Senior night standoff for Dartmouth High girls’ soccer
Nov 7, 2020
Players scramble for the ball in a hard-fought game on Nov. 6. Photos by: Kate Robinson
Spectators cheered on their friends and relatives from behind the fence. Isabella Freitas, center, brought a vuvuzela.
Game administrator Scott Richards disinfects a ball during a break.
Two Dartmouth players watch as the Trojans tie it up at the end of the game.
The stands were full on Nov. 6 for the Dartmouth High girls soccer team’s last regular season match — or as full as they could possibly get in the new post-pandemic normal.
“Tonight was the only night that you could have parents in to the stadium all year,” said Coach Scot Boudria.
For a one-off, special senior night, parents of each of the 13 seniors on the team were allowed to sit in the stands to cheer on their daughters as they played the undefeated Bridgewater-Raynham.
The game ended in a 2-2 tie for the top-seeded teams, wrapping up Dartmouth’s season with a record of 8-1-2. The team took second seed in a short postseason tournament that will see just two playoff games starting next week.
Other family members stood behind the fence at one end of Memorial Stadium and watched as the girls played with new Covid precautions in place.
New requirements include wearing a mask at all times, maintaining social distancing, and disinfecting equipment between uses, as well as rule changes involving ball handling and corners.
“I came back from school to surprise my sister,” said Isabella Freitas, who was blowing a green vuvuzela and cheering from behind the fence. “My sister is doing amazing, I’m so happy I decided to come!”
Freitas drove nearly three hours down from Maine for the occasion.
“She literally had no idea,” Freitas said of sister Savannah. “She was crying.”
Others, like Bridgewater grandparent Bill Ford, made just a bit less of a trek.
“I wish we were in there,” he said, nodding at the field. “You can go to a restaurant in Dartmouth and sit six feet away from somebody you don't know, but you can’t go sit up randomly up in those stands. It makes no sense.”
At the same time, said Dartmouth senior Hannah Wheelden’s grandmother Marjorie Greenwood, “It’s good that we can come out and support.”
“Anything’s better than nothing,” added Hannah’s other grandmother Joan Wheelden.
Although Bridgewater-Raynham tied it up at the last minute, Boudria said he had no problem with how the game went.
“I like [challenging] games like this,” he noted. “I’d rather have these games any day. I think most people would.”
“You tie a good team, and you get to play them again. We’ll see what happens,” he added.
