Lady Raiders win division, set sights on states

Defense leads way past Montgomery

By: Rudy Brandl
   
   If the Hillsborough High girls’ soccer team expects to win the Central Jersey Group 4 title, it must use a proven recipe — solid defense.
   The Lady Raiders captured the Delaware East Division championship with a 1-0 victory at Montgomery last Thursday. It was their second shutout of the season against the high-flying Cougars, who went on to upset Pingry for the Somerset County title two days later. Montgomery entered this week’s state playoffs with two losses, both to Hillsborough.
   Last Thursday night’s showdown at Cougar Stadium was a rubber match between the two neighboring rivals. Montgomery had eliminated Hillsborough from the county tournament on a controversial goal, so the HHS girls were looking for payback.
   Hillsborough only needed a tie to clinch the division crown but wasn’t about to settle for a scoreless deadlock. Tina Marino scored off a scramble in front of the goal with four minutes left to propel the Lady Raiders to a 1-0 triumph.
   "The girls played with a lot of heart," HHS head coach LeeAnn Wyble said. "They wanted the conference title and they went out there and did it."
   Hillsborough won its ninth straight Delaware Division game with another stellar defensive performance. Defenders Nikki Smartt, Ali Leifer and Julia Paget stuffed the Cougars and Taryn O’Connor stopped 10 shots for the shutout.
   "Our defense is probably the best in the area, if not the state," Wyble said. "We really wanted to shut down their outside mids. We kept fresh legs in and we shut them down."
   "We just wanted it really bad," Smartt added. "We stayed tight on our marks and it came together for us."
   Marino was in the right place at the right time to produce the goal. The play started with a long throw from Jess Young, which found the foot of senior scoring leader Mary Bednar, who flicked it in Marino’s direction. Marino got her left toe on the ball and pushed it past Montgomery keeper Ally Mancino.
   "I was just on the outside and I knew Jess had a long throw," Marino said. "I got in position and it was an open (goal), so I got my toe on it."
   The Lady Raiders began a new mission Monday afternoon on their home stadium field. Hillsborough dominated North Brunswick in the first round of the Central Jersey Group 4 playoffs and cruised to a 4-0 victory.
   Bednar scored twice, once late in each half, while Marino and Heather Mutz added goals. HHS enjoyed a 26-7 edge in shots and could have won by a wider margin.
   Marino started the scoring on a nice head ball finish of a Bednar free kick in the fourth minute of play. Bednar made it 2-0 with a hard shot from the left side of the box with 24 seconds left in the first half. Mutz finished a beautiful setup from Jenna Stickle midway through the second half and Bednar pounced on a rebound in the closing minutes to cap the scoring.
   "We’re all motivated and we don’t want our season to end yet," Smartt said. "We all work together and we want to go as far as we can."
   Eighth-ranked Hillsborough (14-4) finds itself in the same situation as last year when it faced No. 1 Brick Memorial in the second round of the state playoffs. This time, perennial sectional power Steinert is standing in the way. Thursday’s CJ 4 quarterfinal match is set for 2 p.m. in Hamilton.
   Wyble scouted Steinert last weekend and was impressed. However, she likes the fact that her team raises its level of play against better competition and expects that to happen at Steinert.
   "If we play like we played against Montgomery, we can beat them," Wyble said.