Hollis Brookline girls soccer bounces back with win over Milford

MILFORD – Peter Clarke knew his Hollis Brookline High School girls soccer team played well on Aug. 30 in its season-opening loss to Souhegan.

There was a lot to like about taking a team that played in the Division II championship game the last two years into double overtime. But would the players know that?

“I knew coming out of that we had played a wonderful game (against Souhegan) and we had a couple of chances where we really would have, and could have, won the game,” Clarke said. “Even though I was pleased, the kids had to come out and feel success.”

The Cavaliers felt success on Tuesday, as they scored early in both halves in a 5-0 win over Milford. Kashka Gammon had two goals in the second half and assisted on one of Hannah Modelski’s two goals in the first half, giving HB (1-1 in D2) the scoring punch Clarke thinks the Cavs will need to be successful this year.

“They’re going to be critical because they are our two most skillful players and they need to read the flow of the game and get used to each other and make their teammates better,” he said. “That will give them the biggest opportunity. Having them on the same page is going to be huge, and I started to see that.”

While both of Modelski’s goals came early in the first half – HB led 2-0 a little more than 12 minutes into the game – it wasn’t until Gammon scored her first goal right after halftime that the Cavs felt comfortable.

Milford (0-2) started putting pressure on the HB defense late in the first half, and that carried over to the second. The Spartans got their best scoring opportunity when Morgan Stephens fired a shot on goal.

But HB goalie Ryan Philbrick made the save and quickly got the ball back to midfield, where Gammon collected it and went the other way. Seconds later, she beat Milford keeper Rebecca Cleary to make it 3-0.

“That’s the critical one for us because we only have a two-goal lead and I don’t think we were playing as well as we should have,” Clarke said. “If you give up a goal there, it’s 2-1 and everything changes.”

The swing in momentum took Milford by surprise.

“I think it took us a good five minutes or so to recover from that,” Milford coach Russ Matthews said. “We were just kind of lost, I think. I give the girls credit, they regrouped and we started playing again, but that’s a killer.”

Gammon added her second goal three minutes later to make it 4-0, and Bella DeMayo added a goal late to round out the scoring.

Erin McGuire appeared to get Milford on the board just before DeMayo’s goal. McGuire received a penalty kick and it appeared that HB’s Celeste Marsan, who came in at keeper after Philbrick got hurt, was on the wrong side of the goal line when she made the save, but it was ruled a stop, preserving the shutout.