HHS girls’ soccer clinches elusive Valley crown

By: Sean Moylan
   It’s been a record-setting season for the Hightstown High girls’ varsity soccer team, which wrapped up it first Valley title in over a decade with last Thursday’s 4-0 road win over Allentown.
   Ify Onochie scored a pair of goals, and Erika Juricic and Brianna Byrne each chipped in with a tally. Tina DeAngelis had two assists and Kayla Reddington also assisted one of the Rams’ scores.
   "They dumped water on me and it was a night game," laughed Hightstown Coach Don Hess. "We played pretty good that night. The first time we beat them it was 7-0, but that team has improved immensely."
   Hightstown outshot Allentown 18-4 as Tara Miluszewski and Amelia Snow combined to make four saves to post the shutout for the Rams.
   On Saturday Hightstown opened the Mercer County Tournament with a 2-0 win over Hamilton at Mercer County Community College.
   23 minutes into the contest Onochie banged in the winning goal with an assist from Byrne. Then in the second half Onochie scored again, this time on a penalty kick.
   Miluszewski made four saves to blank Hamilton. Hightstown had a 7-4 edge in shots on goal.
   "We played very well in that game," added Hess, whose team defeated Hamilton 1-0 the first time the two squads squared off this season.
   Although it had an excellent record, Hightstown got a terrible draw in the second round of the MCT and had to take on a powerful Hopewell Valley (seeded second) team on Monday. The Rams held Hopewell to one first half goal before dropping a 5-0 decision at Pennington. But early in the contest Hightstown had its chances.
   After the game the Rams didn’t sit around and sulk. Instead, they prepared for this past Wednesday’s consolation game versus Princeton, which they won easily 6-1 at Hightstown.
   "Today (Wednesday) was the best game we played all season. It was a great win today. The first time we played Princeton it was a 2-1 win (for Hightstown) and they outplayed us. They had 13 shots and we had seven," said Hess. "This time we really completely outplayed them."
   Surprisingly, Hightstown’s Marissa Segal had the only tally of the first half when she scored from 30 yards out on a direct kick. But in the second half Hightstown went back to playing "ping pong" and followed up its shots and added five more scores. Juricic led the way with two second-half goals, which were assisted by Sami Raymond and Kristyn Pecsi respectively. Juricic, who is one of the best offensive players in the CVC, now has 17 goals and 7 assists. Onchie, assisted by Juricic, also scored a second-half goal to bring her total for the year to 13. Onochie also assisted on Byrne’s second half tally to give her seven assists for the year. Shelby Wallace scored Hightstown’s last goal. Miluszewski and Snow combined for three saves in the contest.
   Hightstown’s record improved to 14-5, tying it with the 1996 team for the second most wins in the school’s history. In 1995 Hightstown was 15-2-1. The Rams would really love to break the school’s win record this season because that would mean that they’re winning playoff games and Hess will get more water dumped on him.
   PEDDIE

   The Peddie girls’ soccer team had a 5-7 record entering yesterday’s (Thursday) scheduled NJISAA quarterfinal playoff home game versus Princeton Day School. Yet, Falcons’ head coach Ray Cabot, who is used to having winning seasons, believes that with a few breaks his team could have easily had nine wins already this season.
   A good case in point would be this past Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Bishop Eustace.
   "Against Bishop Eustace we played very well for 75 minutes and then we gave up a goofy goal," said Cabot, who, nonetheless, felt his team should have taken advantage and scored a goal in the first half when it had the wind on its side.
   Bridget Lang made four saves for Peddie in the first half, while Sarah Wehrhan, played the second stanza and recorded nine stops. Against Bishop Eustace, Peddie posted 14 shots on goal.
   This past Saturday Caitlin Holtz tallied a pair of goals to lift Peddie to a 2-1 win over the Hun School. Cabot used sophomore Caitlin Heim in goal and she played well and made five saves. It was a good victory for Falcons because they were coming off a tough home loss to East Brunswick and they really needed the win to build up their confidence. East Brunswick scored an overtime goal to nip Peddie 2-1 last Thursday afternoon in Hightstown.
   "We played them even for 95 minutes," added Cabot. "That was an overtime game versus another quality public school which was even all the way."
   Katrina Smedley, with an assist by Holtz, tallied Peddie’s lone goal off a corner. Lang made six saves in a losing cause. Whether Peddie uses Lang, Wehrhan or Heim in goal doesn’t matter all that much, because they’ve all done a decent job. The Falcons just need to find ways of scoring more goals.
   "I think this is a team where we don’t have a clear number one goal keeper, so all of the kids have earned some playing time," added Cabot.
   In addition to its playoff game or games, Peddie is scheduled to host Mercersburg Academy on Saturday in a regular season contest.