Pembroke High soccer teams sweep past Silver Lake
Soccer teams score wins over rival Silver Lake
About 30 minutes before playing rival Silver Lake Thursday afternoon, Pembroke senior midfielder Kathryn Nathan was awarded the sweatshirt bestowed on the team’s top performer from the previous game.
With a stuffed animal and whistle stitched to it, the neon yellow body badge also featured a quote from Muhammad Ali: “Champions aren’t made in the gym. Champions are made from something they have deep inside a desire, a dream, a vision.’’
Those words rang true for Pembroke’s girls and boys soccer teams last year after they both brought home the first league soccer championships since the school separated from Silver Lake four years ago.
“It speaks to the strength of the program and the commitment of the girls over the last four years,” girls coach Kara Connerty said before beating Silver Lake, 3-0, on second-half goals from senior forward Liz Blasser and sophomore midfielder Jenna Bostwick.
Nathan, who scored the final goal in a win that evened the team’s record at 1-1, said outdoing Silver Lake was a motivating factor in the championship run.
“After the split from them, we wanted to prove we could be just as strong as them,” she said.
Silver Lake (0-1) won the girls league championship two years ago while the boys won the Keenan Division of the Patriot League last year before losing in the second round of the state tournament.
Pembroke’s boys won the league’s Fisher Division before losing to East Bridgewater in the Div. 3 South Sectional.
Pembroke’s third-year varsity boys coach George Stagno likened the rivalry to the Yankees and Red Sox and said he couldn’t sleep the night before beating Silver Lake, 1-0, on Thursday on Vladimir Greenfield’s crafty goal in the 21st minute of the second half.
“We came in as an alternate to Silver Lake,” Stagno said. “I taught at Silver Lake and everyone thought ‘It’s gonna take (Pembroke) years to develop a program because all of the athletes are at Silver Lake.’
“That was kind of inspiring for us. We worked hard over the last couple years to set a strategy to get the right players in the right spots and made up our minds that we were going to be a defensive-minded team.”
Silver Lake athletic director and former girls soccer coach Bill Johnson acknowledged the rivalry between the schools but said he was happy Pembroke has excelled so quickly.
“The only time we don’t want them to do as well is when we are actually playing them,” Johnson said. “More kids are playing now and the talent level is getting better on both sides. The talent level would be good if you combined both teams in every sport, but I still think now that’s it’s happened it has been beneficial for both schools.”
Despite the talent pool being divided, a wave of outstanding soccer players has washed up at Pembroke. The girls team has 12 returning seniors and 10 returning starters from last year’s team, which lost to Dedham in the quarter finals of the Div. 2 tournament. Only three seniors graduated from that team too.
“It’s unusual to have such a large senior class,” Connerty said.
Last year’s boy squad graduated seven seniors, including three players who are now playing in college. This year’s team returns five starters, including senior keeper and three-year starter Steve Allen. Juniors Chris Savoia, Ryan Kulik and Chris Carter are also expected to contribute greatly to this year’s team. And while the Silver Lake and Pembroke players are split up during the high school season, many of the players join forces on club teams.
“They are very good friends,” Johnson said. “Most of them all know each other.”
But only one set of girls gets an opportunity to vie for the neon yellow sweatshirt that Connerty said is intentionally “ugly and obnoxious” but has nevertheless “taken on a life of its own.”
“It’s really hot with this on,” Nathan said while taking a break from pregame stretches afternoon, “but (Connerty) calls it the biggest honor you can get on this team.”
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