Buoyed by a strong second half performance against a talented Nobles team, we took the field to face Rivers, another top ISL contender. Monday and Tuesday practices were focused on fostering a more physical, aggressive, and offensive style of play.

After twenty minutes of strong back and forth play, Rivers capitalized on a free kick outside the ’18 to go up 1-0. True to our form, Middlesex proved resilient and battled back with their heads held high. But Rivers savvy ball movement caught us out of position and their top striker was able to break through our defense and put away another goal. Nonetheless, Middlesex continued to battle putting into play our game plan which included quick ball movement and utilizing our speed on the wings, but with seconds to go in the half, Rivers capitalized on a corner kick to end the half up 3-0.

During halftime, we restructured our line-up to solidify more offense and discussed our need for better execution, defensive positioning, and ball movement. We took the field again with determination, but Rivers scored another quick goal after a defensive breakdown and were finally able to seal the deal with another goal midway through the second half.

Once again, Middlesex proved relentless as the final 10-15 minutes were dominated by many offensive opportunities with strong running up top by Natalie Zaffiro ’15, Irene DeMoulas ’14, Dakota Foster ’14, and Shannon Ryan ’16. Erica Miles was gutsy in goal again for the Zebras. Sophie Vitzthum ’13, Hilary Giles ’13,  Emily Robertson ’13, and Susie Frechter ’14 worked hard to lead the defense and midfield positions.

With a little over two weeks left in our season and four games to go, Middlesex will gear up to play our best soccer yet. We travel to Thayer Academy on Saturday.