RallyNorth.net

Tue, Oct 28, 2014 07:00 PM @ North Andover

Team	1st	2nd	Final
Central Catholic	0	0	0
North Andover	1	1	2

North Andover 2, Central Catholic 0

NORTH ANDOVER — North Andover freshman Mary O'Connor recently earned a promotion from JV to varsity when Maura Barry tore her ACL.
The rookie made quite an impression Tuesday in just her third varsity game.
O'Connor scored the game's first goal and assisted the other goal by Katie Blackshaw to lead North Andover to a 2-0 victory over Central Catholic.
"I think Maura cheered the loudest of anyone when Mary scored that goal," North Andover coach Lisa Rasanen said. "She's mentored her over the past two weeks."
With the win, the Scarlet Knights not only avenged a 3-1 road loss to the Raiders on Oct. 7. But they also claimed the MVC Large title outright.
Rasanen said Barry cheering on O'Connor so loudly exemplifies what's best about this year's group of Scarlet Knights: they are a true team.
"Nobody is worried about how many minutes they play but only what the outcome is: whether we win," Rasanen said.
"Mary can go out there and play with confidence because her teammates believe in her."
This has been quite the turnaround for North Andover, which improved its record to 14-2-2 heading into the tournament.
Complete Eagle-Tribune records go back through 1989 and last year's 7-9-3 record was the Knights' first losing season in that span.
Rasanen told the girls before the season they had ample talent and they could be a terrific team if they worked hard and together.
Rasanen hasn't used the same lineup each game. She goes with different players depending on how they practice.
"Collectively, they have great chemistry," said Rasanen, a former North Andover and Merrimack College great who took over as head coach last year after being the JV coach from 2001-12.
She said this year's group has the most chemistry of any she has seen at her time at North Andover.
Meg Collins has had quite the season and her success continued with 12 saves in Tuesday's victory.
Collins has done a tremendous job leading vocally with two freshmen on defense.