Sisters put Lesley soccer on map
Fralick sisters after Jodi's record-breaking 46th goal in 2008
Story courtesy of John Vellante, columnist for the Boston Globe North Sports Notebook
The senior, Jodi, is what coach Paul Vasconcelos calls "a cutthroat, take-it-to-the goal and score type of player.''
The sophomore, Jenna, he says, "is more cerebral, a tactical thinker.''
Together, sisters Jodi and Jenna Fralick of Woburn have given credibility to a Lesley University women's soccer program that just three years ago struggled through a dismal 2-15-2 season.
This season, the pair are the catalysts who have made Lesley the preseason pick to win its first New England Collegiate Conference championship. Lesley won its first three games before being tripped up by Mount Holyoke, 2-1, and the Fralicks have already combined for seven goals and two assists.
But scoring goals is nothing new to Jodi Fralick. In her first three seasons, she had pumped in 71 goals (22, 22, and 27) and added 20 assists, making her the all-time scorer in program history. Throw in the five she already has this year and she is a legitimate threat to wind up with 100 or more career goals. If she does that, according to Vasconcelos, she would rank in the top 10 among the nation's Division 3 players.
"One hundred goals? I'd love to do it, but that's a stretch,'' admitted Jodi, a 5-foot-2 striker. "Conceivably it could happen, but more than anything else, I want a championship for this team. That would be much better. A championship and a chance to play in the NCAAs. Winning is a lot more important to me than personal goals.''
She is, according to Vasconcelos, a complete athlete, one who "just happens to excel in soccer. She has blazing speed and she finishes. Some players shoot. She shoots and finishes. She, as well as the other seniors, have helped turn this program around.''
Jodi is coming off a season in which she earned NECC Player of the Year honors after leading Lesley to a school-best 16-3-2 record. The year before Lesley was 14-4-1. But Fralick remembers that lean freshman year of 2-15-1. "It was frustrating,'' she said. "We always had winning teams at Woburn High and were always playing in the postseason tournaments. It was tough winning just two games. But I knew it would get better and it did. We have a lot to be proud of.''
Jenna is also a goal scorer, with two thus far after netting 10 as a freshman.
"I'm usually the one checking back and Jodi's the one finishing, and I like that role,'' she said. "I like to make things happen. What Jodi does is absolutely amazing, and I love getting the ball to her. We just seem to click. I know where she is going to be on the field and she knows where I'm going to be. We know what to expect from each other. I guess you can call it a sister sense.''
Jodi chimed in, "Scoring is always on my mind, but Jenna is the brains of the operation.''
Also on the team are seniors Hailee Lowe of Hamilton and Cathryn Folkestad of Ipswich. Lowe, a goalie, sports a 2-1 record with a 0.33 goals against average, while Folkestad, a back who lives in Ipswich, has two goals, one of them the game-winner against Eastern Nazarene.
