Above: Last night was Gonk Girls Soccer’s last game in the tourneys and last night being led by the team’s longtime coach. (photo tweeted by @ARHSAthletics)
It was a disappointing end to an exciting season. Algonquin and Westfield Girls Soccer battled it out in the State Semi-Finals last night. The game went into overtime, ending with the T-Hawk’s 0-1 loss.
The Telegram wrote:
Despite the loss, Algonquin coach Scott Taggart said it was still a special season for his Central Mass. champion Tomahawks.
“It’s special when a team is able to get to the state tournament,” he said. “The kids, and especially the seniors, they’ve worked so hard towards this goal and they played their hearts out tonight and I give them all the credit. I give Westfield credit for their win but it was a fantastic season for me, for them, for everybody.” . . .
Taggart added that it was a special run for his team, especially his eight seniors.
“Most of them have been with the varsity for at least three years and they’ve played together since they were little girls, most of them,” Taggart said. “For a lot of them, it’s their last soccer match so that’s tough but they put a lot of work and effort preparing for this season and they just did a great job all year long.”
Added senior captain Sara Berg: “It’s been an amazing last season for me as a senior, and I know everybody on this team can say the exact same thing. Our chemistry has been so good as a team, we all love each other and we’ve been working together the whole season to get better, keep scoring goals, keep winning games, and that’s what we did.”
You can see the Wicked Local’s photo gallery of the action here.
According to Wicked Local, last night also marked another significant journey end. It was Taggart’s last night coaching the Gonk Girls:
Taggart spent 14 years at Algonquin, the last 10 head coach. His teams made six sectional finals appearances – including four appearances in a row from 2012-15 – and a state final in 2015 where the Tomahawks lost to Needham 3-1 in the championship game.
Taggart finished with a 143-35-27 record at ARHS.
Earlier this season the Milford Daily News covered Taggart’s announcement:
We had a team meeting at the beginning of the year where I told the kids that this was going to be my last year coaching and I notified athletic director (Mike Mocerino) back in the spring that this was going to be my last season. . .
“(Coaching) has been a wonderful experience,” said Taggart, who hasn’t ruled out coaching at the junior varsity level again in the future. “But as a coach you can sense when there is need for change within the program and I sensed that. I wanted to make sure that I was coaching for the right reasons and that it wasn’t becoming a chore.”
The Girls were the last varsity T-Hawks team still vying for a state championship this fall. The annual non-playoff Thanksgiving Day Football game is next week.
Algonquin’s Winter sports pre-season competitions kick off on December 7th when Boys Ice Hockey hits the ice for the annual NorthStar Ice Sports High School Jamboree and the Swim/Dive teams compete in the annual Mid-Wach Swims against Hunger.
