九色视频 鈥 The ball rests on a bookshelf in Tony D鈥橝ntonio鈥檚 office at the Gunston School.
The ball commemorates the Worcester Prep girls soccer team that D鈥橝ntonio coached to the 2015 Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference championship.
Ten years later, D鈥橝ntonio, now in his fifth year as Gunston鈥檚 girls head coach, looks at the ball and sees a connection between that championship team and this year鈥檚 Herons.
鈥淚 told my daughters who played for me at Worcester Prep, I said, 鈥楾his could be our 2015 team,鈥欌 D鈥橝ntonio said.
Dad obviously knew what he was talking about.
Abby Philippon scored a pair of goals and Ellie Roberts converted a penalty kick last Friday, as Gunston capped its most successful season on the pitch with a 3-1 victory over Saints Peter and Paul for its first ESIAC girls soccer championship in program history.
鈥淚t feels amazing,鈥 said D鈥橝ntonio, whose team finished the season 10-2. (Assistant) Coach Lucas (Padilha) and I are so proud of them. They worked really hard the entire season. I鈥檇 say the last four games we played as loose in a positive way as we had played in three years. I think they finally realized they deserved to be here.鈥
But D鈥橝ntonio admitted he and Padilha had to do some convincing.
鈥淎ll the way through the season I always had this little lingering feeling that they just kept feeling like they have to prove themselves,鈥 D鈥橝ntonio said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 OK. But I kept having to remind them, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e worked really hard to earn this. You deserved this. It didn鈥檛 just fall into our laps. It didn鈥檛 happen by luck.鈥
鈥淲e don鈥檛 let them show up (to practice) and just roll the balls out,鈥 D鈥橝ntonio continued. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got to learn new things. We鈥檝e got set pieces that we work on. It鈥檚 a players鈥 game. It鈥檚 not a coaches鈥 game.鈥
Sts. Peter & Paul (11-5) was minus two of its top players in leading scorers Eden Zimmerman and Alicia Shanks, who were both injured. Shanks did not play, while Zimmerman 鈥 who shared ESIAC player-of-the-year honors with Gunston鈥檚 Roberts 鈥 tried playing but came out before the halfway point of the first half.
鈥淵ou take arguably the number one (Zimmerman), and arguably either the number two or number three player (Shanks) off the field, when we have 15 players if everybody鈥檚 there, and we play 13 of them, it hurts,鈥 Sabres head coach Josh Plugge said. 鈥淲hen we have both of them we win. The one time we had both of them we beat them 3-2 (Sept. 12) at their place. The other times we played them we鈥檙e missing our top people so what do you do?鈥
Gunston took a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into play, when Roberts scored on a penalty kick. Ten minutes later, Philippon got on a through ball from Roberts and scored, giving the Herons a 2-0 lead at halftime.
鈥淚 always tell the girls when we get up 2-0 that this next goal is a critical goal,鈥 D鈥橝ntonio said. 鈥淭wo-one sounds a lot different than 2-0.鈥
But in the ninth minute of the second half, Sts. Peter & Paul鈥檚 Eryn Callahan unloaded a free kick from the left side that got through a thicket of players in front of the goal and into the back of the net to make it a 2-1 slate.
鈥淲hen they scored that goal, yeah, it was deflating,鈥 D鈥橝ntonio said. 鈥淏ut not for very long. I just felt like we were going to be OK. I yelled out to the team, because they had their heads down, 鈥楾hey鈥檝e taken one shot. You鈥檝e taken 16 shots in the first half.鈥
鈥淚 could just tell the way we were playing, we were connecting the passes that we had worked on during the week,鈥 D鈥橝ntonio continued. 鈥淲e had decided that we were going to try to attack up top with Abby on through balls. I didn鈥檛 lose confidence. I think it was just because defensively we weren鈥檛 giving them anything offensively, and we were just putting a lot of pressure on them. It just seemed like it was a matter of time before we were going to get that third goal.鈥
Lily Thomas almost netted that third goal, when she sent a header off a corner kick just off the frame with 14:27 left. The Herons booted another bid wide. Then with less than 11 minutes remaining, Philippon got behind a pair of defenders, dribbled and place a shot between the right post and Sabres goalie Kaylin Palmer (14 saves) for a 3-1 lead.
鈥淪he鈥檚 a very dangerous player when she鈥檚 attacking directly,鈥 D鈥橝ntonio said of Philippon. 鈥淪he can go straight through with penetrating passes being played through the backs. She鈥檚 very difficult to stop because she鈥檚 so fast. And she鈥檚 got a very strong strike on the ball.鈥
The defending conference champions wouldn鈥檛 get any closer the rest of the way.
鈥淚 told the girls at halftime, 鈥楾his is the best complete team we鈥檝e had,鈥欌 said D鈥橝ntonio, who led the Herons to the championship game in 2023 and 鈥24. 鈥淭here was a time when I鈥檇 have seven girls on the field that were pretty good. Now we have 11 girls to start the game and we鈥檝e got at least four or five that are interchangeable and that makes a difference.鈥
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