Post publication update:
Melrose defeats Wakefield 3-1 (Oct. 13)
Melrose tie Arlington 1-1 (Oct. 8)
Published October 10, 2025
Girls’ soccer battles to a close loss against Wildcats
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
MELROSE—Despite two losses this week, the Melrose High girls soccer team remain on the winning side of things and as they round out their regular season schedule in the coming weeks, they also remain poised for a possible playoff run thanks to solid Power Ranking recently released by the MIAA.
Currently ranked No. 23 out of 33 teams allowed into post season, Melrose also sports a winning record of 6-5-1 (5-4-1 in ML) with six games left on the regular season schedule. They would like to see more wins after coming up short against a Middlesex League rival last week.
On October 6, Melrose traveled to Wilmington and fell to the host Wildcats, 1-0. This was the second meeting of the teams as they battled to a scoreless tie in September.
With the loss, Melrose fell to third place in the ML Freedom division falling to 4-1-1 and are now behind Wilmington and Burlington, but there are many Freedom games left for Melrose to make up for it.
“We outplayed Wilmington in the final 20 minutes of the game,” said Melrose head coach Olivia Downey. “We also got ten shots on net but were not able to score.”
The Wildcats scored the game’s lone tally in the 37th minute on a breakaway.
“They made a nice pass on that play that split between our two defenders,” pointed out Downey.
Kate Stratford was Melrose’s goalkeeper in the first half and she made two saves. Lilah Croach played in net in the second half and turned back three shots on net.
The next game for Melrose will be next Monday as they visit Wakefield at noon. Melrose is looking for the season sweep over the Warriors as they won the first meeting, 2-1, back on Sept. 4. On Oct. 15, Melrose will welcome Woburn at 4:15 p.m.