There have not been many days over the last four years when Shore Regional head coach Chris Raichle has been disappointed with his team’s play.
In establishing itself as one of the premier programs in the state, Shore Regional has been a model of excellence, seemingly saving some of its best performances for the biggest stages.
Unfortunately, the Blue Devils were not able to harness that championship level of play on Friday, as the Shore Conference and NJSIAA South Jersey Group I sectional champs lost a tough 10-7 contest to Chatham in the overall Group I state final at Robbinsville High School.
With the loss, the Blue Devils saw their 14-game winning streak come to an end, as well as their dreamof returning to the Tournament of Champions for the second time in school history.
Following the game, Raichle admitted to being disappointed with the effort.
“I don’twant to take anything away from them, but I think we really had one of our worst performances of the year,” the coach said. “It’s unfortunate becausewhen you get in a situation like that you really want to give your best effort, and we weren’t able to do that.
“We struggled in prettymuch every area of the game,” he added. “Defensively it was one of our worst games all year. Offensively we never got in a rhythm and we didn’t do well on the ground balls either.
Raichlewas also quick to creditChatham with executing its game plan, though it didn’t differ much from what Shore has been facing all season.
“They were very well-coached and very skilled,” Raichle said. “I think they did everything that everyone else did all year against us.We just didn’t get the results we normally got when people doubled down on Kelly (Draper).
They didn’t show us anything that we didn’t see all year.We just didn’t execute our plays.
“We knew they had some great players, and we really tried to slow the game down and work it around,” Raichle added. “But they played some great defense. They were doubling down on all of our plays and we were getting a little flustered in key situations, and that led to turnovers.”
Inwhatwas an extremely physical game, especially late, Shore simply couldn’tmatch Chatham’s energy down the stretch.
“I thinkwe got a little burnt out,” Raichle said. “We had two or three real tough games down the stretch and I thinkwe just ran out of gas.”
The brilliant Draper gave the Blue Devils their only lead of the game when she scored at the 23:04mark,making it 1-0. The Lehigh-bound midfielder would go on to score three of Shore’s five goals in the first half. Chatham responded to Draper’s initial goalwith three straight tallies of its own, all within two minutes of each other, with the last goal coming fromsenior Paige Farmakis off a free position shot with 12:50 left in the first half.
Draper was able to bring the Blue Devils back towithin onewhen she scored off a free position shot of her own at the 9:04 mark, however, Chatham was again able to keep some distance when sophomore midfielder MeghanMurray answeredwith two straight goals, making the score 5-2.
Another Draper goal and two goals by junior attack Katie Leto and Farmakis of Chatham put the Cougars up by four with two minutes to go in the half.
However, the Blue Devils captured the late momentum when senior midfielder Anna Pierce, who is also attending Lehigh University next year, found the back of the net with 13 seconds to play. Shore was able to get possession fromthe tip-off and sophomore Chelsea Watts scored another goal with just 1.3 seconds remaining in the half, making the score 7-5 at the break.
“Those two late goals helped us, but it wasn’t enough,”Raichle said.
Down by just two despite being outplayed for much of the first half, the Blue Devils were anxious to showtheir true ability in the second half.
Shore did not play a lot of close games this year, but when they did, it was the Blue Devils’ ability to dominate the second half that separated them from opponents.
Chatham, however, was not about to roll over and let Raichle’s squad get in rhythm. Instead, they sent an early message with a goal fromseniorDanielle Van Fossan just 23 seconds into the second half. Shore’s Watts was able to get it back to a two-goal deficit, 8-6, with a tally at the 22:17 mark, before both teams began to dig in defensively.
The rest of the game was a physical affair that tested the composure of both teams. Unfortunately for Shore, it was Chatham that benefited from the style of play, as the Blue Devils were forced to play a player short for three minutes when senior Ali Houlis received her second yellowcard of the game around the 10-minute mark.
Losing Houlis, one of the team’s best players and emotional leaders, was a big blow for a team trying desperately to get on track.
“When Ali went out, Kelly really tried to pick up the slack, but it was just too much,” Raichle said.
Ironically, Draper, also had to leave the field prematurely after receiving her second yellowcard of the gamewith 2:14 left to play. With Draper walking off the field in tears, the frustration level was beginning to take its toll on the Blue Devils (20-2).
Chatham went on to outscore Shore 2-1 during the last six minutes of play, securing victory for the Cougars.
Shore’s Draper, Pierce and Watts combined for all of the BlueDevils’goals.Draper and Watts each had three goals and Pierce had one. The loss ended the fourth consecutive 20-win season for the Blue Devils.
“Itwas a great season,” Raichle said. “We won the division, the SCT and a sectional title, and they took the top teamin the state (Moorestown) to overtime. They’ve got a lot to be proud of. It was a disappointing end, but that’s part of the sport.”
It also marked the end to a remarkable run of success for this year’s seniors,who, in the last four seasons, have gone 85-8-2.
“In four years they won four division titles, four SCT titles, four sectional titles and three overall state titles,” the coach said. “I’d say they did pretty well.”
With the likes of Draper, Houlis, Pierce, Sarah Walsh, Lindsay Collins, Devon Whalen, Julianne Crisculo and Kaitlin Kuhlthau graduating, it will be interesting to see how Shore is able to reload next spring.
“We took quite a hit, that’s for sure,” Raichle said. “We lose eight seniors, and seven of our 12 starters. I think this is the biggest hit we’ve ever taken. But we’ve got some good young talent coming back, sowe’ll see if we can keep up with (all the success) next year.”
One thing is for certain – next year’s group has some awfully big shoes to fill.