Nauset Girls Soccer To Begin Quest For Fourth Straight League Title

NORTH EASTHAM – For three years in a row, the Nauset girls soccer team has won a Cape and Islands League title and then had their season end in the round of 32 of the MIAA state tournament. 

In 2022, a Nauset team that had lost only once all year won a preliminary round match but were defeated by Longmeadow. In 2023, head coach Evan Botting’s first year in the role, the Warriors — who had just two losses — fell on the last penalty shot to Auburn in the postseason. In 2024, Nauset lost only three times in the regular season, won a preliminary round game in the tournament but then ran into Nipmuc, the eventual Division 3 champions.

As the Warriors have racked up league titles, the state tournament has remained something of an obstacle — a “bugaboo,” Botting said. A mixture of returning league all-stars with up-and-coming underclass players, however, has some on the team viewing another season atop the Cape and Islands table as merely the bar or the standard — as junior Caroline Bothfeld put it — and a tournament run deeper than past years well within the realm of possibility.

“We've got a lot of kids that have been there for both of those years and kind of seen how it is to get that close and want more, and you couple that with some new, younger talent that you know are out there wanting to prove themselves, so it's a good combination,” Botting said. 

Seven varsity starters return from last season overall, with a crop of juniors, sophomores and freshmen all looking to break into the lineup, according to Botting. Seniors include defender Violet Roche and goalkeeper Haley Jackson, who allowed just five goals during the regular season last year. The young talent, meanwhile, was obvious last Thursday, Aug. 21 as Nauset easily handled Sturgis West in a preseason scrimmage.

After matches, a player on the team is awarded the “game chain,” an oversized, celebratory necklace, a tradition that started last year. It serves as a way to recognize somebody that had a great game, Botting said, whether that was by being the best player on the field, doing something the team has been working on or even just having a good attitude. Freshman Evelyn Vaillancourt received the chain last week against Sturgis West.

“I think the younger girls really worked hard, and they’re putting in the work and creating a lot of good opportunities,” junior Maddie Coccoro said after the scrimmage. 

Nauset finished 14-4-2 last year, a season in which the Warriors at the outset looked to fill the production gap left by Olivia Avellar and Caroline Kennard, who had both moved on to play Division 1 collegiately. The group had eight seniors among 12 upperclassmen.

This year’s team is younger. But Bothfeld, for one, has even higher expectations due to the confidence of the underclassmen. There’s also been an effort to create a style of playing for each other — like an upperclassman passing it to an underclassman to give them the shot in front of an open net — and to put bonding and chemistry first, according to Bothfeld and Roche. The talent will follow.

“When they were eighth graders last year, we knew we were going to have these girls coming up, and they’ve really been a big part of our team this year and they’ve really stepped up to the challenge, which is good because we have an expectation here, and they all met it,” Roche said.

For Botting, the goal is to have a group of 11 players on the field that are confident with the ball and in their teammates. 

“I think the rest kind of all falls into place,” he said. “So developing young women that are confident in their ability is huge, and I think that's what I'm most proud of.”