Heather Doucette isn’t one to show her emotions. A group of 10 players changed that. The John Stark girls soccer mentor stood at midfield following her team’s 4-1 loss to Bedford in the Class I quarterfinals, embracing 10 seniors before they walked off the field one final time on Saturday, Oct. 31.

“It was really hard. We grew up together and figured out what kind of squad we were going to be,” said Doucette. “I try to be cool most of the time, but it broke my heart seeing it end for them.”

On Thursday, Oct. 29, Lauren Macklin gave her team a 1- 0 victory over Pembroke Academy in the preliminary round of the tournament when she scored with 11:24 remaining to break a scoreless tie.

Macklin waited patiently before stepping around two PA defenders and firing into the corner of the net to propel her team to the win.

The Generals were overmatched by No. 2 Bedford in the next round, falling behind 3-0 in the first half of play. Macklin cracked the scoreboard with 14:17 remaining when she pounded home a loose ball in front of the net, but the Bulldogs responded little more than a minute later to quash any hopes of a comeback. Stark had a prime scoring opportunity in the first 10 minutes of play when Macklin came streaking into the goalie box looking to put a shot on net.

Bedford goalie Aubrey Ouellet had other ideas, attacking the ball and kicking it out of harm’s way before Macklin could pull the trigger.

“They came out on fire and were tackling very tough,” said Bedford’s head coach, Michelle Winning, whose team advanced to a second consecutive semifinal game.

“They don’t give up, and they are a very physical team.”

John Stark loses seniors Macklin, Kayla Hubbard, Emily Pineault, Mia Fournier, Jessica Constant, Sydney Getzin, Megan Gosselin, Angela Beaulieu, Sadie MacLean and Molly Dussault.

Doucette admitted there are a lot of holes to fill next season, though she said with a strong offseason commitment the team can continue its recent tradition of postseason success.

“I felt like we were going against a giant, but we were going to take them on,” said Doucette of her team’s game against Bedford. “We had two more games in our heads. We weren’t ready to say goodbye to our seniors quite yet.”