GEORGETOWN — From a soccer standpoint, the Georgetown Royals enter tonight's game against South sectional champion Millis (14-2-6) knowing very little about their opponents.
But ask junior starting defensive back Rachel Sherman or freshman starting outside midfielder Kristin Hogan about that particular school — Millis — and only one thought comes to mind: revenge.
Just over eight months ago, the two schools met in the girls basketball Division 4 state championship at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. The Royals (5-15) looked to play the role of Cinderella after winning the North as the lowest seed (No. 14). Instead, they had their Garden party plans crushed as Millis soundly defeated Georgetown, 60-43.
Sherman and Hogan will have a chance to avenge that defeat tonight (5 p.m.) in the Division 3 state sectional at Quincy's Veterans Stadium.
Sherman and Hogan, who was called up from the JV as an eighth-grader, are the two remaining links from the basketball team on the soccer team. And for the pair, pride is definitely on the line.
"I'm excited because I really want to get back at them because it wasn't a good game at the Garden," said Sherman frankly. "But I see this as our chance to even the playing field and get revenge."
The parallels between the two Royal teams are not exactly akin. The Royals basketball team was a pleasant surprise come tournament time. Though that team included Taryn O'Connell, the program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, the players really played above their heads as an underdog.
The Royals soccer team is anything but an underdog. For the season, the team has scored 72 goals and allowed only 20. The state tournament has been especially lopsided with the Royals holding a 23-4 advantage in their four games en route to the North title. And with the exception of one 3-0 loss to Cape Ann League Large champion Masconomet, Georgetown has been consistently good to great throughout the course of the fall season.
"I think we competed more solidly in the Cape Ann League with soccer, but with basketball we were kind of the underdogs in the CAL. When it came to the tournament, playing teams more at our level, it evened out," Sherman said. "With soccer we've been pretty consistent."
But in the small town setting of Georgetown, coach Colleen Gibbs said the youth system along with a tight-knit group of friends are the ties that bind in terms of churning out athletic talent.
"We don't produce a lot of numbers here. My first day of tryouts four years ago, I don't think we exceeded more than 38 girls," said Gibbs, who praised the Georgetown Youth Soccer Association for its preparatory programs. "This year I think it was 34 girls, and 10 of them were seventh- and eighth-graders who could only make the JV team. For whatever reason, the talent level here, speaking from a soccer standpoint, has been excellent.
"I truly think making it into the state tournament and being part of a small team is connected," Gibbs continued. "Georgetown is a small school and there are 100 students per class. They're more like a family vs. being part of a class of 300. I was in a class of 300 and I feel like there's more cohesiveness, and maybe that comes with (our) team, too, because our girls are really close."
