Pirates top Steinert
By: Justin Feil
Kira Mangone was still adjusting to the varsity level the first time the West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls’ soccer team took on Steinert.
"Definitely being the youngest on the defense, I was nervous to speak up," said the Pirates’ sophomore sweeper. "But it’s gotten better."
The Pirates proved that Thursday. Barely a month after losing, 5-1, to Steinert in the regular season, WW-P South limited the Spartans to one early goal, were tied through regulation and won, 5-4, in a shootout to advance to the Central Jersey Group IV semifinals, scheduled for Monday at Middletown North.
"It felt amazing to win," Mangone said. "We were so excited."
Thursday’s turnaround came thanks in part to an improved defense. Since allowing five goals to Steinert, the Pirates have allowed an opponent more than one goal just once, in a 4-3 loss to Pennington in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals.
"We’ve done a lot of defensive work in practice," Mangone said. "Our defense has really bonded. Now we know where each other is going to be on the field. We’ve become a lot more talkative on the field."
The Pirates got a lift Thursday with Mangone’s return to the field. She was hurt in the Pennington game when she was pushed and fell on her shoulder. Repeated shoves to the ground finally left her with a slight separation that caused her to miss the weekend practice as well as the Pirates’ state opener. Though she was nervous about the prospects of falling on it again, she did not want to miss the Steinert rematch.
"It was such a big game, I could not skip it," Mangone said. "It was the quarterfinals against Steinert and we really wanted to beat them."
Mangone, who made it into the second half before re-injuring her shoulder and leaving the game, was happy to be a part of the historic win. The Pirates handed Steinert its first loss to a Colonial Valley Conference opponent in two seasons. Despite the regular-season result, the Pirates went into the game confident.
"I know I have a skilled and talented team," said Chris Miller, whose squad improved to 13-3-1. "I have confidence in them. It’s a matter of getting them all on the same page. It’s a matter of getting the defense where it’s needed. We haven’t got shut out once. Even though we got down five minutes in and my girls got a little nervous, I knew they could do it."
Maura McLaughlin’s header with just under 20 minutes to go in the second half tied the game, 1-1. It remained that way through the end of regulation and two overtimes. Then, Alexa Suarez, Kris Shemming, Kelly McLaughlin, Kate Wyman and Lauren Ruta made their penalty kicks and Pirates’ goalkeeper Lauren Fucetola stopped one shot to give them the win.
"We were pretty confident going into the shootout," Mangone said. "We all have a lot of confidence in Fuce’ to stop shots. Our whole team was on the sidelines. We have a ritual now where we hold hands with them and pray for everyone shooting and hope for our keeper to stop their shots. We all get so excited when she does. And we get so excited when we make one in."
Miller was thrilled that her team could pull together for the win. It was one that came with contributions from every player. When Mangone went out, Megan Voigtsberger moved back to sweeper and kept Steinert off the board.
"It comes down to trusting each other and communicating better," Miller said. "Lauren Fucetola had a tremendous amount to do with that. She’s been directing them back there. We, the coaches, have been saying it’s your defense. They’ll listen to you and they have. It’s not just the defense in back. It’s our team defense."
Voigtsberger certainly helped keep the defense strong when Mangone went out. But having Mangone in to start the game also helped the Pirates. She’s grown more confident with each start and helped solidify the Pirates in the back.
"We weren’t sure who was going to be able to step up and replace Sasha (Persad) back there," Miller said. "I had thought maybe somebody from last year would. But they’re better when they mark someone. When I put them back there, they did a good job, but Kira was a natural.
"We needed her feet out there (Thursday)," she added. "She has tremendous foot speed. She gets her hips around and chases the ball around as well as anyone. Megan and Kira are our speediest defenders. They can really chase people down and they can both make good through-ball passes."
Voigtsberger and Mangone are two of the youngest contributors for the Pirates. They played like veterans, however, in the win over Steinert to show how far WW-P South has come. Miller credits their contributions and also points to the strong leaders on the team.
"All the seniors really inspire them," Miller said. "They’ve really led tremendously well. They’re trying to keep the intensity level up at practice. They wanted to beat Steinert so bad. I think maybe they wanted it a little more. Maybe Steinert looked at them lightly because it was 5-1 and they scored in the first four or five minutes (Thursday). But we proved we could come back after we came back down, 3-1, to Pennington. We knew we could do it."

