1The Weagle siblings — Evan and Hannah — each are making notable impacts for their respective teams.
Evan, who coach Ron Comeau believes is the best goalie in the Cape Ann League, has backed up his coach's sentiments starting the season on a four-game shutout streak and having allowed only four goals in six games, good for tops amongst CAL goalies.
"Evan is our backbone. We feel that if we make a mistake defensively, we have, in my opinion, the best keeper in the league, which gives us confidence," Comeau said. "The saves he makes are spectacular, and opposing coaches always tell me after games how spectacular our goalie truly is. He comes up big every game and keeps us in games."
Hannah, who had the unenviable task of replacing a captain and all-star of a year ago in Robyn Scotti at outside midfield as a freshman, has been part of a larger youth movement for the Royals, a team that only features two seniors, Shannon Hartford and Alyssa Rosenthal.
However, the pressure has not seemed to faze her. Quite the opposite, having scored one goal and assisted on six others the younger Weagle is amongst the River Rivals top 10 point scorers through seven games. Additionally, as a team, Georgetown is off to a tremendous start at 5-1-1 and is the third-highest scoring team (only Masconomet and Newburyport from the CAL Large have more) with 27 goals in that time frame.
"My whole offense for the most part includes freshmen and sophomores, the only veteran of the bunch is Casey Decareau," explained girls coach Colleen Gibbs. "We definitely had a void that needed to be filled from Robyn leaving, and Hannah has been pretty successful so far as a huge offensive player."
Perhaps the difficult transition from club- and youth-level soccer to the high school varsity level that Hannah has made so smoothly should not be surprising. In looking at her brother, Evan, the four-year starter has seemed to thrive in the limelight.
In two of the biggest games last season against CAL Large champs Masconomet and the powerful Division 3 state finalist Lynnfield that featured CAL Small Player of the Year Mike Kennedy, the elder Weagle shut out both teams.
Evan has been a valuable resource for his younger sister, offering a unique perspective to the way most players see the game. He's taught her the way goalies react to the way offensive players attack.
"Over the summer, we went down to the field, and I gave her some pointers on her shot," said Evan, who added he is quite tight with his sister, often staying on her to consistently improve her game. "With me being a goalie, I let her know where to put her shot and when to put the ball there.
"She's a real visual learner, I would show her one thing, and she would pretty much do it the next time," Evan continued. "I was real happy for her when she made the varsity team because she worked so hard to get where she is."
"He knows the game so well and he sees it in a different view," Hannah reiterated. "Sometimes when we were down at the fields this summer, he would do reverse psychology on me where he would put me in net and try to have me save his shots. It really helped me because it showed me how goalies try to shut down angles and where the most difficult places are to make saves."
Described by Comeau as a coach on the field for his knowledge of how to defend opposing attackers strong suits, Evan's talents for teaching the game are evident whether it be with his sister or his teammates and may one day land him a gig as a coach.
Amongst his finest work Evan can also be given some of the credit for the success of Royals girls goalie Pauline Reilly. She has only allowed six goals all season, and again only Masco and Newburyport have fewer totals.
"She wasn't real confident playing goal, so I showed her what she was doing wrong with her technique, gave her pointers on how to stay confident by talking to her team, and showed her how to come out and catch the ball," Evan stated. "The girls coach said she improved a lot."


