McClintic encore helps MHS stay strong
By: Justin Feil
Encores to record-setting seasons are difficult to pull off.
Lauren McClintic did it though, and as a result the Montgomery High School girls’ soccer team didn’t miss a beat this fall.
"I definitely thought this year we outplayed ourselves," said the Cougars junior forward. "I was very skeptical how we would be. We came off last year with an amazing record and got all the way to states. We got moved to Group IV then. We only had three seniors and two of them starting. It was a lot to play for. Winning the county final and having the record we did, I thought we had an amazing year and went above our potential."
McClintic certainly had a hand, or foot, in the Cougars’ success this season. She was at her best toward the end of her sophomore year last year. She finished with a program-record 17 goals in 23 games, with four of them coming in Montgomery’s run to the Group III state crown, including the sectional and Group III state semifinal game-winners. They were defining moments that capped McClintic’s incredible year and set her up to return as the established scorer for the Cougars, who suffered significant graduation losses.
"Going into the season, it was one of the things I was curious about," said MHS head coach Jeremy Beardsley. "I wondered would we be as strong as we were. We needed productivity from her. Would she be able to repeat that type of performance. She’s not a sophomore that nobody knows about anymore. I was concerned she’d be marked a little tighter. With the start she had, we knew it was going to be another special year for her."
Five games into the year, McClintic already had 13 goals and a pair of assists. Her assists increased in the next 10 games while her goal-scoring dipped, but when the games got biggest, McClintic was at her best. She scored the tying and winning goals in a 4-3 win over state power Hunterdon Central. She added the insurance goal in 2-0 win over Pingry as MHS captured its first Somerset County Tournament ever. Pingry had allowed just two total goals all season to that point. When the Cougars reached the Central Jersey Group IV tournament, she got even bigger goals.
McClintic took the first penalty kick and made it in a 5-3 shootout victory in the CJ IV quarterfinals against East Brunswick. McClintic followed that pressure-packed make up with three goals, including the game-winner in a 5-4 win over Brick Memorial. In the CJ IV final against top-seeded and unbeaten Steinert, it was McClintic that gave MHS a 1-0 lead that lasted until 10 minutes after halftime before the eventual state champions rallied to end the Cougars year. The year ended again with a record for wins with 19 and McClintic surpassed her own record scoring total with 21 goals and 10 assists. Five of her goals were game-winners.
Lauren McClintic is the Princeton Packet Girls’ Player of the Year.
"They were all big goals," Beardsley said. "She has the ability to score gigantic goals in big moments. That’s the thing separating her from other players. After Brick, I told her in front of everyone, she’s the greatest goal scorer in Montgomery history. We’d never had a 20-goal scorer. Before her last year, we never had anyone score more than 12 in a year.
"It’s special stuff. Even in the East Brunswick game, she shot the first penalty kick. As such a good goal scorer, you’d think she’s confident about that. But that’s a weak spot for her. But she steps up and makes it. Again no letdown."
No letdown was exactly what McClintic was looking for in her junior year, an encore to a big jump from freshman, when she had six goals in an injury-plagued year, to sophomore seasons. But it was after her return from freshman year, when Beardsley moved her from midfield to forward, that he found the big-game scorer that the Cougars had lacked.
"She keeps working," Beardsley said. "She is great at finding goals. She works well with her back to the ball. She’s going to continue to play. She’s going to wait until the ball gets to her.
"Hunterdon Central was a perfect example of that. We’re down, 3-1. She was in the right spot to get us to 3-3. Then with a minute to go, she beats a girl one-on-one to win 4-3 on a miracle. She’s a worker. She can play the midfield. She’s not just a scorer. She can pass. She proved she can do it. I think that’s why teams have a tough time with her. She’s not a kid that just plants herself in front of the goal. She does other things that coaches love and you have to do if you want to be a high-level player."
This year, McClintic came in knowing she was expected to be more of a scorer. With some inexperience around her, more weight to create goals fell on her than the year before.
"This year," she said, "I was focused on being the main forward and looking to at least beat my record last year. I was a little nervous. I was not sure I could do it. It’s a new team with different players. As the season went on, I knew the team would be looking to me. We had Shannon Hayes in the midfield creating. I felt like it was my job to get the goals.
"There’s definitely a little pressure there," she added. "I had to make sure I stepped up. I had to make sure I was there with my No. 1 game all the time. It was tough sometimes."
When her new teammates developed quickly into viable threats, it opened up the field further for McClintic. She showed she could be a playmaker as well as a scorer.
"Her ability to distribute comes from the time she spent in the midfield," Beardsley said. "It’s something I expect. She knows how to do it. When you play with some of the girls, Alex Vazquez, Bri (Miller), Shannon behind her, she has the confidence in her teammates. If she’s double-teamed or being shadowed really closely, she’ll find someone else and has confidence that they’ll get the job done. Having teammates and quality around her allows her to develop that dimension of her game."
In some of the biggest moments, it was McClintic that continued to deliver for the Cougars. She had a knack for coming through in the big games, which is just why Beardsley had her taking the set piece against Steinert when she scored just the fourth goal against the Spartans this season.
"I had a lot of choices," Beardsley said. "But I have so much faith in that girl. I’m not surprised by anything she does anymore."
McClintic’s success is all the more impressive considering that she normally plays a defensive midfielder spot for her Player Development Academy club team. She has certainly become more comfortable at forward for the Cougars. There’s a different reward as a scorer and creator.
"Every single game I try to come out and play the same way," she said. "In the big games, I love to be the one to get the big goal. I want the team to know they can depend on me to get the goal. It’s like a little rush, a little high to score."
She kept the Cougars sky-high as expected of a third-year varsity player. In addition to her leadership in the scoring department, she was a stronger presence on the team this fall.
"I thought she was a better leader this year," Beardsley said. "We had to have our junior class step up and support our senior class because our senior class was so small. She’s such a vocal player on and off the field. She’s motivating. She gets girls going. Some girls don’t take to that. It’s a different thing to be a general on the field.
"As a sophomore, with five or six starting seniors, she didn’t have to do that. She did step up this year. She helped Emily learn the system; she helped Carey Youmans learn the system. Those were two new forwards. She helped them adjust to it."
It was quite an encore act to a breakout sophomore season. And there’s still one more year to go with MHS. One more year that the records may fall, for McClintic and the Cougar team.
"You play for so much," McClintic said. "You have that school spirit. You have that team unity. It’s a different feeling when you know you’re entire team, your entire town is counting on you to win those big games."

