For Cohasset, title game

was just beyond reach

Johanna Brophy, senior goalie at Cohasset High School, defends the net during an overtime loss to Newburyport during Tuesday night's Division 3 state semifinal. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / November 23, 2008

The first time the Newburyport girls' soccer team kicked the ball over the left shoulder of Cohasset goalie Johanna Brophy in overtime of Tuesday night's Division 3 state semifinal, it banged safely off the elbow of the goal's frame.

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When the ball was booted back to the same spot in the second overtime, the shot sailed inside the elbow and just out of reach of Brophy's fingertips for a 1-0 decision.

Suddenly, Brophy and her six senior classmates watched their final season abruptly end with 22 seconds remaining in the overtime session.

The 5-foot-2 senior played just nine games this season. She missed 11 games after literally having her teeth knocked in during the season opener against Notre Dame Academy of Hingham on Sept. 4. She resumed playing on Oct. 21 only to suffer a concussion three days later, once again, against Notre Dame.

"This was their senior year, this was their big hurrah - but she basically missed the whole season," her mother, Ann, said Tuesday night. "It wasn't clear she'd make the playoffs."

After the game, Cohasset teammates consoled one another with hugs that hardly staved off tears. All Brophy's teammates could do was tell her that it wasn't her fault; that heroics of Newburyport junior Hannah McCormick were made possible by an entire defensive letdown.

"As a goalie, you always feel like it's your fault," Brophy said after making six saves. "In this type of situation you always say 'What should you have done? Could you have done something better? Should I have come out? Should I have stayed back farther?'

"In the past when we lost, we always said, 'We have next year.' This is my last year."

Cohasset coach Debbie Beal reiterated that there was nothing more for her team or Brophy to do.

This season, Beal guided the Skippers to their best finish in her 11-year tenure as coach. It also marked the first time the team beat South Shore League rival Norwell, which defeated Cohasset in last season's South Sectional final. This year, third-seeded Cohasset (17-4-3) ousted fourth-seeded Norwell 4-1 in the South final.

Brophy was on the sidelines when Cohasset beat Norwell in their first meeting of the season. Norwell came out on top in their next meeting in October, but Brophy helped beat the rivals when it counted most in the Skippers' 4-2 victory in the South Sectional final. She had returned from a concussion injury two games earlier, making 11 saves against East Bridgewater in a 4-1 quarterfinal win.

"It hasn't been exactly the greatest year for her, but she obviously hasn't lost her touch," Beal said of Brophy after the 2-0 South semifinal shutout against Bourne.

"Even when she was out for those 400 games, at least that's what it felt like, she was right there with Charlotte [Malone] to help her learn the ropes."

In Brophy's absence, the junior keeper recorded nine shutouts and allowed only seven goals in 11 games. Brophy allowed seven goals in nine games and posted two shutouts. Brophy has expressed interest in playing Division 2 or 3 college soccer, but Beal said Brophy is a great student and could choose to focus on academics.

"She's too small to be a D1 goalie but probably has a heart bigger than any D1 goalie," Beal said.

Brophy wasn't the only member of the Skippers' senior squad to be shortchanged this season. Playmaking senior captain Sarah Coggins left Tuesday night's game with about 27 minutes left in the first half with a recurring kneecap injury.

"That hurt," Beal said of Coggins, who had six goals and seven assists this season. "I'm thinking to myself 'We just gotta pull this off, just score, and get her a few days' rest.' "

The goal never came, but the Skippers' healing process started immediately: The team stopped for an Italian dinner in East Boston.

"The kids were able to sit down, thaw out, and be kids," Beal said. "The more we talked, the more we realized we'll get over it. It's not easy to swallow but we'll do it. We were one of 12 teams left playing. To be one of 12, that's good."

As for Brophy's outlook during the team's last supper: "She was all smiles and laughing," Beal said Wednesday. "She couldn't do anything [about the goal]. She has nothing to hang her head about."