MHS girls’ soccer wins sectional title

Cougars top Ridge to claim North 2, III

By: Justin Feil
   The Montgomery High girls’ soccer team always had big dreams.
   Until this season, they came close but never came true.
   MHS won its first North Jersey, Section 2 Group III championship when it defeated defending champion Ridge, 1-0, Thursday. The Cougars also beat Ridge in the second game of the season for the first time in program history and Thursday’s win avenged last year’s season-ending loss in the NJ 2 III semifinals.
   "I told the girls this is what we want," said MHS head coach Jeremy Beardsley, whose squad improved to 17-2-2. "We want to go through the defending champ. We want to play them on our field and beat them. That’s what we want.
   "It couldn’t be a more quality program that we beat and a tradition of excellence that we’re trying to start. We think we’ve put together a good number of years now. We just missed this moment in the past. This year, this group has wanted this. They stepped up and played a lights-out defensive game and got one big moment. It was all about execution today. The girls deserve all the credit."
   Front to back it was a total team effort that delivered the Cougars’ first NJ 2 III sectional soccer title after two straight seasons of losing in the semifinals. In the back, Melissa Martin, Maureen Chenot and Micaela Collins limited Ridge to just six shots on goalie Ally Mancino, who did not have to make a difficult save. The midfield, led by Allison Slattery, Shannon Hayes, Caitlin Erchick and Erin Columbia, also overwhelmed the Red Devils and kept the ball in the Ridge end. That’s where Lauren McClintic, Brianna Miller, Maggie Molfetas, Alexa Vazquez and Marcia Voight were able to apply pressure to the tune of an 18-6 shot advantage.
   Voight hit the bottom of the crossbar six seconds before the first half ended, but it took little time in the second half for the Cougars to get their goal. Chenot’s corner kick sailed into the middle of goal mouth before McClintic finally sent it in less than two minutes into the second half for the only goal they’d need.
   "It hit Maggie and Bri; basically it was a big, big scramble," said McClintic, who leads the Cougars with 16 goals. "I was hoping it would go in so we could get a score and win the game. Luckily I was able to get it into the side netting."
   Added Beardsley, "It was a moment. Lauren’s been sticking big moments all year. That’s her 16th goal. We’ve never had a girl have more than 12 goals in seven years. She’s really a midfielder that we moved up front. And she’s scored huge goals. They are not weak goals. She’s scored big goals and that was as big as they come."
   The Cougars kept the ball in their possession following the goal and a direct kick with 25 seconds to go was the scariest situation for Mancino and the defense. The Red Devil kick went well over the crossbar and MHS had its championship. The Cougars play the winner of Northern Highlands and Ramapo 2 p.m. Tuesday at Ramsey High.
   "It’s amazing," said Martin, a senior captain in the middle of the Cougars’ defensive line. "And it’s my birthday. It’s the best present I could ever want."
   Montgomery reached the finals for first time after failing in the three sectional semifinals it reached in the four previous years. The Cougars used a pair of early goals from Columbia and Miller for an early 2-0 lead and held off second-seeded Millburn, 3-0, Monday. They didn’t start as quickly against fourth-seeded Ridge, but the third-seeded Cougars came on strong. The defense did the rest.
   "We kept playing the same way we’ve been playing, three in the back supporting each other," Martin said. "We weren’t going to change anything just for this one game."
   Even if it was Ridge, a team that the Cougars had long found themselves on the wrong side of losing scores in the past. That changed in the first meeting of the two this year. But Thursday’s game carried more weight with a sectional title on the line and made the games hard to compare.
   "It was the second game of the season," Martin said. "The energy was the same, but there was something about this game. We all just fought together."
   The two teams should be plenty familiar. They mirror each other in everything from colors to philosophies. The Red Devils also employ a defense with just three in the back, which allows them to commit more people for the attack. It’s a team defense that MHS has perfected in recent years.
   "They are going to get beat if the seven girls in front of them are not working as hard as them, aren’t positioning themselves and we’re not keeping our shape," Beardsley said. "If those seven don’t get it done, those three are going to get beat. It’s such a team-oriented system."
   Thursday, the Cougars were the ones on the attack for the majority of the game and they put more pressure on Ridge until McClintic’s goal helped them break through for the win to erase all the missed moments in the past.
   "I always thought about it, that it would be awesome, especially being a senior," Martin said. "I’m really going to remember this, winning sectionals in states. In the beginning of the year, I was thinking about counties. Once counties were over, I thought, we have to win because we blew it in counties."
   In hindsight, Beardsley credits the Somerset County Tournament opening loss to Somerville for helping the Cougars focus for states. MHS has started each of its three games quickly, the first two started quickly on the scoreboard while Thursday’s game started quickly in terms of the amount of possession and establishing control.
   "I knew we weren’t going to allow this to slip by like we did in the counties," Beardsley said. "So Somerville, that result is almost responsible for this run."
   The run continues as Montgomery takes on the North Jersey 1 Group III champion Tuesday. The Cougars look to extend a run and continue the best season in program history.
   "We have worked very hard to put together a program that is going to have some consistency to it," Beardsley said. "In the preseason, we went to Penn State camp and started to get a personality to our play and to our team. I thought we had some winners who were a part of this group and some real fighters.
   "Early on in the year, that first Ridge win, I really felt we had something going."
   It was confirmed with a second win over Ridge on Thursday for the sectional title.