'It's a dream season': Milestones keep piling up for unbeaten South Shore Tech girls lax

HANOVER – The Century Club is brand new around here, but membership already is skyrocketing.

South Shore Tech has been playing girls lacrosse since the spring of 2017. No Viking ever had scored 100 career goals until senior Peyton Mathisen reached that mark April 29, while netting a hat trick against Tri-County.

Mathisen didn't have to wait long to get some company, as classmate Sofia Grasso joined her Friday. The first of Grasso's five goals in a 15-7 win over Abington was the 100th of her career.

Mathisen's take on the club expanding: "I love to see other people do stuff like that."

"I was really nervous," said Grasso, a four-year starter on attack who lives in Hanson. "But after I saw Peyton do it, I believed in her and I knew I could do it for myself. I couldn't have done it without my whole team, though. I hope everybody else on the team gets 100 goals because it's a great experience."

Right now, it's just Mathisen and Grasso at triple digits, but the Vikings are 14-0, so anything feels possible this spring.

"This team is absolutely something else," said Mathisen, a midfielder from Abington. "I've never been with such a great group of girls. Everything is so team-oriented and we're so happy for each other when we reach milestones like that."

"It's a dream season," Grasso agreed. "We're doing amazing. I've been playing for 12 years and I've never had this (type of success). This year is definitely something new, but I knew we could do it."

Grasso had five goals against Abington (5-9) and would have had more if not for a strong performance from Green Wave goalie Brielle DeJesus. Grasso is up to 35 goals on the season. Mathisen, who had a hat trick Friday, is at 40 goals. Hannah Nota (17 goals), Lily Berquist (17), Sophie Bovill (15), Kayla Nota (14) and Bella Humphreys (10) round out a very deep offense that has helped South Shore hit double-digits in goals nine times this season.

"It's tough to match up against us," coach Mike Hernon said, "because I really believe that all seven of our girls who are the field together in the offensive end can score at any time. The second you (take away) one, another is there to answer the bell."

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The Vikings also boast a talented defense anchored by goalie Kaylin Hicks, one of eight senior starters. Hernon calls her a "rock," noting, "Just having her back there, you know everything's going to be settled."

With all those seniors in the lineup, this clearly is South Shore Tech's best chance to make some noise. The Vikings missed the Division 4 playoffs in 2022 with an 8-9 record and lost in the Division 4 preliminary round last spring off a 12-4 regular season. South Shore has moved up to Division 3 this season, and even though strength of schedule hurts the Vikings' power ranking (they entered Friday's game at No. 35), they've beaten everyone they could.

How rare is that? There are 215 MIAA girls lacrosse teams, and South Shore Tech is one of only four teams still unbeaten in-state. The others: Notre Dame Academy (Division 2) and Nantucket and Sandwich (both Division 4). Technically, NDA is 14-1, but the Cougars' lone loss was to an out-of-state opponent, which doesn't count for MIAA seeding purposes.

That the Vikings are in this position is somewhat surprising given that Hernon, who is filling in this season for coach Minnie Clark (maternity leave), had never coached the sport before. He and assistant Matt Doyle, better known as the school's football coach, have pushed the right buttons, though.

"I'm beyond impressed with him," Mathisen said of Hernon. "At the beginning (of the season) you're not expecting much from someone who's never coached girls sports at all. He had no clue what the game was about, but he asked plenty of questions. He figured out the game. He spent his own time figuring out what would work best for our team. He's done an amazing job."

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The Vikings have won plenty of blowouts but they're also 4-0 in games decided by 3 or fewer goals, including last Saturday's come-from-behind 9-8 win over Upper Cape Tech in a battle of unbeatens. South Shore Tech trailed 7-2 in that one, but Grasso struck in OT for the win.

"I think we do really well under pressure," Mathisen said. "We don't crack."

The Upper Cape Tech rematch happens in Hanover on Thursday night. The Vikings planned to take this weekend off to rest their legs. Then there's a bowling party on Monday to further team bonding.

Will the Century Club members dominate there as well? Maybe not.

Asked who the best bowler on the team is, Grasso said, "Oh, I'm not sure. It's definitely not me, though."

Said Mathisen when the same question was posed: "I want to say myself, but I think I'm going to be proven wrong."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: South Shore Tech girls lacrosse having dream season