Photo: Belmont High School Girls Soccer captains Hannah Glavin and Anna Santos hold the Phoenix Cup after the team won Soccer Night in Belmont vs Watertown

Belmont High Girls’ Soccer Head Coach Jemmy Cange should have been celebrating his team’s 2-0 victory over Watertown as the Marauders defended the Phoenix Cup as winners of Soccer Night In Belmont on Saturday, Sept. 23.

But in the drenching rain, as his team reveled in the win, Cange began tallying the players who didn’t finish the game. Belmont’s most consistent scoring threats, senior captain Lena Marinell – back on the team after more than a year off the pitch due to injury and who scored a hat trick in Belmont’s previous game – and sophomore attacker Danica Zicha were forced to leave the game. In the game’s final minute, a Belmont player was struck by a Watertown clearing shot that required her to be taken off the field.

“It doesn’t look good right now,” Cange said for a quick return of the players. “We will have to wait to really know.”

Belmont held most of the possession and scoring chances in the first half of the match, played under an unceasing drizzle. But the sure hands of Watertown’s senior goalie Sarah Morrissey and the steady performance from senior defender Lily Lambo.

The breakthrough finally came early in the second half from junior Lucy Hynds, who was in the right place at the right time to one-time the corner kick into the upper netting for her initial varsity goal.

“It was really exciting to score my first high school goal,” she said, returning from her own year-long injury.

“We had a lot of opportunities. We were just a little unlucky for a while … but towards the end, it started to get better, and we started to come together,” said Hynds, who was named Soccer Night’s Player of the Match.

Belmont’s senior captain Anna Santos finished the scoring by redirecting a shot from the right side in the match’s final stages.

Belmont upped its record to 4-2. But now, in the heart of the demanding Middlesex League schedule, Cange will need to unpack a new way of scoring.

“No one’s going to replace Nena and the talent that she has. But we have a really good team,” Cange said.

“I told them during the whole season injuries are going to happen, so we have to prepare and everyone has to step up. And today was a good example of that. When Nena and Danica went out, Anna and Lucy came through,” he said.

Hynds said the best approach the team can have going forward is to “just keep the momentum up and get excited for every game.”