Shooting to the top

Patrice Vettori owns a lot of lasts on the Dedham High girls soccer team. The senior captain is the last Marauder to make the varsity as eighth-grader, the last five-year starter and the last link to the most successful team in program history, the 2005 Division 2 state finalists.

Friday, Vettori added a very special first to that list.

With two goals and an assist in a 3-2 victory over Natick, Vettori became the school’s all-time leading scorer with 116 points, eclipsing former teammate Sydney Stoll to take over the top spot in the record book.

“It feels good, it’s a honor,” said Vettori. “I didn’t even really know how close I was until (coach Don Savi) told me.”

Vettori enter the game a point behind Stoll. The tying point was one of easiest of her career as she just touched the ball on an indirect kick to set up a blast by Jenna Savi to give Dedham the lead.

The record-setter came in familiar form as she headed in a corner kick from Savi, a recurring theme this fall between the Bay State Conference’s two top scorers. Vettori struck for a second goal before the half was up, the eventual game-winner.

The three-point day gave her a league-best 20 goals to go with nine assists. Her 29 points puts her only behind teammate Savi (33 points) in the BSC.

“Her level of play has really increased this year,” said Dedham coach Don Savi of Vettori. “She’s one of the best players if not the best player in the league and her leadership has been tremendous this year. She has really stepped it up in all areas of her game.”

It’s been a gradual ascension up the ladder of Marauder greats. Vettori stepped immediately into a starting spot as an eighth-grader at outside midfield, playing vital role on a team became the first Dedham sectional champions.

Savi knew what he was getting, having coached another standout Vettori, sister Janelle, the previous four years.

“Her skills were always ahead of her age,” said Savi of the younger Vettori. “We knew we had a player and she fit right it.”

Vettori put up just six points that first year, but posted 26 as freshman, 30 as a sophomore and 25 as a junior to get to 87, eventually moving to her current forward position and earning BSC All-Star nods in each of the past last three years.

“With more experience I started to get better,” said Vettori. “Each year has been really good.”

This fall, Vettori has been nearly unstoppable, scoring in 12 of the Marauders first 16 contests, including each of the last five, and registering at least one point in 14. Friday’s performance was her fifth multi-goal game of the year, including a four-goal eruption the night she hit the century mark and a hat trick in the second meeting with Norwood.

Along the way she climbed over former teammates Jenni Hibbard (98), Nicole Savi (105) and Stoll (114) on the all-time list. Going into yesterday’s scheduled game with Milton, she sits at 65 goals and 51 assists for her career.

“She’s become more of scorer as the years went on where she used to be more of playmaker,” said Savi. “Her game has really expanded.”

But the most important numbers for the Marauders this year is their 13-2-1 overall record and 11-2-1 league mark, which had them a point away from clinching the Herget Division title with games left last night against Milton and tomorrow against Walpole.

“We didn’t expected to be competing for the title,” said Savi. “Our goal has been to make tournament with players that we graduates but with her leadership and her play we are in the middle of the race and we’re really excited,” said Savi.

“This year I knew we needed to score a lot of goals so I have just been doing my best to help the team,” said Vettori. “We have definitely exceeded expectations. I’m really happy with how were are playing this season.”

(Tom Fargo is Sports Editor for the Dedham Transcript. He can be reached at (781) 433-8372 or tfargo@cnc.com.)