Respect earns MHS opponents top tries

Hillsborough tops boys in SCT

By: Justin Feil
   The Montgomery High boys’ soccer team has earned a lot of respect in the past couple of seasons.
   It’s good for the program, even as it makes each game a little tougher for the Cougars this year. MHS, which graduated most of its starting squad from a year ago, hasn’t missed a beat, even if they could not return to the Somerset County Tournament finals. Saturday, the Cougars lost to Hillsborough, a team they defeated 2-0 earlier in the season, in the quarterfinals of the SCT, 3-2. It’s a revenge scenario the Cougars could face plenty over the next few weeks, as there will be plenty of opponents who have lost recently to MHS.
   "I was trying to get the point across after the game," said MHS head coach Shaun McMulkin, whose team slipped to 9-4. "Teams we’ve already played, they’re coming back to get us. They’re looking for revenge. It happens with a lot of teams, whether it’s been from last season or this season. From the last couple of years, we’ve had target on our uniforms.
   "We’re looked at as a good program and people know we’re going to have good teams. We get that type of respect. We have to match or be better than the team that shows up to play us. We need to be ready. If not, we’ll have a tough time beating teams."
   Hillsborough was ready from the opening whistle for its chance to exact revenge. They scored three times in the first half before the Cougars caught their breath. MHS, however, played like the solid program it is in the second half and rallied with goals by Nick Bellizzi and Mark Wiltse, who missed part of the game with an injury. The rally came up short on a tough day for MHS soccer. The girls’ team also lost in the SCT quarterfinals, 1-0, in the final minute to Somerville.
   "Our first half wasn’t too good," McMulkin said. "Obviously Hillsborough came looking for the win and they played real well. We didn’t. In the second half, we had to fight back. We managed a couple goals, but not enough.
   "I think the intensity level had to come up," he added of the halftime adjustments. "And the team had to come together a little more than it was. Those were the two main things we did. And we tried to increase the speed of play and get things moving a little quicker."
   McMulkin hopes that the lesson of the slow start isn’t lost on the Cougar boys, who will play at Immaculata today and host Watchung Hills on Thursday. MHS beat them by a combined 9-1 score in its first meetings this season. Saturday’s SCT loss showed that teams won’t be backing down in their second chance at the Cougars.
   "From the first time we played Hillsborough, they really stepped up," McMulkin said. "Obviously any teams we see in states can be like that. We play Hillsborough one more time at home. Any team we play at states, could be a team we’ve seen this year or seen last year. It could be someone familiar with us."
   It means that the Cougars will have to respond quicker than they did against Hillsborough. McMulkin downplayed the fact that many in the MHS lineup were playing in their first SCT varsity tournament.
   "The kids that came up from JV, they played all the way to the final of the JV tournament and tied," he said. "They know all about it. It just comes from the team as a whole being ready to play. It didn’t happen in the first half (Saturday)."
   McMulkin further explained that the Cougars have sustained their level of success by bringing up better and better players each year. It’s been the key to building up the program. Sustaining the success of last year has been quite an achievement for the Cougars.
   "That’s more of a compliment to the players that came into the positions that we graduated," McMulkin said. "It’s a real compliment to those players. They’ve stepped up to that challenge. We lost twice to Bridgewater, which is Top 5 in the state, and took them to overtime. Ridge, we lost 3-2 and Hillsborough, we lost 3-2.
   "We’ve taken all those four losses to as close as we could get to tying them. Knock on wood, we haven’t been blown out yet. That’s something I’m happy about. We’re competing. As long as we’re competing, everybody’s happy."
   Competing the way the Cougars did in the second half against Hillsborough on Saturday will make them happier. MHS can use its loss for fodder for the rest of the season. If they didn’t quite understand yet, they do now know just how much teams are gunning for them.
   It won’t make the loss any easier to swallow nor make the rest of the season any less competitive. It’s just another sign of the level of play and the respect that the Cougars have sustained again this year.