LYNN — Sophie Skabeikis of the Spartans delivered some of the biggest moments of her career Wednesday evening, scoring goals No. 99, 100, and 101 to power St. Mary’s to a 3-2 comeback win against Bishop Fenwick at Manning Field.
The senior captain, who will study and play at University of Massachusetts Amherst, recorded the hat-trick after her team trailed, 2-0.
“It feels amazing to get to 100 goals. I’ve been with a lot of these girls for a while now – especially my two other captains – so it’s fun to get these achievements with them,” Skabeikis said. “It’s a good team win against a good team. It was definitely fun.”
Skabeikis sparked the rally in the 26th minute, when Fiona Dunn sent in a corner kick and Skabeikis reacted first in the box to cut the deficit to 2-1. Just two minutes later, she drew a foul while jumping for a header on another corner. She stepped to the spot and buried a penalty kick to even the score (2-2).
Then, crunch time.
Three minutes into the second half, Skabeikis struck again. From outside the box, she curled a shot into the top corner over the outstretched hand of Fenwick’s goalkeeper, completing her hat-trick and giving the Spartans their first lead (3-2).
“It feels really good to score a hat-trick, especially against our rivals,” Skabeikis said. “I knew when we went down, everyone was a bit down, so it was just important to get everybody’s heads up and in a good spot and find a way to turn it around. There were a lot of good corners [from] Fiona (Dunn) that I was able to finish.”
St. Mary’s coach Paddy Curran praised his senior leader.
“She’s huge for us. She’s our offense. She gets double-teamed, but still finds ways to score,” Curran said. “She works hard off the ball, but on top of that, she’s a great leader off the field.”
Bishop Fenwick coach Candice Dangora also acknowledged the performance.
“They have some crafty, great players. No. 7 is a special player,” Dangora said. “Some of those shots – you can’t really stop.”
Fenwick jumped ahead in the 16th minute when senior Julia Jin pressured the Spartans’ defense into a mistake. She then pounced on the loose ball to score (1-0).
Maeve O’Donnell doubled the Crusaders’ lead with a header off a corner kick (2-0).
“We talked about being resilient, having courage, and being brave in the final third,” Dangora said, “and Jin did everything I asked her to do by not giving up.”
Curran said the Spartans showed “character” through adversity.
“The resilience; the determination to come back,” he said. “That’s the first time we’ve done that this season. It’s great to beat a local rival, but to show that personality to come back, especially with all the injuries we have, it’s a huge relief.”
Skabeikis may have taken over, but Curran credited all three of his captains for stepping up.
“Sophie gets all the goals, Cameryn (Dunn) is just an engine in the middle, and Calli (Allaire) tries to help the younger players because we’ve got a young defense and I’m missing our two starting center backs, who are hurt. Calli stepped up when we needed her,” Curran said. “They’re just three great players and great human beings.”
Dangora saw positives in Fenwick’s defeat.
“I felt like we controlled the majority of the game in the second half. We kept the ball in their end,” Dangora said. “We have some pieces to work on – from defending corners and set-piece stuff – but overall, I’m super proud of our work rate and what we’re doing.”
