Cohasset High girls soccer team is Div. 4 state champion – Wicked Local

COHASSET – For the Cohasset High girls soccer team, 2022’s quest was clear, if incredibly difficult. 
How many teams in any sport get to play for a state title, after all? The number of such teams that can return the next year, given the unavoidable change and transition common to high school sports, is extremely small.  The 2021 season’s heartbreaking ending, a 2-1 overtime loss to Hamilton-Wenham in the Division 4 State Championship, might have been something the Skippers community would never forget, but could the next year’s team get back to that elite level and earn the elusive championship? 
Now, of course, we all know the 2022 Skippers overcame those gargantuan odds, earned a number one seed in the regular season, and then blitzed through their five tournament games, outscoring their foes 24-3 en route to a glorious state final where they defeated Northbridge 2-0, for the first state title in program history. For the players who’d been devastated by that loss a year earlier, success tasted twice as sweet. 
But it wasn’t a sure thing at the start of the fall season, and we talked with Cohasset High coach Deb Beal – your reigning Eastern Massachusetts Girls High School Soccer Coaches Division 4 Coach of the Year – to reflect upon the improbable journey her team took, and the prospects for the future after 13 of these state champs graduate in the spring. 
“When kids work as hard as these kids did, the coach’s job is easy,” said Beal with a laugh. “We had a little pain in our stomach after that 2021 final, because while we had a lot of kids coming back, we had a couple of seniors graduating who would be hard to replace. One important spot was at center back where Mia Froio had graduated. We also had to replace a striker, and that can be hard because of the different ways they play; hard and gritty, or smooth and finesse. Luckily for us, this fall we found two freshmen strikers (Ava Carcio and Meaghan Smith) who will run through a brick wall for us, and we were able to teach them a few things to hone their skills, but they gave us that ‘hard and gritty’ style we like. At center back we had senior Rylie Nussbaum, who’d been on the swimming team and done other things but had never played soccer for the school. It turned out she had played club soccer and wanted to play with her high school team for her senior year.  She’s a smart, well-rounded player, and so that took care of one of our center-back positions.” 
Cohasset High had graduated ‘eight or nine’ seniors from that 2021 squad but had at least a dozen returning varsity veterans. Foremost among them of course, was sophomore Tess Barrett, who’d netted 19 goals and 14 assists as a freshman on her way to All-State recognition and the EMGSA Division 4 Player of the Year honor. 
Senior midfielder Cat Herman was another offensive juggernaut in earning a spot on the EMass first team. Seniors Rosie Newman, Peyton Lord, Sarah Conroy, Georgia Barrett, and Tessa Curatola as well as junior Catherine Toomey also will be back to give the Skippers experience and grit. 
“At the beginning of the season, I felt like we had the core of our team intact from that 2021 group,” said Beal. “Most crucially, with Georgia on the backline, she’s the link to move the ball up through Cat and Tess, and that was how our offense really thrived. Naturally, teams might want to double-mark Tess, but if they did, we’d just switch to Cat, and then we had those freshmen strikers, so the opponents couldn’t cover everybody. And this year’s team came together, and gelled, almost immediately.” 
The crux of that instant team identity might have been in their shared pain and disappointment, but also in their determined resolve. 
“I don’t know if anyone can explain what it feels like to lose a state championship in overtime, about a minute in,” said Beal. “The worst part is that you have to line up and face the other team at the 40-yard lines, when they hand out their championship medals and they’re all celebrating. That’s what we endured at the Manning Bowl in Lynn last year. I told the girls on the bus that day, ‘Park your feelings. But remember this.’ When we all came back in August to start practice, we all talked about how awful that was. I really think that moment was the spark that lit the fire for us at the beginning of the season. We had a common goal, and we just focused on it and let the season happen. 
“We were a talented team, but also more importantly, a united team. This was also probably the sweetest group of girls I’ve ever coached in my 25 years. At our banquet, I talked about every girl, and especially the 13 seniors, but they also talked about each other. It touched me to see how much they cared about each other. It was obviously so much more than just twenty girls, but a lifestyle, a community built around soccer.”  
When they got to the state tournament the Skippers were playing as well as they’d played all season, and anxious to get going. 
“I felt like we were peaking at the right time,” said Beal. “They didn’t all come together at the same time, but we had continued to climb throughout the regular season. And most of them knew what the tournament was all about, and what it took to get through it. Our first game we hosted East Boston, which was just thrilled to be in it, so they were a friendly, fun team that hung out with our players afterwards. That was just a wonderful way to start. Then we played Lunenburg, but we had lost our home field to the renovations, so we played them at Scituate High. Lunenburg was a tough game, and I realized we could’ve lost that one easily if we let down at all, but we worked hard until the final whistle.” 
“Our third tournament game was against Blackstone Valley and, like Lunenburg, they were very skilled and very tough, but I think that Lunenburg game had restoked our fires, and we powered through it,” Beal noted. “At that point we went to a neutral site to play Hampshire Regional, who we had played in the Round of Eight last year. They are a tough, physical team that really gave us a run for our money. In the final, it seemed when we got there we just took over. Our starting lineup knew it was all in their hands. Tess was amazing, working with her sister and Cat. Tess scored one goal and set up Cat for the other. I am just so proud of this kid.” 
As skilled as Cohasset’s stars are, their defense was also practically flawless, and the shutout in the final was just a fairly typical performance by that backline.  
“Our goalkeeper (Tessa Curatola) came in as a freshman and we could see right away that she was fearless,” said Beal. “But she didn’t have a lot of skills, so we worked with her on those. The season she had for us was astounding, allowing just seven goals in our 14 South Shore League games. That was a testament to our whole defense, and a case of mind over matter. When kids believe in themselves, the sky is the limit.” 
With that baker’s dozen seniors graduating, the Skippers will have some openings to fill next fall, but an outstanding JV season provides plenty of optimism they have solid candidates. 
“One place I worry about for next year is defense,” Beal admitted. “I think our offense will be fine, with Tess, Ava, and Meaghan all back. We’ll have Farrah Jackson back in the midfield with Lylah Jackson. Our senior captains next year will be Mia Gabriel, Angie Grimes, and Catherine Toomey. I’m not sure who our center back will be, but as happens many times, someone will step up and take that role. We’re going to enjoy this season for a while longer and worry about next year when it comes.” 
“We’ll have 13 seniors again next year, but only three of them have substantial varsity experience,” she said. “So that’s 10 seniors who’ve played almost all their time with the JVs. I have seen enough of our JV games to believe there are some kids there who will have an impact next season, and we have some freshmen and sophomores who are great players. At the end of the day, it was like ‘Whose position are you going to take?’ We left some of them on JVs to get them the playing time and experience they need.” 
During Beal’s first season at the Cohasset helm, the entire soccer program had 27 kids playing. This year they started with double that number, and while they haven’t been able to consistently field a freshman team, participation numbers continue to be strong. 
“The fever of soccer and lacrosse is here!” Beal chuckled. “We have had a JV roster of as many as 27 kids, and we never want to cut anyone. We want soccer to be a community where you can go to compete and have fun. We do what we can do to make that happen the best we can.” 

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