By: Ron Parent
It was quite the reality check for the Monroe Township High School girls soccer team.
Immediately following a relatively favorable early schedule that found the squad winning its first three games without allowing a goal, the Falcons were confronted with perhaps the Greater Middlesex Conference’s best team for one game and perhaps its best player the next.
The three-day, two-game span didn’t go well, as Woodbridge and North Brunswick boosted by junior phenom Kaitlyn Curran’s four goals each defeated Monroe by a combined total of 9-2, dropping it to 3-2 for the season.
By the time this Monday rolled around, that bump in the road was a week old and the Falcons faced back-to-back games against two of the GMC White Division’s best teams on back-to-back days. And with the season more or less hanging in the balance, a defense that had been burned badly bounced back in a big way.
"We had a tough week last week, and we had to get back on the horse; I think we all realized that we were a better team than what we put out there against North Brunswick, and I think the score against Woodbridge is not definitive of what that game really was," coach Kathy Dillon said. "And even though the beginning of this week was a killer, in two physical games, we really came together nicely."
Monroe knocked off Colonia and Sayreville by identical 1-0 scores 24 hours apart to jump right back in the divisional hunt.
In game one on Monday afternoon in Colonia, Allison Arnold scored a gorgeous goal from 35 yards away early in the first half and a suffocating Falcons defense only yielded three shots. In game two the next day at home, with legs growing heavy as the game wore on, Alanna Carr scored on a breakaway with 13 minutes left in regulation and goalkeeper Caitlin Hoskins made seven saves to capture her second straight shutout.
In the 26-team GMC, as of Tuesday evening only two teams other than Monroe Old Bridge and Metuchen could boast even two 1-0 victories this season. The Falcons now have three.
"We talked a lot about getting back more on defense (this week)," said Dillon, chuckling as she recalled Curran’s tear (the forward scored all four of her goals last week on breakaways), "and we emphasized a little more of a transitional game."
As the Falcons approach the halfway point of the regular season at 5-2, Dillon says one of very few concerns she has with the team is offense. But with Carr, regarded in the preseason as the team’s top threat, heating up along with scoring the game-winner on Tuesday, she assisted on Arnold’s goal on Monday that might not be a worry for long.
"We’re very technically sound, and hopefully we’ll break that seal where we can start popping (goals) in soon," Dillon said. "I think we have the ability to do so."
In Carr, not only do the Falcons have a go-to player, but they also have among the top brother-sister duos in the area. Alanna and her senior brother, Frank, are the leading goal scorers for the Falcons’ boys and girls teams.

