Girandola goals aid Knight girls

Sophomore lifts young North squad in MCT opener

By: Justin Feil
   Carolyn Girandola started the season in the midfield for the West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls’ soccer team.
   But in the midst of the Knights’ offensive struggles early in the year, head coach Kevin Mackenzie moved her up to the forward line and she has excelled there since. She scored the only two goals of the game in the Knights’ 2-0 win over Robbinsville in Saturday’s opening round of the Mercer County Tournament.
   "I’ve always wanted to play forward," said Girandola, who is a forward for her club team, the East Windsor Vipors. "I kept asking. He wanted me to play outside mid, but then he gave me a chance."
   With the win, the fifth-seeded Knights were scheduled to face WW-P South, a 5-1 winner over Trenton, Monday. The Pirates, who beat North, 2-0, last week, scored all five goals in the second half. The winner of the rematch faces the Steinert-Notre Dame winner Wednesday. No. 7 Princeton High also advanced with a 4-0 victory over No. 10 Nottingham with a hat trick from Hannah Demming. It was scheduled to face No. 2 Pennington on Monday and with a win would play the Hopewell Valley-Hightstown winner on Wednesday. No. 9 Princeton Day School fell, 5-1, at the hands of No. 8 Notre Dame and was to play Nottingham in a consolation game Monday.
   Girandola has flourished on the forward line, even as goals have been hard to come by for the Knights. She also had a game-winning goal against Notre Dame.
   "She’s our leading scorer with five goals," said Mackenzie, whose team improved to 8-4-2 Saturday. "She’s done a really nice job for us. As a freshman, she played JV and we pulled her up at the end of the year for the state tournament."
   Girandola feels that late-season experience last year was a help to her. It’s paid off as she is more prepared to face tournament play this year and uphold the Knights’ strong reputation.
   "It was really nice to watch the team play," Girandola said. "They were really good last year. I think it helped me to see what my expectations were for next year and what I needed to work on to be at that level.
   "It helped me because I got a lot closer to my team now," she added. "We have a good relationship now. Me and a couple friends from the JV team were there to support the team. It helped us become closer and play for each other more."
   The Knights this season have grown to be a close-knit team as the youth has grown up quickly. Girandola is one of five sophomore starters on a team that has just one senior starter. For many of them, the start of the county and state tournaments brings a new level of intensity that they haven’t been a part of yet, save for their regular-season rivalry matchup with WW-P South.
   "I certainly talk to the girls about it is playoff time," Mackenzie said. "There’s no tomorrow. Mentally, it’s a little different approach. We don’t play as many games as some teams. It helps us keep our legs under us. If you play so many games, it wears you down mentally and physically.
   "I had to remind the girls they had to win a game, they had to beat a good Robbinsville team before they got to South. First, they had to get focused. They were pretty motivated. We won, 1-0, first time and we had the ball more. Their coach was quoted in the paper saying that they should have won. We wanted to prove them wrong."
   Girandola said there was plenty of motivation with a chance to prove themselves, a county quarterfinal berth, and the added bonus of it being a rematch against WW-P South.
   "It helped us play harder," Girandola said. "Last time, we still dominated the whole entire game. This time, we dominated again. We just played messier than before, but we had a lot more scoring opportunities."
   Girandola made the most of a pair of hers. On the first, she took a feed from Courtney Carnevale and put it in far post. Her second one sailed into the top right corner. Lily Pepper earned the shutout in goal though the Knights made sure she wasn’t tested often. Pepper has played well in goal. She made 20 saves in a 3-0 loss to Steinert on Thursday, but Girandola and the Knights were able to generate more chances against Robbinsville to make things easier on the defense.
   "I just go out there and play for my team and do the best I can," Girandola said. "My teammates really help me to get where I need to be."
   Girandola has been pleased most by the progress she’s seen in the Knights since the beginning of the year. As the team grew closer, they began playing better as a unit.
   "In the beginning, when we played Hightstown and some other teams, we started out slow," she said. "We knew what we had to get done. Everyone encouraged everybody. It showed that we cared about playing for each other and we started to win games.
   "As we keep playing more games together, we’re getting better as a team. I guess it’s getting easier, but our competition is getting harder as we go on in tournaments."
   Girandola is hoping to keep the winning going as long as possible, and she’d like nothing more than to see some of the JV players pulled up for a tournament ride. It certainly helped her prepare for a big year this year, and big moments like Saturday’s MCT win.
   "I think it’s a reward for playing well during the JV season," Mackenzie said. "It also allows them to gain some experience of practicing at the varsity level. I pulled three girls up for the Steinert game. Some of them got playing time, so you never know when you might need them. It gets them experience and playing with the varsity and seeing what varsity is all about.
   "I think Carolyn felt more comfortable coming in because of that experience. She played with confidence really from the beginning. We lost our top three scorers. She’s scored big goals. She had the winning goal against Notre Dame. She’s scored goals that have made a difference in the game."
   It’s why Carolyn Girandola is on the forward line for the Knight girls’ soccer team. And why she’s likely to stay there for good.