Charlie Breitrose Watertown senior co-captain Shannon Fitzpatrick dribbles the ball against Dedham in the State Tournament Round of 16.
DEDHAM — The run of success in the MIAA Div. 3 Girls Soccer Tournament came to an end for Watertown High School Wednesday night when the Raiders falling 2-0 to 10th seeded Dedham.
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown freshman Elsa Ryan battles for the ball against Dedham in the State Tournament game.
The Raiders reached the Round of 16 with a pair of tournament wins. The last time Watertown notched a win in the State Tourney was 2011, when Watertown won three games on the way to the North Section semifinals.
Charlie Breitrose
After wins against Latin Academy and Weston, 26th-seeded Watertown could not score another win against Dedham (15-4-1).
“They’re a good team, they brought more than we ought they were going to bring,” said Watertown head coach John Vlachos, who is in his second full season as coach. “They played well.”
Charlie Breitrose
Molly Sheehan, a junior, handles the ball at midfield in the State Tourney game at Dedham on Wednesday.
Wednesday night, the Marauders dominated possession in the first half, and Abbey Keyes scored 10 minutes into the game, and Dedham took a 2-0 lead into halftime after Sarah Buhlman’s goal with just over 7 minutes left in the half.
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown freshman Moya Flanagan chases a ball in Wednesday’s State Tournament game.
The Raiders made some adjustments and had some opportunities, but the goal never came.
“We tried to go a little more offensive without giving up a ton of goals. We knew three goals would have been really tough to come back,” Vlachos said. “We moved things around but still didn’t get enough pressure.”
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown senior co-captain Lara Kebabjian battles with a Dedham player in State Tournament action.
As the season ended Vlachos said the deepest run since 2011 is something to be proud of.
“The last five games we played really, really well. The girls have gelled and we were hoping to get past this round and get to the elite eight, which would have been great, but it didn’t happen tonight,” Vlachos said. “We are very proud of the girls. The girls really worked hard. Unfortunately only one team is going to be one happy team at the end of the year.”
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown senior co-captain Kelsey Fitzgerald dribbles the ball against Dedham.
The Raiders finish the season 6-14-1. Vlachos hopes the tournament experience will inspire the team in the future.
“We’ve got some young girls here, we’re a young team,” he said. “We’ll lose our six seniors, but every team loses its seniors at some point so hopefully the girls that are here got a nice taste of the tournament and we can move forward on that.”
Charlie Breitrose
Amanda Cosco, a senior co-captain for the Watertown girls soccer team, dribbles upfield in the State Tournament against Dedham.