Unbeaten Cohasset girls soccer answers its first real scare and keeps chasing the Division 4 top spot

The Skippers have scored 50 goals, allowed seven and posted seven shutouts. After rallying from 3-1 down to draw at Norwell and winning 6-0 at Martha's Vineyard, they sit No. 2 in the MIAA's Division 4 power rankings behind Douglas heading into Wednesday's game at East Bridgewater.

Mass Pitch Staff · 2026-10-09

Eleven games into the fall, Cohasset has yet to lose. The Skippers are 10-0-1, have outscored opponents 50-7 and have posted seven shutouts. Their first real scare came Monday at Norwell, where they rallied from 3-1 down to draw 3-3, and on Thursday they followed it with a 6-0 win at Martha's Vineyard.

At Norwell, Cohasset fell behind 3-1 and came back to draw 3-3, with sophomore Teddy Cunningham scoring twice in the second half, according to the Cohasset Anchor. Norwell is No. 3 in the MIAA's Division 3 power rankings released Friday.

"The tie with Norwell was a great boost for the team, their program is a bit bigger than ours and we always put up a good fight but sometimes it's difficult," Cohasset coach Deb Beal said. "We know this season is different, we are strong, fit and skilled so heading into Norwell we had a bit more confidence. Obviously, a little deflating going down 3-1 but watching these girls adjust and figure things out is wonderful. They weren't going to back down and their grit was impressive."

A comeback without a full lineup

Cohasset did it shorthanded. Senior captain Molly Campbell and freshman Chloe Heald, who plays club for Select South ECNL RL G12, were both out at Norwell, the Anchor reported, and freshman Sabella Dodge played in the middle of the field for Cohasset for the first time. Norwell scored almost immediately, sophomore Zoe Evans answered from about 30 yards, and Cunningham's goals came with 32:24 and 18:27 remaining, per the Anchor.

Beal said moving players around is nothing new.

"The reshuffling of positions is a common thing, people get injured, sick and sometimes need a break," Beal said. "Our practice model keeps us all sharp and aware of the differing roles on game day."

That model, she said, is the reason Cohasset can score in bunches and still be hard to break down.

"Our defense is an asset but so is our offense," Beal said. "When we practice we generally don't define positions, we continue to practice those basic skills and prevent taking shortcuts. On game day we all know our roles and we achieve success at them by working together."

The numbers behind 10-0-1

The results back her up. Cohasset has scored at least five goals in seven of its 11 games and has allowed more than one goal only twice. The Skippers opened with a 3-2 league win at Sandwich on Sept. 10, then won their next five by a combined 28-0. They edged Silver Lake 2-1 on Sept. 23, beat Rockland 3-1 on Sept. 30 and blanked Old Rochester 5-0 on Oct. 2. Thursday's win on the Vineyard improved on a 5-0 home win over Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 14.

The attack runs through a group of four. Sophomore Brynn Dwyer, who plays club for Select ECNL G10, has 12 goals and 14 assists, junior Regan Brinzey has 11 goals and four assists, senior captain Georgia Royston, who is listed on the club rosters of FC Stars White ECNL RL G09 and Select South ECNL RL G09, has eight goals and 10 assists, and Cunningham has six goals and six assists, according to Beal. Those four account for 37 of the team's 50 goals.

The coach was quick to spread the credit.

"The whole team stands out!" Beal said.

At the back, she singled out senior captains Molly Campbell, Maddie Campbell and Regan Carroll, who plays club for Select South ECNL RL G09, and sophomores Molly Doherty, a Select ECNL G10 teammate of Dwyer's, and Evans. That group is the main reason Cohasset has allowed seven goals in 11 games, an average well under one per game.

Chasing the top spot

Cohasset has spent much of the fall at the top of the Division 4 power rankings, leading the division in the MIAA's Oct. 2 and Oct. 6 releases. In the Oct. 9 rankings, which include scores entered through 4 a.m. Friday, Douglas moved from No. 3 to No. 1 and Cohasset is No. 2.

The gap is small. Douglas (7-1) has a rating of 3.2184 and Cohasset 2.9640. Cohasset's average margin, which the MIAA caps at three goals for any one game, is 2.2727, the best of any team in the Division 4 top 10. Douglas makes up the difference with a tougher schedule by the MIAA's numbers: its opponents' rating is 1.7184, compared with 0.6913 for Cohasset. Both teams are comfortably inside the top 32, the cutoff for automatic qualification for the Division 4 tournament.

Beal said her players know the spot is never guaranteed.

"We commonly fall in the top part of the rankings, we are proud of that and know that that spot can be taken by another team very easily," she said.

She described Cohasset as a small Division 4 program that has done well under the state's power ranking system. Asked after the Norwell game about being the team to beat, Beal told the Anchor, "The target is on our back, but it has been for a long time. We're used to it. We enjoy it. We like the pressure."

What's next

Cohasset returns to action Wednesday, Oct. 14, at East Bridgewater, which is 7-2-1 and No. 18 in Division 3 in the Oct. 9 rankings. It is the kind of opponent that can lift Cohasset's strength of schedule, and the start of a closing stretch that will decide where the Skippers are seeded.

Beal is not looking past it.

"The next stretch of games is very important, we have to continue to play each day the same way," Beal said. "Cannot get ahead of ourselves and must pay attention to details. Our goal is obviously to win our last game of the season."

The only way to win the last game of the season is to win the Division 4 state final. With 11 games of evidence, a 50-7 goal difference and a lineup that has already shown it can adjust on the fly, Cohasset has given itself a real chance to play in it.