There were no secrets to hide by the time these two schools met for the fourth time this season.
In fact, they knew each other all too well. The Jackson and Brick Memorial high school girls soccer teams squared off Monday in the semifinals of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV tournament.
The Lady Jags scored three firsthalf goals, then played keep-away for the duration of the game, to post a 3-1 win and advance to Thursday’s championship game for the first time in school history.
Jackson is scheduled to meet the winner of the Steinert-Hunterdon Central game on Thursday.
“We’re real excited about the way we have been playing,” Jackson coach Drew Gibson said. “The girls have performed with a tremendous amount of poise and intensity. We played a very nice game. We got on top early and that was the key. We didn’t want to have to play from behind. That would have presented huge problems.”
Indeed, Jackson tallied three times in the opening half. Kristyn Lehman put the Jags on the board in the first eight minutes. Lehman took a cross from teammate Kim Menafra and beat the Brick Memorial goalie inside the left post to give Jackson a 1-0 lead.
“We really wanted to go out there and score first,” Gibson said. “They came out and played really well in the first 10 minutes. We had one scoring opportunity. Jackson would score twice more before half to build what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. Jordan Bunch scored a pair of goals on assists from Kierstyn Mabey and Dana Costello to send the Jags into halftime with the momentum.
“In the previous three meetings between us, the games have been really close,” Gibson said. “I think both teams were kind of surprised that one team was ahead by three goals at half.”
Both teams spilt during the regular season with each squad winning in overtime. Jackson got the better of the play in the last meeting, Oct. 27, to win its firstever
Shore Conference Tournament title.
“We’ve had some real great battles this year,” Gibson said. “The games were hard played and I think that each team has a deepened respect for the other. We played four times and each game has been a classic.”
In a 1-0 doubleovertime win over West Windsor Plainsboro in the quarterfinals earlier in the week, Mabey notched the game winner in a contest that proved to be a defensive struggle.
Mabey drilled a shot from 20 yards out to the top of the cage that just sailed over the outstretched hand of goalie Liz Hunter.
West Windsor came in as the 16thseeded team in the event. It had upset top-seeded East Brunswick in the opening round. Gibson realized, however, this club was much better than its seeding indicated.
“We knew this was going to be a hard game,” Gibson said. “They upset the topseeded team in the event. They played hard and kept coming at us. Luckily, we were able to get away with the victory.”