After a hard fought 80 minutes against a big town rival, the Girls Soccer team came out of their second game against Natick with a 1-0 win — bringing their record, thus far, to 2-0.

It is not much of a secret that the past few years for Girls Soccer have been unsuccessful, but the outlook for the 2011 season is much better. Already doubling their wins from last year (1-14-3), after a big defeat over Braintree on their home field 2-1 in the pouring rain on September 7, and now another win over Natick on September 9, the team is finding the root of their positive energy in the new coach, Erin Kearney (who was the JV coach last year), the new formation set up, and the new attitudes of each player.

With many scoreless shots after the first half, both teams were edging to score. Prior to the game, Natick was 0-1 on the season after losing to Weymouth, and they were not looking to make this game their second loss, as they fought with equal intensity to Walpole for a goal.

After a long stand still, Gallivan sent a perfect corner ball into the box and sophomore Lauren Reagan headed it into the top left corner of the goal. With about 20 minutes left in the game, the Natick team started to panic now that they were a goal down. The game quickly increased in aggressiveness, speed, and anticipation for the last quarter. With Walpole’s senior Captains Morgan Ivatts, Michaela Brown, Suzy Gallivan, and sophomore Mehron Hoag on the defensive front, the Natick opportunities were limited as the four Walpole girls worked hard to shut them down. Ivatts said, “we out ran them and proved we could compete with the best.” Any ball that got through, Ivatts used to her speed to swoop in and steal the ball, and was closely backed-up by Brown, Gallivan, and Hoag.

Two close wins brought the Rebels to the top of their league, a much better start than in the past few years. They hope to keep their undefeated title against two tough competitors this week, Newton North and Wellesley, to continue their winning streak.