MHS girls fall in CJ IV soccer final

Cougars fall on late Steinert goal

By: Justin Feil
   HAMILTON — For 79 minutes, 54 seconds, the Montgomery High School girls’ soccer team stayed with unbeaten Steinert High in the Central Jersey Group IV state championship Friday.
   The Cougars did so despite facing enormous odds.
   MHS lost their second leading scorer, Emily Knesevitch, three weeks ago to a knee injury. They lost midfielder Brianna Miller to a concussion in the CJ IV semifinals last Monday. Those losses made a young Cougar team even younger. MHS starts one senior; Steinert has four of the best in the state. The Cougars had endured the toughest conference schedule in the state and was on its last legs; Steinert had hardly been tested, even in the state tournament.
   Yet, it was second-seeded MHS with a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. On a free kick from 22 yards, Lauren McClintic blasted a shot over No. 1 Steinert’s wall that just slipped under the crossbar for an advantage.
   "Big goal scorers score big goals," said MHS head coach Jeremy Beardsley. "Ours scored a big one. And we battled to the end. We just didn’t have the horses today. The girls that we’re playing gave everything you could ask.
   "Last year, we were very healthy," he added. "We did not have one injury. You can’t win when you have major devastating injuries. You just can’t. We had two, three, four of them this year."
   MHS held Steinert at bay until the 11th minute of the second half. The Spartans won it with six seconds left, 2-1, on a goal by Jessica Babice, her 39th of the season. Steinert advances to the Group IV state semifinals. The Cougars’ season ends with a 19-3 record.
   "The situation we were confronted with was immense," Beardsley said. "Bri Miller got put out. Without Emily Knesevitch, with players playing hurt, everything was really against us. To get that kind of effort from those kids, that’s special stuff. You just have to focus on that."
   MHS knows it has come a long way since the preseason. In its first scrimmage of the year, it lost to Steinert, 8-0. The Cougars’ progress is not lost on them.
   "They’re good soccer players," Beardsley said of his team that will return all but Shannon Hayes from the starting squad. "They’re smart soccer players. They understand this is a good team. There’s no disgrace in losing to this Steinert team. They know it and they understand how powerful they are. They know how far we’ve come especially with such a young team."
   Steinert held a 20-3 shot advantage Friday, but MHS’ Ally Mancino made 12 saves and the Cougar defense weathered the attack for almost 80 minutes and did everything they could to slow a gifted team down. The Spartans just had too much firepower in the end.
   "They have it all," Beardsley said. "They have all the makings of a championship team and they had it in August. You’re dealing with big, powerful girls and you have girls coming off the bench that can start for most teams. You’ve got to tip your hat to them and say it’s their season. But at the same time, my girls pushed them to a place they’ve never been. No one’s going to touch Steinert after this. They’re never going to be in a game like this the next two games."
   Steinert had only trailed in a game one before, and had surrendered just three goals in the first 22 games this season. The Spartans had not given up a goal in the postseason. So when MHS opened the scoring, things seemed to swing toward the Cougars advantage.
   "We were happy," Beardsley said. "The only thing we weren’t happy about was pretty early I recognized that this field, the softness of it was actually hurting us. It was hard to run though this slop. I knew fitness was going to play a role and I knew they had subs and they were going to do a lot of subbing. And I knew we had girls that were just going to try to fill in. The foundation was going to be in for massive minutes.
   "I knew early on and based on our lack of attacking, though it was nice to be up 1-0, with their attack, you’re almost thinking, how long can they hang on?"
   The answer was, for quite a while thanks to some spectacular plays at the defensive end. Just three minutes into the second half, Mancino stopped a shot by Babice. Mancino deflected high a shot by Arielle Collins six minutes later but Collins got free for the equalizer two minutes later.
   In the 65th minute, Allison Slattery cleared away a ball that got by Mancino. With 8 minutes left, Mancino came out to save a breakaway attempt. And with 6 minutes left, the Cougars stopped a free kick from the 18-yard line. Six minutes later, Steinert won it when Babice was finally able to control a bounding ball inside the 18.
   "What you saw was momentum changing because of our kids being really, really cooked," Beardsley said. "At times, we were really pressed in the end and couldn’t get out because when we got out, the ball got right back in. We were very defensive today. It’s hard when you’re talking about clinical finishers on their side. If they keep getting chances, they’re going to bury them.
   "This is the toughest team anyone will face. They’re as good as it gets in terms of high school soccer. Pingry’s a good team, but what Pingry doesn’t have is the size and speed from so many different positions. With Pingry, we can put in a game plan to shut down two or three fast players. But now you’ve got five of them on this team. They’re coming out of the back with speed. They have the balance of speed, skill and toughness and leadership. When you start to put all these things into a pot you’re looking at a championship recipe."
   MHS wasn’t far behind. They were forced to wonder what if after going toe to toe without their full team. They played a different system Friday than usual by dropping McClintic back to the midfield to help make up for Miller’s absence.
   "Fatigue was the storyline here," Beardsley said. "If we have a few more legs, if we have a few less injuries, there’s no doubt we would have hit back. I don’t know if we would win, but that is the storyline. My girls were cooked. They gave everything they had to the very end."
   It was par for the course in an incredible season. MHS had given its all from the start to the final finish Friday. They set a record for wins in the program and won the first county crown in program history and reached the CJ IV title game after winning Group III last year.
   "It’s unbelievable. It’s magical," Beardsley said. "We have one senior starter. We have three seniors on the team. We’ve got a bulls-eye on our back every single game (because) we’re Group III state champions. We won the county for the first time ever. We got there for the first time and we won it. We go to the very end in our conference, go to the very end in our section. You can’t ask any more of them. A team that’s banged up as well. Who knows where we’d go with a full squad?"
   It’s a question that the Cougars hope to have a chance to answer next year. With just one starter graduating, they should have that chance to build on this season.
   "It’s a process," Beardsley said. "We won it all last year. We came back here and what I told the girls is, maybe next year’s season just started. Maybe today was the first game of next year. You only hope you can come back here."