High school soccer Notebook: Chelmsford star makes herself heard

Chelmsford girls soccer coach Leah Potcner was worried about Allie LoCoco.

Her senior captain, who is deaf, had been having some issues with her cochlear implant, and Potcner thought it would be a good idea to learn some rudimentary sign language so that she could communicate with LoCoco should a situation arise that she needed help.

LoCoco agreed and taught Potcner her first sign, who eagerly asked what important sign she had just learned for such an emergency scenario.

“Grapes,” LoCoco told her.

Potcner doesn’t worry about LoCoco very much anymore, but the rest of the Merrimack Valley Conference coaches sure had to this year as the versatile midfielder/forward was an integral part of a Lions team that heads into the Division 1 tournament at 9-5-4.

“Allie is such a spitfire,” said Potcner. “She is so funny and just so comfortable and open about everything.”

LoCoco was born deaf and received a cochlear implant in her left ear at 15 months. She has what is termed profound hearing loss, the highest amount of loss on the scale, in her left ear and severe to profound hearing loss in her right ear.

The implant stimulates the auditory nerve on her left ear and provides a sense of sound so that she can understand speech. Which is why you can usually find LoCoco directly to Potcner’s right in a huddle, one of the very few adjustments that LoCoco and the Lions have had to make in order for her to excel all over the pitch.

“From second grade to eighth grade, my dad was my soccer coach when I was young and he used to make up signs for me and my teammates to use on the field,” said LoCoco. “And once I got to high school, Coach Leah obviously was super awesome and understanding. We actually quickly learned to adapt.”

It certainly helps that the Lions are a tight-knit bunch that includes 11 seniors, one that has been further bonded since the tragic loss of the 12th in the group, Emily Myerson, who passed away in March. Like many other teams that have been together for so long, much of their communication on the field is non verbal.

LoCoco even jokes that she and her best friend, fellow senior captain Campbell Brown, can read each other’s minds.

“I’m very lucky to have grown up with so many understanding people,” said LoCoco. “I have played with the seniors since I was four years old. They understand my situation and they have been able to help me. It hasn’t been that difficult, thankfully.”

What proved more difficult for Potcner coaching LoCoco was getting her to shoot. Unselfish by nature, the four-year starter focused more on playmaking than scoring her first three varsity campaigns but dedicated time in the offseason working on her shot with her father and it paid dividends immediately as LoCoco registered a hat trick out of the gate against Lowell and has eight goals and six assists this season.

“She changes the energy on the field. She is incredibly intense and focused in game, but never in a way that is negative or intimidating,” said Potcner. “She has a soccer I.Q. that when she receives the ball, she knows what to do with it next. She is that connecting piece.”

There have been obstacles, however. Chelmsford Stadium’s location next to a noisy highway can sometimes affect her ability to hear, although it’s even more of a challenge in echoing gyms when playing basketball during the winter.

And her implant does occasionally malfunction, especially in bad weather. Twice this year, she had it shut off during a game and played completely deaf.

“That was rough, but a lot of fun nonetheless,” said LoCoco.

Last year posed the biggest complication, however, as the mask requirements that were part of the safety modifications made it impossible to lip read — an important tool for her to communicate — something that she still has to navigate in class this year.

One class that it’s not as much of a problem in is American Sign Language, a curriculum that LoCoco, who is Class Secretary, played a big part in bringing to Chelmsford High. It has evolved from her petitioning to study ASL as an independent project as a freshman to evolving into an accredited language option that several of her teammates take and take joy in practicing with her.

Don’t be fooled though if you happen to go to a Chelmsford contest this postseason and see Potcner and LoCoco engaging in their pregame ritual of signing. It may appear that the two are having an extensive conversation, maybe a spirited pep talk or crucial final instructions, when in actuality they are just exchanging some of their favorite signs. Like “I love you.” Or “cookies.”

And yes, grapes.

“Playing sports definitely provided me with that second family, and it also showed me that yes I’m deaf but I can play just as good as any other player,” said LoCoco. “We are all on the same playing field.”

The Franklin 500

Fran Bositis is in his 51st season as the head coach of the Franklin boys soccer team, and you don’t stick around on a sideline for more than half a century unless you win some games.

On Wednesday night, Bositis earned his 500th career victory as the Panthers erupted late for a 4-1 triumph over King Philip. Bositis is just the fourth Massachusetts boys coach to reach the milestone, joining the legendary trio of Don Brock of Needham, Foster Cass of Duxbury, Pembroke and Barnstable, and Lenny Emmons of Masconomet.

Bositis certainly hasn’t lost his fastball. Franklin finished the regular season with a 10-4-4 overall mark and one point behind Milford in the Hockomock League Kelley-Rex Division. The Panthers entered the week ranked No. 30 in Division 1 for tournament seeding.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2ZBkdEO