Jessica Fuccello, who has scored so many tournament game-winning goals, helped move Brick Memorial’s girls soccer team to just one victory away from a shot at a third straight NJSIAA Group IV championship.
The junior forward touched her 31st goal of the season into the right corner off a through pass from Mallory Baker, splitting two Steinert defenders, as Brick Memorial prevailed, 1-0, in the Central Jersey section finals Thursday, its fourth title in six years. The goal came with five minutes left in the half and Shannon Boe made it stand up in goal for the 10th shutout for 17-2-1 Brick Memorial.
Next stop was Tuesday afternoon at Southern Regional against Lenape, a 3-1 victor over Washington Township in South Jersey. Brick Memorial has played there at least once every year in its Shore Conference A South schedule and coach Bill Caruso said the familiarity will help on a surface that’s a bit wider than the Mustangs’ home field.
“I’m ecstatic that we put two great efforts together against two great teams,” said Caruso, referring to the previous 1-0 victory over East Brunswick.
“I don’t know if we’ve ever played two back-to-back games like that. We’re at that peak so now we have to stay on that level.”
Brick Memorial played Lenape three times before when the Mustangs were in the South Jersey section for section championships. Lenape won on penalty kicks, 2-1, in 2000 and Brick Memorial won the following two years, 2-1 and 2-0.
“We got some reports that they have a real strong center midfielder and they’re strong at forward, but that they’re outside backs are beatable, which we hope to exploit with Jess and Mallory,” said Caruso. “We just have to match that intensity we’ve had.
“We struggled all year to find that effort for an entire game at times. At times we lacked it. Now we know the girls have it.”
Fuccello’s 31 goals moves her into third place on the school’s all-time list for goals in a season behind Crystal Petracoro’s 35 in 1998 and 36 in 1999. And Caruso said Boe’s play in goal “is exactly what we hoped for, that she’d improve every game.”
The winner on Tuesday plays 4 p.m. Saturday at the College of New Jersey in Ewing against the Roxbury-Watchung Hills winner.
“All year long we’ve been talking about this and it was hard for the younger players to understand, but the veteran players did such a good job of getting it into the younger players’ heads,” said center midfielder Shana Brady, who has been the catalyst for the Mustangs and who is headed to Siena next fall. “This is the time to play the best soccer and I definitely think we are.
“The turning point was our second-round game against Manalapan [a 2-1 victory] when we didn’t come out to play in the beginning, and the coach talked to us at halftime and said to step it up or it’s the whole season. It’s OK when you don’t play your best soccer, as long as you win and play with all your heart.”
Just as in many games this season, the Mustangs stayed on the attack after scoring their goal, unlike many teams that slip into a defensive shell after that.
With a slim 4-1 scoring edge in the three state tournament games, Brick Memorial will be ready for any pressure coming from Lenape and perhaps in the state finals.
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer