PLAYOFF SOCCER: Somerset Berkley girls fall to Medway 4-0

SOMERSET — Medway didn't maintain the pace. The Mustangs actually turned up the heat in the second half.

Justifiably disappointed with a scoreless first half in their Division 2 South girls' soccer quarterfinal against Somerset Berkley Regional, fifth-seeded Medway broke through for a 4-0 win on Wednesday night at Hanson Memorial Field.

Sophomore Heather Scheid scored the game winner in the 48th minute and the relentless Mutangs (16-3-2) scored three times in the last 13 minutes to advance to the South semifinals against ninth-seeded Hopkinton, in a game which may be played back here.

Fourth-seeded Somerset Berkley (13-3-2) was out-shot 11-2 in the first half and 16-2 in the second. The Raiders did not manage a serious scoring threat against Heather Murray, Medway's Providence College-bound senior keeper.

In contrast to Murray's leisurely evening in goal, Somerset Berkley junior Amber Holt was extra busy on the job and produced three stellar saves before Scheid's goal. Holt actually got a hand on Scheid's shot from the right center but the ball had plenty enough juice to settle in the back of the net.

"They (Medway) do have very good players. They do," SBR coach Kacie Jeronimo said. "But I think we had a hell of a game, despite the score. We held strong the first half. After their second goal, we kind of gave up a little bit.

"My keeper, despite the 4-0, she had a hell of a game."

Medway brought superior size and speed to this battle, a rematch of last year's South semifinal, also won by the Mustangs.

"That's been sort of our calling card this year," Medway coach Jason Rojee said. "We've got a lot of speed. We have a lot of size. And we do a good job of moving the ball side to side. And if we can exploit a weakness, exploit a gap here and there and get the ball behind the defense, we can be dangerous."

Medway senior midfielder Audrey Cobb displayed big-time footwork and field vision. Junior striker Kylie Hansbury was scoreless on the night but could have had two or three goals if not for Holt, who tipped one of her great bids off the crossbar and smothered another. Hansbury also hit the crossbar directly.

One of the top sprint hurdlers in the state, senior right wing Ava Vasile put tons of pressure on the SBR defense and she scored the second goal, off a superb Hansbury cross, in the 67th minute. Cobb (penalty kick, 68th minute) and sophomore Krislyn Tompkins (84th minute) finished the scoring.

Rojee offered this analysis of the opening 40 minutes.

"They did a good job defending us. We didn't do a great job of getting baseline and getting crosses back," he said. "I thought we were putting a lot at their goalie. Their goalie had a great first half. She made a great save early on that could have opened up the game a little more. It seemed like they had a game plan and they executed their game plan. 

"Once we kind of cashed in, things started to open up a little bit."

Hopkinton advanced on Wednesday by defeating top-seed and SBR South Coast Conference rival Old Rochester 1-0.

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.

'I'm not upset. They had a great season. Going into tournament two years in a row in something very rare where they say only 20 percent of the teams do that. So we're paert of that 20 percent."