Girls Soccer Advances to Quarterfinals, Boys Soccer Eliminated in Second Round
November 11, 2025
• Girls soccer cruised to another win, while the boys were upset by No. 13 Concord-Carlisle.
It was a tale of two games for Needham soccer on Monday, Nov. 10. The girls team kicked off the playoff doubleheader with a dominant 4-1 win over Newton South, while the boys fell 2-1 to Concord-Carlisle in double overtime.
Sydney Kalaw put the girls up 1-0 early, beating two defenders in a foot race and scoring her ninth goal of the season. The rain picked up after that goal, but the Rockets doubled their lead with 15 minutes left in the first half. Michelle Faynstein scored the goal off a pass from Kalaw, who is off to an amazing start this postseason with three goals and one assist in two games.
Izzy Marino continued the scoring just 30 seconds into the second half, firing a long shot into the top right corner to make it 3-0. Newton South finally broke through, ending Needham’s streak of 12 straight games without giving up a goal to an opponent. After earning free kick around the 18-yard line, Newton South capitalized on a rebound opportunity to make it 3-1. But, the Rockets pushed their lead back to three just over nine minutes later with another goal from Marino, who leads the team with 17 goals and 15 assists on the season.
Needham will host No. 8 Belmont for the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 5 p.m. at Memorial Field. The Needham Channel will be there to record a broadcast that will air the following day.
Unfortunately, that would be the only victory of the night for Needham, as the boys lost a heartbreaker to Concord-Carlisle.
The Patriots, who defeated the Rockets 2-0 in the 2023 state championship, struck first on a shot the was initially stopped by Needham goalkeeper Eli Dain. But in the wet conditions, the ball slipped by him on the near post, giving Concord-Carlisle a 1-0 lead. The Patriots held that lead for a majority of the game, until Needham tied it with about seven minutes remaining. Max Shoemaker sent the crowd into a frenzy with a header to even the score, but he collided with the Concord-Carlisle goalie in the process and did not return to the game after staying down for several minutes.
The Rockets carried play in both overtime periods, but the Patriots earned a free kick with less than a minute to play. Head coach Ray Pavlik called a timeout to draw up a play, and it paid off. Timmy Stone placed a beautiful ball right into the Rockets box, it bounced around, and Joe Ferrari knocked it in to win it for Concord-Carlisle.
The loss ended another impressive season for the Rockets, who finished with a record of 13-3-4.
Mike Levin spoke to members of the girls team after their win:
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Mike also has highlights from both games, courtesy of the November 13, 2025 edition of the “Needham Channel News:”
