Dover-Sherborn Girls Soccer Ends Lancers Unbeaten Streak at Seven

The D-S girls soccer team moved to within three points to qualify for a spot in the postseason after ending a seven game unbeaten streak for TVL foe the Norton Lancers Tuesday night.

Keara Gray got the Raiders on the board fast with a goal in the 7th minute. Getting the ball on the left end, Gray was able to get it past Norton on a wide shot to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.

Playing an aggressive game, the Raiders refused to let the Lancers get any clean looks at the net. Going to a trick from their previous game, Amanda Ward went far post from over 25 yards away from the right to tie the game in the 44th minute of play.

“She had space in front of her and did the right thing. Pretty much an unsaveable shot,” said Lancer coach Todd Kefor.

The tie was not meant to be as the Raiders came back in the 48th minute. With Lancers goaltender Mimi Borkan at the top of the box to challenge Taylor Coutts, the ball was able to get past Borkan to a near empty net to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead.

“Taylor really needed that for a confidence booster. She’s been looking to get this for her own confidence and she got it today,” said Raiders coach David Wainwright.

With 15 minutes to play in the game, the Lancers fought back with everything. With multiple opportunities to tie the game, the Lancers simply couldn’t find a way to get the ball to move in the right direction or get a clean look past the aggressive Raiders defense.

“They [Norton] threw everything but the kitchen sink at them and they did a great job withstanding some of the pressure that these guys gave us,”  Wainwright said.

As the 80th minute expired, the Raiders walked away with a victory while Norton was left to figure out what they could of done better to win.

“We pressed them with a real aggressive formation at the end but against a team this good its too little too late,” said Kefor.

With the loss, the Lancer’s unbeaten streak ends at 7 games and gives them a record of 5-4-2 with 12 points. The Raiders are now 7-3-1 with 15 points. The win brings the Raiders to within three points of qualifying for a spot in the postseason tournament.

“It (the win) really separates us in terms of realizing how close we are to the tournament,” said Wainwright.

The Raiders will have a chance to get to within a point of a tournament spot on Oct. 13 when they host Medfield at 6:30 p.m. The Lancers will be off until Oct. 14 when they play at Hopkinton at 5 p.m.