High school soccer notebook: Somerset Berkley girls dominate

When Somerset Berkley opted to make Moussa Traore coach before the 2024 season, the name was familiar to parents from his days as a youth soccer mentor.

What many didn’t know was that coaching is all Traore knows. It is his life, and he has an impeccable resume to prove it.

The proof is clear as the Blue Raiders remain undefeated at 17-0-0.

Prior to his days with Somerset Berkley, Traore was the Director of Soccer Development with Somerset Youth, and served as a coach with local club and travel programs. He worked for five years with the Liverpool International Academy before returning to the area to coach with Bayside FC.

When the job opened up at Somerset Berkley, Traore felt the fit was ideal.

“I knew some of the kids from the travel programs,” said Traore. “I know the school was struggling to get some quality coaching, and just with getting some continuity. Since I’m familiar with the area already, it’s not new to me, it was a no-brainer. Just being a part of the community, I felt I could take my involvement to the next level by being part of the high school family.”

Led by their junior class with stars like Julia Costa, Emily Fernandes and Aryanna Secia, the team has thrived.

“I think the key thing is our chemistry as a team,” said Fernandes. “We have been working hard this whole season with the connection of our passes. Everything we do on and off the field has contributed to our success.”

Prior to this season, Somerset Berkley had not captured a South Coast Conference title since 2006. They accomplished the aforementioned feat four weeks back.

“I think for our group, the juniors, all three of us have been wanting to win this conference title since we’ve been in high school,” said Secia. “That’s been a goal of ours, and as soon as we finished last year not-so-well, we knew that as soon as the next year started that we were going to do well, win and do our best to succeed.”

Somerset Berkley’s signature win came on Sept. 13, a 2-1 nail-biter against Dartmouth, a program that has given the entire SCC fits in the past decade.

Secia paces her team with 19 goals. Mackenzie Pires has 19 goals too, while Fernandes has provided a major spark offensively (11 goals, 17 assists). Noa Beaudry has sniped 11 goals, while Layla Venacio has seven goals to go with 11 assists.

The Blue Raiders will look to cap the regular season by competing in the annual South Coast Conference Cup this upcoming week. Then, they will attempt to gain headway in the Div. 2 tournament. The path to a championship is going to have plenty of obstacles, however, with perennial powerhouses such as Duxbury, Masconomet and Oliver Ames to contend with.

“We have a ‘one game at a time’ philosophy,” said Traore. “After each game, we go through the process of forgetting what happened last game. It’s a brand new season, every game. It seems like the games have been getting tougher, because every opponent we see, we get the best out of them. So that’s how we’re going to have to proceed from now. It’s a new season, every game.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/oXsfBCl