic about the way the team played. In the six loses, Norwood lost five games by one goal, including four 1-0 games and one other game by two goals; a far cry from what the team has been used to in the past (Norwood gave up 107 goals last season). “My daughter is a senior on the team this year and I’ve had two other girls go through the program prior, so I was aware that Norwood has not been all that competitive in girls soccer,” Brincklow said. “Combined with the low numbers of girls that came out for the team (33 for both JV and Varsity) and a program that has not done very well, why would girls want to play soccer when they can play field hockey or volleyball for a winning team.” Despite losing the first six games, Brinklow has seen a dramatic difference on the field from the team. The Mustangs have been playing competitive soccer each and every game at press time and the only real issue the first-year coach sees is that the team has had such a long history of losing that they just can’t get over the hump and fall just short. “The team has totally bought into the change and the attitudes of the girls has been extremely positive,” Brincklow said. “The program is moving in the right direction and there is a lot of excitement and camaraderie.” Leading the team onto the field this season has been senior co-captains Taylor Brincklow and Maeve Glavin, both who patrol the defensive center midfield for the Mustangs. The coach is expecting her captains to provide that leadership in a positive way even though the team has struggled in the past.Cece Venditti
After being near the bottom of the league for so many years, the girls know they must start somewhere, and although they are not winning, they are making strides to becoming a better team. In addition to the senior captains, Norwood has four other seniors who suited this fall. Erin McDermott is a starting attack, while Rose Donovan, Alison Trahon, and Maeve O’Connor all came off the bench this season. Prior to the season, Brincklow had a meeting with her seniors and told them that they were not only the catalysts of this team, but one that would push the program into the future, although they wouldn’t directly reap the benefits. The Coach firmly believes that the seniors have taken her talk to heart and have been keeping things positive for the rest of the team. Moving forward, Norwood has four freshman who have already made an impact on this year’s performance. Leading that group is Trisha Wladkowski, who has been playing net for the Mustangs; defensive back Alexa Coras, striker Michaela Reen and midfield/forward Paige Barnett. Defensively, Coras is paired with Vendetti while juniors Sam Reen and Alannah Evans make up the other defensive duo. Along with Wladkowski, the defensive line has played phenomenally this year allowing the Mustangs to be competitive on the field. Roaming the Norwood midfield has been junior Maren Giambanco and sophomore Emily Fhen. Rounding out the team are juniors Reese Barnett (midfield/ orward), Caroline Glavin (defense/midfield), and Ally Steeves (midfield/forward). At the time of this writing, Norwood had four games (two each against Medfield and Westwood) on their schedule. Brincklow is hoping that her girls continue to play competitive soccer and possibly surprise their foes.