Junior helps WW-P South stay strong
By: Justin Feil
This year’s West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls’ soccer roster was missing some familiar names.
Gone were players like Kris Shemming, Kelly McLaughlin and Lauren Fucetola, a trio that had seemingly been on varsity for five or six years. Making matters harder for the Pirates was that they had occupied the middle of the field and dictated play at WW-P South for years.
In their place have stepped lesser known players, though there are some household names. Megan Voigtsberger is one of them. She and Lauren Ruta are the lone juniors who played varsity from Day One of their freshman years. Voigtsberger has been a critical part of the 9-2 start for the Pirates after returning to play defensive midfielder.
"We lost a lot of girls in the middle that I would play to," Voigtsberger said. "And we lost our goalie, who had been the goalie our whole careers. Liz Huttner is good back there. We haven’t easily replaced the girls, but the girls who have taken over have done fine.
"I knew we would be able to be just as successful as last year. But I am surprised that we’ve come out 9-2. I wasn’t surprised that we’d be able to play with each other. I just never expected 9-2."
The Pirates are off to one of their best starts in the decade, with their only two losses coming at the hands of Central Jersey Group IV powers Steinert and Hillsborough. WW-P South improved to 9-2 with a pair of big wins this week going into Thursday’s scheduled game against Notre Dame. The Pirates upended highly regarded Ridgewood, 1-0, on a goal by Alexa Suarez on Monday, then toppled Lawrence, 6-0, Tuesday.
"I am pleasantly surprised," said Pirates head coach Chris Miller, whose team plays WW-P North 5:30 Monday at Mercer County Community College. "I thought we’d be a good team again. But having lost so many people out of the center of my field, I really didn’t know that the girls who’d be filling those roles would do such a good job.
"We had Shemming, our top scorer, graduate and Kelly McLaughlin, my playmaker. Shemming is at The College of New Jersey and she was just named Female Athlete of the Month. McLaughlin is at American. She’s starting on defense. She starts every game. She’s doing a fabulous job for them. Kate Wyman was my clean-up defender, head-ball specialist. She was good at distributing. And Lauren Fucetola in goal had to be replaced. The only one in middle I had left was Kira Mangone and Megan played in there sometimes too. She played defensive mid. I would move her around last year too."
Voigtsberger has the versatility to contribute anywhere. An offensive force in club soccer, she’s adapted a defensive mindset for the Pirates, though not too defensive. She remains one of the team’s top three scorers, but it has been her defense and distributing forward that has helped the Pirates overcome its losses. Voigtsberger even moved back due to a Pirates injury to play sweeper in the second half against Ridgewood.
"She held things together when we had two of the girls that do sweep out," Miller said. "Kira Mangone pulled her quad and sat out the second half of Ridgewood. Megan had to direct new kids that I had to put in the middle to fill in. She did a great job."
Said Voigtsberger: ‘I’ve been playing a little more defensively because of any injuries. I try to feed the girls up top. I try to help them make the offensive plays work."
Against Ridgewood, the Pirates defense was good enough to make an incredible 40-yard shot from Suarez stand up for the win. And WW-P South dominated against Lawrence. They know it won’t be as easy when they take on rival North on Monday.
"We’ve already played some really tough games," Voigtsberger said. "We just have to keep coming out hard for every game and not take any team lightly. We know we have some tough competition coming up later in the season."
It begins with North, then opens the Mercer County Tournament in a week, and shortly after, the state tournament. WW-P South is in the running for a high seed for CJ IV, a sectional that has some of the top talent in the state.
"Every day at practice, we try to work hard to prepare for the next game," Voigtsberger said. "I think we’ll keep improving through the year, even with some of the new girls. We’re working as a team."
A close-knit team bond has helped push the Pirates to new heights, says Voigtsberger. It’s made it easier to adjust to not having some familiar faces on the field with them, and it’s helped establish useful roles on the field for this year’s players. Those roles, however, can change quite a bit.
"They’re so versatile," Miller said. "I can move them around. I do move them around. Most of the girls on my team, all of them, even my goalie, they could play the field. They have good foot skills too. I don’t know how I’ve gotten so lucky."
Miller counts herself lucky to continually find up-and-coming players like Voigtsberger. She and Ruta make up the core of the junior class, and because they’ve been on varsity so long, there is a close relationship with the seniors on the team as well. It’s just one of the benefits of playing varsity for a third year already.
"It makes it easier for us," Voigtsberger said. "We were there to watch the seniors in ’05 and ’06 lead. It helps me and Lauren know what we need to do out on the field."
They’ve done their part to help the Pirates overcome some big graduation losses. The Pirates are a surprise at 9-2. It certainly has helped that the WW-P South girls’ soccer team has been able to replace one set of longtime standouts with another couple of established varsity contributors like Megan Voigtsberger.

