Pingry too much for Manville
By: Rudy Brandl
There was no way the Manville High girls’ soccer team could have won Saturday’s Somerset County Tournament quarterfinal game at Pingry. The Lady Mustangs simply had everything working against them.
For starters, Pingry had too much skill and experience. Even if Manville was completely healthy and playing at full strength, this would have been a tall order.
"They were awesome, just too good," MHS head coach Nestor Cortina said after watching his club fall to 6-7-1. "They looked like a professional team. They scored beautiful goals."
Manville was playing its second game within less than 24 hours with several key players nursing nagging injuries. Saturday’s game was the team’s fourth in six days and fifth in eight days including the prior Saturday’s 4-1 county tournament victory at Gill St. Bernards.
The MHS girls were also playing without standout scorer Lauren Kohler, who had to sit out the game after receiving a controversial red card in the previous day’s game at Jonathan Dayton Regional in Springfield. It’s unlikely that Kohler’s presence could have altered the 6-0 loss to Pingry.
"They were really well-trained," Cortina said. "They just outpassed us by 100 percent. They always knew where each other was on the field. They played very smart."
Leslie Hynes scored twice and Jessie Munger and Sarah Dwyer each had a goal and an assist for the Big Blue, who raced to a 4-0 lead at the half. MHS goalkeeper Stefanie Bocchino made 30 saves to keep the score from getting out of hand.
"She had an awesome game, but she couldn’t save all of them," Cortina said.
Pingry took advantage of the wide-open spaces on its large home field, which was a major change for Manville after playing Friday’s game on a tiny field. The Lady Mustangs were the more skilled team vs. Dayton but the small field served as an equalizer. Manville could have used that edge at Pingry, but the larger dimensions allowed the better team to take advantage.
The large field also magnified Manville’s fatigue against Pingry. The Lady Mustangs had battled Dayton to a scoreless tie and fought hard in a 2-1 loss to Roselle Park earlier in the week, so this was a tired team. Facing a tough team on a big field made matters worse.
"The Dayton field wasn’t even regulation size and the ball was out like 20 percent of the time," Cortina said. "Today, we played on the biggest field we’ve played on all year and that killed us."
Cortina wasn’t upset about the loss, but more annoyed by the call against Kohler in Friday’s game. The Lady Mustangs dominated the game but couldn’t score. Then, they had to play the last 20 minutes without a top player.
Kohler charged in aggressively to get a loose ball as the Dayton goalkeeper grabbed it. Kohler bumped into the keeper and the official issued a red card. Cortina responded with a furious argument and earned a yellow card warning for his words.
"I told him I wanted the card and at least I earned it," he said. "Lauren didn’t deserve that red card. It was a 50-50 ball and she was just trying to get it."
Friday’s experience, although ending in a 0-0 tie, was more unpleasant in some ways than Saturday’s county eviction. The Lady Mustangs had to settle for a tie on a horrible field with some questionable officiating.
At least Saturday’s game wasn’t decided by anything but raw skill.
"They’re even ranked in the state," Cortina said. "You can tell they breed soccer players just by the way they act and how they play the game."
The Lady Mustangs entered the week needed to win two of three games to qualify for the state playoffs. Manville will be at home for all three Valley Division games, with today’s battle against New Providence shaping up as the toughest.
Wins over Dayton and North Plainfield would have put the girls back in the playoffs, but the MHS girls were blanked 1-0 by Dayton on Monday afternoon. That left the Lady Mustangs with two must-wins in a row.
"We’re still upbeat," Cortina said. "We’re banged up with some injuries, but we’re hanging in there."

