Rams throw ‘Sweet 16’ party

Girls’ soccer establishes new record for wins

By: Sean Moylan
   As the Hightstown High girls’ varsity soccer team made its way off the bus and onto the Quakers’ beautiful soccer field last Thursday, a blaring message came over the loud speaker to greet them.
   The message started out "Welcome to the home of the two-time defending Group III State Champs" and from there it went on and on to the point where most teams would have just hopped back on the bus and went home.
   But the Rams aren’t like most teams.
   Hightstown is a tough, young team willing to take on any and everybody. Not intimidated, it simply went out and played its game. And surprisingly, the contest played out like most of the Rams’ games this season with Erika Juricic setting up an Ify Onochie goal and Onochie setting up a Juricic goal for a Hightstown 2-0 Central Jersey Group III playoff victory over Moorestown.
   The win not only advanced Hightstown in the playoffs, it set a school record for victories in a season at 16. And Hightstown accomplished both with a proven method of attack.
   Like so many times before, the Rams scored both of their first-half goals by using a counter attack. In fact, a change in the Quakers alignment led directly to Juricic’s goal.
   "After our first goal, they went to four girls on their frontline in the first half and we caught him on another counter," noted Hightstown head coach Don Hess, who should get a ton of votes for Coach of the Year.
   In the second half, Hightstown protected its lead with great defense led by goalie Tara Miluszewski, who stopped all 14 of the Quakers’ shots. The Rams’ had 10 shots on goal.
   "They put a lot of pressure on us but we didn’t make a lot of mistakes," added Hess, whose club basically controlled the game once it had a lead. "That was a big win for us because they were a two-time defending state champ. He’s got a good, tough team."
   But after beating the second seed in the quarterfinals, Hightstown lost a tough 2-1 overtime game to the top seed, Freehold Borough, in Monday’s semifinal.
   "After the game I didn’t want to go to the goal mouth to talk to them," said Hess, who didn’t want this 16-6 (the best in the school’s history) season to end. " We deserved to be there. We have nothing to be ashamed about. We had a tremendous season."
   As for the actual game, Hightstown’s Marissa Segal scored at the 14:48 mark of the first half and the Rams were feeling good about their chances.
   "Segal scored on a direct kick from 30 yards out. She put it right into the upper 90," noted Hess.
   In the second half the Rams miss-kicked a ball and Freehold’s Alexa Rossi took it in for a score. Then with 5:23 remaining in the second overtime, a loose ball nicked a Ram player’s hand and Freehold was given a direct kick, which Alssa Mayrose made for the winning goal.
   The loss hurt even more because Hightstown had been practicing for shootouts and it was ready.
   "They were a good team, but we only made two mistakes and they scored two goals," said Hess almost in disbelief. Like so many times before, Miluszewski stood on her head to make 20 saves.
   "She saved us on corners and on anything up high she saved us," said Hess. "They (Freehold) were a very good defensive (18-1) team. But that doesn’t always win games. Heart and determination will sometimes win games."
   On Monday the Rams had the heart and determination, but they didn’t have luck on their side.
   Nonetheless the accolades keep on rolling in for Hightstown. Juricic (18 goals, 10 assists), Onochie (16 goals, 8 assists) and Miluszewski (9 shutouts) made the Mercer 33 All-Star team and will be honored on Monday at a banquet at the West Trenton Ballroom. With those three superstars all expected to return, next season could be an even better one for the Rams. Still Hess needed his veterans to lead the way this season.
   "It’s a tribute to the six seniors, Tina DeAngelis, Kayla Reddington, Jill Diadone, Sami Raymond, Kristyn Pecsi and Brianne Tichmann who set the ground work for this season with their leadership," said Hess, who wouldn’t mind doing it all over again.