WORCESTER – There’s a buzz going around South High School. The girls’ varsity soccer team made history this season. For the first time ever, the Colonels, with a record of 9-1-4, have finished in first place in the Inter-High Conference and are playing in the postseason.

“Everyone at school is talking about us,” said sophomore captain and starting goalkeeper Emma Moriarty after a recent practice. “They hear about our games on the announcements. And then throughout the entire day, I have people congratulating me and our team and the whole school is talking about South girls’ soccer.”

The Colonels are only two seasons removed from a 2-15 season in 2019. The team was shutout eight times that season. “It’s crazy,” Moriarty said, who played on the 2019 team as an eighth grader. “We would just walk into games and we’re like ‘wow, we’re gonna lose this game, 10-0.’ That’s just how our season was going. That’s just what would happen every single game and we were used to it. We had gotten used to losing badly and by ten goals or something every single game it seemed. We thought it was normal.”

“Yeah, and I think the fact that our team is the first to do this feels great,” said junior captain Emma Robeau. “It’s such a big accomplishment and I think I speak for myself and everyone when I say I’m super proud of our team this year and everything we’ve done.”

The chatter about the team goes beyond the South High School walls. Following a 2-0 victory over city rival Doherty Memorial in the second game of the season, people began to notice that South was no longer a doormat of the league.

“South has never beaten Doherty before,” Moriary said.

“I have a friend on the Doherty soccer team,” Robeau interjected. “And she told me someone came up to her and said, ‘you guys lost to South?’ and then my friend was like ‘yeah, they’re really good!’ and the fact that people are kind of like talking about us in that light now …”

“It’s insane,” as Moriarty completed Robeau’s sentence.

South’s turnaround has been swift, considering they brought on two new coaches, Nathen Wheeler and Nanette Moulin, last season. Despite the astonishing fact the team only has one senior on the roster, Wheeler said his young squad does have a long history of playing together from their youth soccer days. This experience playing together has helped the team gel in an astoundingly short period of time at the high school level.

“You can feel the connection that they have for one another on the field,” said Wheeler, who is also a teacher at South High. “They play hard for one another … My first year, last year, we had about nine freshmen who came in, but we had a whole group of freshmen that have been playing soccer together for a long time in youth leagues. So, we have a young, talented team and yet, through our everyday working and getting better at learning from one another and

Emma Moriarty is the backbone of South High_s defense. Photo by Kevin Paul Saleeba

talking to one another, they’ve shown tremendous growth … They’re all very intelligent young women. They’re very motivated, very intelligent and they’re very coachable.”

Wheeler also credits the team’s rapid rise to success to the team’s young leadership . His captains are Moriarty, Robeau, and sophomore striker Solimar Rivera. Each captain represents a third of a complete soccer team. Moriarty is the backbone in goal, Robeau is the quarterback in the defensive zone of the field, and Rivera, a gifted offensive player, leads a potent Colonels’ attack. “They lead by example,” Wheeler said. “They just set that tone. They set the expectation. If there’s a mistake, they fix it and move on. They reinforced so much of what Coach Moulin and I want to have out of them and it permeated throughout the team.”

The talented captains and the positions they play also highlights what makes South a balanced overall team. South’s style is focused on defense first, according to Wheeler. He utilizes his talent on defense, led by Moriarty and Robeau, and turns solid defense into quick offense, “very much like breakaway basketball,” he said “We have very fast forwards so we play our system around trying to make use of everybody’s skill set.”

Everything starts with Moriarty, who is one of the top goalies in Central Mass with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 0.643 through 14 games, third best in the entire region.

“She tracks the ball very well,” said Wheeler. “She handles and controls the ball so well to minimize rebounds. The biggest thing for her is that she is just a tough kid. She may be young, but she’s tough mentally and she’s tough physically and it shows in her effort.”

Moriarty has taken to the goalkeeper position rather quickly, despite not having much experience. She did play the position sometimes for her youth teams, but never put her full effort into becoming good in goal. “I would play it here and there for a half for our town team and it wasn’t something I took very seriously,” she said. However, since last season, when their starting goalie left the team, “I had to step up,” she said. “I had to fill the goalkeeper’s shoes and that role.”

Since taking the job more seriously, as well as learning under the tutelage of Coach Moulin, she has developed into one of the best in the league. “I just developed more as a goalie,” she said. “I definitely feel I’ve become more confident in the position and I’ve become more comfortable. I’m more comfortable coming out of goal and attempting to make plays on my own if I have to. I feel like I’m more comfortable commanding the players on the field in front of the goal and making sure that everyone on the team knows who to cover and that everyone on the other team is accounted for.”

