By: Carolyn M. Hartko
NORTH BRUNSWICK Going into Tuesday’s girls’ soccer game at North Brunswick, the Monroe Township High School Lady Falcons had a simple game plan: try to contain the Lady Raiders left wing Trish Veloso, currently the number two scorer in the Greater Middlesex Conference.
But even with extra attention from Monroe defenders, the Raider spark plug registered a hat trick to lead her team to a 3-1 victory over the Falcons (4-2). The Raiders are 5-0-1.
"We did reasonably well until the end," Falcon head coach Matt DeFilippis said. "We had a plan, we used it, and it worked pretty well I thought. We just need to score more goals."
The job of marking Veloso fell mostly to outside back Lisa Gaydas and sweeper Nova Roman, and anyone else who was free when the ball got near the Raider striker.
"We told Lisa to stick on her tight and just do what she could do," Roman said. "We tried not to let Trish run past us."
That last part was important because Veloso spends her time running when she’s not playing soccer. In fact, Roman and Veloso go head to head in several events during the high school spring track season, as well as being rivals on the soccer field. Roman cut off Veloso break-aways several times on Tuesday.
"We’re really good friends," Roman said of her some-time foe. "But out on the field and on the track, it’s tricky."
Veloso notched her first goal 18 minutes into the game before Jill Byrne evened the score with a rocket to the far post from about 30 yards out on the right wing.
Both teams had chances to break the stalemate in the second half. Falcon keeper Lindsay Jones (14 saves) denied Veloso on a point blank shot in the 19th minute. Katie Lederman came close to putting the Falcons up, but her shot from out on the right just missed wide left. Veloso netted the game winner in the 28th minute, and completed her hat trick two minutes later.
DeFilippis is still looking for one or two people to step up and fill in for last year’s senior Erin Schobert (29 goals).
"We need to score more goals," the coach said. "And two of our starting forwards are injured. When they come back, we’ll probably be a little more active when it comes to shooting."
