Senior scores, prevents goals as girls’ soccer reaches semis
By: Bob Nuse
Remember the Bugs Bunny episode where the hero plays all the positions on the field in a baseball game? He pitches, catches, plays the outfield. Bugs did it all that day.
Well, Saturday afternoon there’s a good chance Kelly Quinlan felt a lot like Bugs Bunny did that day. The Montgomery High senior did a little bit of everything in helping the Cougars girls’ soccer team get past Hillsborough in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals.
First, she scored a goal with just over two minutes left in regulation to force overtime. Then, after the overtime session ended with the teams still tied, 2-2, Quinlan got into goal for the first time in her life and made two saves on penalty kicks. As the icing on the cake, she then scored the fourth and decided penalty kick to lift the Cougars to victory and into the semifinals, where they’ll face top-seeded Ridge on Saturday.
"With (starting goalie) Renee Totaro out we had to make a lot of moves," Montgomery coach Jeremy Beardsley said. "And they worked because the girls made them work. They all worked so hard and battled the whole way. It was a great win for the girls and a great win for the program."
With the win, Montgomery reached the SCT semifinals for just the second time ever. And while everyone contributed, it was Quinlan who made her presence felt all over the field.
"She made two saves on the penalty kicks and it was because she’s just a great natural athlete," said Beardsley, whose team will face Ridge on Saturday at Raritan Valley Community College. "I just wanted her to get in there and react to the ball. We had worked on it a little in practice the day before and I told her if we got to the situation where we went to penalty kicks, putting her in there was something I would consider.
"Not only did she make the two saves, but she also made the shot to win the game. The parents came over after the game and they were stunned. When Kelly was going out there she had Lauren (Thurlow’s) shirt on and they thought it was Lauren."
Instead it was Quinlan, who made Beardsley’s bold move work out. When Totaro went down with a leg injury last week, the Cougars were forced to move Thurlow back into the goal. That also forced the move of Quinlan back to the sweeper spot, where she helped anchor the defense Saturday.
With the Cougars down, 2-1, it was Quinlan’s header that tied the game. In the extra session, Montgomery missed its first penalty kick to get itself in a hole. But then Jen Dubin, Amanda Mathison, Dana Gucinski and Quinlan all scored, while Quinlan made saves on Hillsborough’s second and fifth shots.
"Everybody did a great job for us," Beardsley said. "While we were doing the kicks I kept saying to myself that the girls really deserved to win this. They’ve been through so much this year and they’ve kept coming back. First, Julie Baugh went down with an injury and then Renee. We had two kids transfer out that were key players last year as freshmen and we lost six other senior starters.
"But these girls have just kept working hard and they’ve done a great job this year. It will be exciting to face Ridge. They’re a great team and they knocked us out of the states last year. This will be real exciting for us."
Chances are it can’t get much more exciting than Saturday’s quarterfinal win. But you can bet the Cougars will do everything they can to see that kind of excitement happens again.