The Colonels’ have relied on Moriarty’s ability to communicate to her defenders, especially since Wheeler has had to mix and match some inexperienced players in the defensive zone as a result of some unfortunate injuries. 

Moriarty has taken charge in her role in goal. “We had a couple injuries so girls on our team have had to step into positions that they are not totally comfortable in,” she said. “I think I’ve tried to help by making them feel comfortable on our half of the field. They need to feel comfortable while they’re defending. Honestly, the most important thing is to try to keep everyone calm and collected because as soon as things start to get hectic and people start to feel uncomfortable in their positions, it’s just gonna get worse from there.”

Next is Robeau on defense. She provides the defensive midfield speed and intelligence on the field. “Normally, I’m one of the last players between the other team and

Emma Robeau gets back on defense in a recent game. Photo by Kevin Paul Saleeba

the goalie,” she said. “I’m usually the one hanging back the most. So, from my perspective I can kind of look out and see everyone on the field. As a fast player and since she has a lot of experience playing defense since she was five-years-old, she uses her speed and wits to take the right angles to cut off other speedy attackers down the sidelines. She also uses her knowledge to help her teammates. “I’ve been playing defense my whole life so I think I have a very good defensive mindset of where people need to be on the field. Our formation has definitely switched because our coaches have shown us a different formation that has worked well this season. We’ve gotten used to it and I think my gauge of where to be on the field and how to help back up when one of our defenders gets beat has helped.” 

“Emma has been playing soccer since she was little and she just knows how the game is played,” Wheeler said.

Robeau has tremendous support in the defensive midfield with players like sophomore Hannah Duszak. “She’s just a really reliable player,” Moriarty said. “She knows what to do on the field with the ball and I feel when we get into a jam, Hannah is always there to help us out of it.”

“And she’s such a positive influence on the field,” Robeau said. “If we’re down, she’s always there to lift our spirits.” 

Along with Duszak, Wheeler said that freshman Sienna Hurley and sophomore Lucy Billar have also made “an incredible impact on defense.”

Complimenting the defense is the Colonels’ aggressive offense led by Rivera and her 19 goals and 25 total points on the season. “We have a bunch of players that want to win and Solimar is one of them,” Wheeler said. “She’s probably our smallest player, but she plays like she’s the biggest, strongest player on the field. She doesn’t quit.”

Solimar Rivera is aggressive on the ball in a recent game for South High. Photo by Kevin Paul Saleeba

Rivera’s speed and agility makes her a dangerous weapon for the Colonels. She scored a lot of goals this season with an innate ability, while dribbling the ball through the penalty box area with a defender on her hip, to stop on a dime to free herself up for a shot on goal. During the last game of the season against Assabet Valley in Marlboro, she scored exactly on this same move.

“When I dribble up, I always try to get a sense of where the defender is going depending on which side of my hip they’re on,” she said. “So, with that goal, the defender was on my right side and so I know she’s coming in full pressure and she’s either going to cause a corner or she’s going to kick it out to the side. Instead, I try to stop myself cold and juke her out because she’s gonna keep running. I think I have pretty good control over the ball and I can just stop it, she runs by me, I’m then placed right in front of the goal, and then it’s just the keeper between me and the goal.”

With Rivera causing havoc for opposing defenders at right forward, freshman Olivia Robeau, Emma’s sister, is equally dangerous at left forward for the Colonels with 12 goals and two assists on the season. “Most of my assists have gone to her,” Rivera said, who has six assists on the season. “She’s really fast, too, so me and her go great together.”

South heads into the first-round of the tournament as the twelfth seed and will face number five seed Nashoba Regional High School (4-5-5) from the Midland Wachusett League on Thursday in Nashoba at 5:30 p.m. “We haven’t played against Nashoba before,” Wheeler said. “But they have a lot of talent and have beaten some very good teams this year.”

Wheeler said his squad will be ready to play. “We are going to try and match up with them defensively and play our best game. This will be the hardest game we’ve played this season. The girls are excited for the game on Thursday.”

Moriarty said their team mindset going into their first ever postseason game is to win. “It feels so good to be able to feel confident on the field as a team. It feels good to just know that we are capable and have the ability to win games. Only two years ago we never thought we had the chance to win. And now, because our coaches and the team work so hard together, we know there’s a chance and we’re going to do our best to make it happen.”