Star Gazing: Raven Palmerie

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Woodland star Raven Palmerie accomplished an impressive feat last week: four goals in 10 minutes.
Woodland star Raven Palmerie accomplished an impressive feat last week: four goals in 10 minutes.

On the Field: Woodland junior center-midfielder Raven Palmerie was tabbed by coach Joe Fortier before the season to be the Hawks’ leader this year, and she has certainly lived up to the billing. Palmerie led the Hawks to an 8-6-2 regular season record, a mark which surpassed the expectations of many prognosticators. The junior also poured in four goals in the first 10 minutes of last Friday’s 5-0 win over Derby. One after another, freshman Keri DeBiase hooked up with Palmerie, who beat Derby’s keeper one-on-one three times and blasted the fourth right through her hands for good measure.

By the Numbers: Palmerie has racked up 14 goals and six assists for a total of 34 points, which easily leads the team and places her among the Naugatuck Valley League scoring leaders. Her four goals in the first 10 minutes of last Friday’s match at Derby is believed to be a school record—and earned her a seat on the bench for the rest of the day, because let’s face it, four goals is plenty for a day’s work.

In Her Own Words: “My adrenaline was pumping. I knew that I wanted to score a lot of the goals in the game, and once I got started, I couldn’t stop. I have to give a lot of credit to Keri DeBiase. I and she know where each other is on the field all the time, and we know where to play and ball. We work together so well. … I think our team has improved so much. Even Coach keeps saying you can tell that the little things have been progressing slowly but surely. There is still stuff to work on, but you can definitely tell we are a different team than when we first played Ansonia. I feel like I’ve done what I’ve needed to do, but I can’t take all the credit because the girls took it upon themselves to play up to the varsity level and they matured. I do my best to encourage them and get them motivated for big games.”