Logan delivers in OT soccer thriller

BRHS, NBC soccer teams battling through injuries

BY: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
    Bordentown Regional High girls’ varsity soccer head coach Dominick Castaldo has spent the last quarter of a century firmly establishing himself as one of the finest soccer coaches in Burlington County and beyond. Yet even he has no answers for the slew of injuries which have hit the Scotties this season.
    “This year I’ve had eight girls go down with knee injuries and only one has returned to our lineup so far. I already have three girls scheduled for knee surgery,” said Castaldo. “In my first 24 years of coaching I had just three knee injuries to players and two were to the same player.”
    Bordentown’s star senior defender Brittany Bakeman went down with an ACL injury before the season even started. Then, according to Castaldo, Molly Napolitano, Jessica Dixon and Alicia Marsala all suffered knee injuries. Ashley Valentino came down with a knee injury in Bordentown’s first game. And that’s just scratching the surface. However, through it all the Scotties have managed to stay very positive and upbeat.
    Kayla Pagnani, for one, has thrived under the pressure and she even scored Bordentown’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Burlington Township on September 24 at Joe Lawrence Park. Bordentown recorded 14 shots on goal while Burlington Township shot nine times. Scotties’ goalie Vicky Villalba made seven saves to post the shutout.
    “I can’t say enough about this group. It’s so good to see. What this group is showing from a maturity standpoint is heads and shoulders above any team I’ve ever had,” said Castaldo. “I have give them credit. Under the circumstances they’ve held their own. And Kiley Dougherty has done a good job as a captain of just keeping this team together.”
    Last Friday at Bordentown, the Scotties lost a heart-breaking 2-1 decision in overtime to Delran on what they thought was a very questionable call.
    According to Castaldo, Scotties’ goalie Nicole Walls came out of the net in overtime and grabbed the ball firmly only to have it knocked from her hands by Taylor Umbrell, who put it in for a goal.
    “This team has every right to feel snake-bitten,” said Castaldo, whose team refuses to get down about a bad call or injuries. “Melanie Bakeman asked to move to back when her sister was injured and she has been playing outstanding there. And I have a sophomore Alyssa Donahue who is amazing in the back.”
    Leah Shaw scored the Scotties’ goal in the Delran game in the second half. Walls made three saves for Bordentown in goal. The Scotties believed she should have been credited with four.
    Julie Logan scored with 49 seconds left in overtime to lead a banged up Northern Burlington soccer team to a 3-2 win over the banged up Scotties’ squad on Monday afternoon at Joe Lawrence Park.
    Pagnani, assisted by Lauren Donaher, scored a first-half goal to give Bordentown an early 1-0 lead, but Logan answered with a goal of her own to knot the score at 1-1. In the second half Sheila Frank worked the ball to Pagnani for another score to give the Scotties a short-lived 2-1 lead. But NBC’s Taylor Jacob tallied to make it 2-2, which it remained until the final minute of overtime.
    It was a costly loss as V. Villalba injured her knee in the second half after making 10 saves in the contest. Walls closed it out and had four saves. NBC’s goalie Jackie Laurenti, who has had a tremendous season, posted 11 saves to help the Greyhounds record their first win of the year.
    “It was a tough one to swallow because we had our chances to change the game and we didn’t,” said Castaldo, whose club fell to 2-5-1 with the loss. Still the Scotties have a lot of veterans on the team and they are still shooting to make the playoffs no matter how many of their players are injured.
    Bordentown was scheduled to have hosted Holy Cross this past Tuesday but that game was cancelled. Bordentown is scheduled to host Willingboro today (Thursday) and Burlington City next Monday.
    NBC is scheduled at Burlington Township today (Thursday), at Allentown on Saturday and at Rancocas Valley on Monday. Next Wednesday NBC is scheduled to host Moorestown.
    FLORENCE
    On Tuesday at Florence, the Florence Township Memorial High girls’ varsity soccer team lost a 2-1 overtime heartbreaker to Maple Shade to fall under .500 for the first time this season.
    “Their final goal was on a direct kick (by Amanda Smalley in the second overtime session),” said Florence head coach Mary Bauer, whose team is getting very few breaks, on and off the field.
    After neither team tallied in the first stanza, Amanda Lutz fired in a goal, which was assisted by Kristen Cardaciatto, to give Florence a short-lived lead. However, Maple Shade tied the game at 1-1 on a goal by Brandy Wituschek, which actually hit off a Florence player. Moreover, Florence played the game without a few of its players who are nursing injuries.
    Although her team lost, Bauer thought that several of her players had very good games.
    “Kristen Cardaciatto gives one-
hundred percent every game and Tori Povia does a great job in the back,” said Bauer. “Our goalie Angela Federico, she did very well and she had quite a few saves in goal (15).”
    Because so many of the Flashes are still in the process of recovering from injuries, Florence is having trouble generating offense. In fact, against Maple Shade, Florence had just five shots on goal.
    “We didn’t pressure any team (this past week),” added Bauer. “You have to work.”
    Playing without Lutz and Talaya Loran, two standout players, the Flashes lost a 6-0 decision to the Blue Devils at Burlington City on September 24.
    “We played probably the worst game of our lives,” said Bauer, pulling no punches. “In that game we did not play to our potential in the very least.”
    Federico played well in goal and made 11 saves and the Flashes still surrendered six goals. Florence does fairly well when it has its regular starting 11 playing, but Bauer is still searching for ways for her club to come away with victories when it has injuries.
    Moreover Bauer sees tonight’s scheduled game at Riverside as a potential turning point in the season.
    “This Thursday’s night game is going to be a very crucial one for us,” added Bauer, who credits her girls who have been able to stay healthy and on the field for playing hard.
    Florence (3-4) is scheduled to host New Egypt on Friday. Florence is scheduled at Willingboro next Monday and at Maple Shade next Wednesday.
    LCA
    The Life Center Academy girls’ soccer team was defeated by Academy of New Church, 8-1.
    Elizabeth Harrison scored the goal for Life Center.
    The game scheduled for today (Thursday) against Barrack Hebrew Academy has been moved to October 27. Life Center will be back in action on Monday when it plays at Moorestown Friends.