It was more startling to see a shot miss wide than to see one fly into the back of the net. Her absurd stat lines became the new normal. From the very first game of the season – a six-goal, four-assist masterpiece against Gilford – it was clear that Sheridan Brummett was operating on a different level than her peers.
The Bishop Brady forward caught the attention of her teammates and coaches, but especially captured the gaze of the teams she was playing against, making Brummett a shoo-in for the Monitor Girls’ Soccer Player of the Season.
“The last game of the regular season, we went up to White Mountains and she had the ball in their offensive half at one point. All of a sudden, she looked up and there were about five blue shirts right around her. Everybody keys in on her,” Bishop Brady girls’ soccer coach Andrew Mattarazzo said. “Everybody needs to know where she is on the field at all times and I think that right there explains what kind of player she is.”
As a freshman last season, Brummett burst onto the scene with 47 goals and 15 assists. But few could foresee the type of year she would put together as a sophomore.
Brummett finished the 2019 campaign with a jaw-dropping 72 goals and 18 assists, guiding the Giants (16-3) to the top seed for the Division III tournament as well as the program’s first appearance in the championship game.
“My biggest thing with her – it’s not just her natural ability – her work ethic is few and far between,” Mattarazzo said.
“People see, ‘Oh, well she scored 72 goals.’ Well she scored 72 goals because she works at it and works hard at it every day of the year, whether it was the first day of tryouts or the last day before the final.”
Brummett nearly had a 73rd goal in a thrilling championship game against Hopkinton, but her would-be score in the opening minutes of overtime was called back in a contest the Giants eventually lost on penalty kicks.
“It’s very frustrating because you just keep replaying the moment of the ball going in over and over again,” Brummett said. “And then all of a sudden, you’re like, ‘Wait, that didn’t count. I need to do it again. I need to find a new strategy to put the ball in the net in a different way.’ That’s just kind of hard to do in a high-stress situation like that.”
Brummett’s season didn’t end with a title, but that didn’t take away from her accomplishments on the field.
She averaged 3.8 goals per game over the course of the season, putting forth eye-popping box scores each step of the way: There was the aforementioned opener against Gilford; she scored four more times a few days later against Somersworth on Sept. 17; delivered a six-point showing in an 8-1 win over Derryfield on Sept. 28; and put her finishing touch and relentless effort on display with six goals in Brady’s blowout win over St. Thomas Aquinas in the semifinals.
“Going into a game, you knew what you were going to get out of her,” Mattarazzo said. “Her work rate and goal production … we knew what were getting out of Sheridan for 80 minutes from start to finish.”
With 119 goals through her first two seasons, Brummett is on pace to surpass the state girls’ record for career goals set by her sister Gabi, a three-time New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year who finished with 226 goals.
Brummett, who had the chance to play with her sister Adrienne this season at Brady, said growing up in a soccer family has played a huge part in her success and style of play.
“I was the youngest of five siblings and we always played soccer together growing up,” Brummett said. “If I wasn’t aggressive, I wasn’t going to touch the ball so I couldn’t just stand around. I had to push back to get the ball. I didn’t have (the ball) for very long, but when I did it was fun.”
Brummett still has two years left at the high school level, a scary thought for the rest of Division III, and she has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
“After the high school season, I immediately start training for my club season (FC Stars of Fitchburg, Mass.). After that’s over, I still have to do fitness, foot skills and keep the ball on my feet 24/7,” Brummett said. “Soccer is a year-round sport for me. It doesn’t really end.”
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)