By: Sean Moylan
In a week where Katie Gavalich developed into a big scoring star for the Ravens, Rick Smith’s Robbinsville High girls’ varsity soccer team struggled because of injuries and dropped two of its last three games.
The week started off very well with Robbinsville clobbering Burlington City, 7-0, last Tuesday (October 3rd). Gavalchin was the star of the game with a trio of goals.
"Katie Gavalchin scored our first three goals. One was on a corner while another was on a header. All three were on crosses by Brittany Noter. We got to them early," said Smith, whose Robbinsville’s team scored six times in the first half. Laura Greb had a pair of first-half goals for Robbinsville, which also got tallies from Carina Fleming and Jen Bryan (assisted by Noter).
The Ravens had 25 shots on goal while the Blue Devils shot just 11 times. Ashely Carfagno (four saves) and Erin Hayes (five saves) had a combined shutout for the Ravens.
"Erin Hayes played well defensively," said Smith, who also got strong, consistent defense from Nicole Hornberger and Casey McGuigan in the contest.
Although Gavalchin scored a first-half goal, Robbinsville suffered a costly 5-1 loss to Notre Dame at Lawrence last Thursday. Carfagno played the first half and made six saves. But she is still not 100 percent because of a recent injury, so Smith gave her the second half off. Unfortunately, her replacement Erin Hankins broke her collarbone and could be lost for the season. Moreover, Nicole Sandusky, a strong freshman defender for the Ravens, suffered a concussion and had to leave the Notre Dame game.
"We didn’t play well," said Smith, who felt his team could have given a better effort in the contest in spite of the injuries.
There was more bad news last Friday as Danielle Douglass, the Ravens’ sensational freshman sweeper, suffered a serious knee injury in a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime home loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
"We played great but our injuries are starting to pile up," said Smith. "We’re just beat up and we’re missing six starters from our opening day lineup."
Gavalchin staked the Ravens to a 2-1 halftime lead with a pair of goals, one from long range. Laura Greb assisted on her first tally. Even with all of the injuries, Fleming just missed scoring the game-winning goal on a header, which went less than a foot wide of a post.
"We had a makeshift defensive lineup with Christa Jaskir playing at sweeper," added Smith. Carfagno played in goal and recorded seven saves.
Alex Kasperson has been out of the lineup but she could return soon. Kristy Clements could also be back in time for the playoffs
For Robbinsville to be 5-6 with so many injuries is nothing short of amazing. However, the Ravens will not be happy unless they make the playoffs. Robbinsville was scheduled at Princeton this past Tuesday. It is scheduled to host Hamilton today (Thursday). It is scheduled at Princeton Day School on Saturday. On Monday Robbinsville is scheduled to host Riverside. Then next Tuesday night it is scheduled at Ewing.

