For as long as she can remember, Liza Pinette has been a soccer player.
“I started playing when I was four years old and liked it right away,” said Pinette, a senior forward at Fairhaven who has been named the 2022 Standard-Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year. “I grew up in Saugus playing on a rec team there.”
Even though she led the Blue Devils in scoring in all four of her varsity seasons, Pinette isn’t about individual statistics.
“I like being part of a team,” she said. “It’s all about working with your teammates to be successful. My teammates and coaches have been great. They’ve helped make me a better player and a better person.”
Soccer has never come easy for Pinette, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It takes a lot of work to become a good player,” she said. “You have to have some skills to work with and you have to be athletic. You also have to listen to your coaches and work hard at practice every time you take the field.”
When she isn’t playing for the Blue Devils, you can find Pinette competing for Juventus Academy, a travel team with ties to Boston based in Taunton.
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“I play all year round,” Pinette said. “I practice two days a week with Juventus and attend occasional showcase tournaments in the winter and play weekend games in the spring. In the summer, I get some time to relax and rest up before starting up again in the fall.
The hard work that Pinette has put in working on her game paid off in a big way this past season when the Blue Devils (15-0-3) won the first South Coast Conference Gold Division championship in school history with a first-ever unbeaten regular season.
“That was an amazing accomplishment for everybody, because the SCC is such a competitive conference,” Pinette said. “We had great team chemistry together, because we grew up playing with each other and we’re close with each other off the field.”
Playing with balance, patience, and confidence proved to be keys for the Blue Devils.
“We had a really good offense and we played strong defense. It was a total team effort all season,” Pinette said. “We were solid on both sides of the ball and we played together as a team. Everybody put the team first and we all pulled together to be successful.”
For second-year coach Allie Lima, getting a chance to coach an accomplished player like Pinette was a dream come true.
“She was a great goal scorer, but she also worked hard to move the ball and create scoring chances for her teammates,” Lima said. “She really did a good job distributing the ball and she was a dangerous scorer around the net who was good at putting the ball in the net. She took advantage of her size and speed to get past defenders and attack the net. She made everybody around her better and she loved being a part of the team. She always put the team first and we’re going to miss her next season.”
ALL ABOUT LIZA PINETTE
WHY SHE WAS SELECTED: Helped lead the Blue Devils to a first-ever unbeaten regular season and the first South Coast Conference Gold Division championship in school history. Was a unanimous pick for Most Valuable Player in the conference, according to Lima.
KEY STATS: Led the SCC with 30 goals and also notched seven assists. Improved on the 19 goals she netted last season.
MVP MOMENT: Scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 SCC win over visiting Apponequet on the turf field at Alumni Stadium in early October. The Lakers would go on to win the SCC Blue Division championship.
APPONEQUET COACH ROBIN IRELAND: “Liza is a big, physical player who’s strong on the ball and has good skills. She’s a quality finisher who takes advantage of her scoring chances and finds a way to put the ball in the net.”
NOTES: Competed as a sprinter (55 and 300 meters) for the Blue Devils’ track team as a freshman, before deciding to focus exclusively on soccer. … Is looking at Western New England College to possible continue her soccer career and major in pharmacy. … Lives in Acushnet and has an older brother named Chase.
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