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Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week

Chenot adds scoring to MHS role

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   The Montgomery High School girls’ soccer team figured that it would take a number of players to replace the scoring of the graduated Lauren McClintic.
   The Cougars didn’t figure that Molly Chenot would be in the mix, especially from her position.
   ”We changed systems,” said MHS head coach Jeremy Beardsley. “One of the big reasons was to be a little more defensive. We always are (defensive-minded), but we are even more so this year and Molly is playing a true holding midfielder, a screening midfielder. She gets on our back three and plays right in front of them.”
   Though Chenot is as experienced as any Cougar at the varsity level, even she never expected to be a scorer for them this season.
   ”Once we started playing, I didn’t think I’d score as much because I play more defensive,” said the Cougar senior. “But I end up being pretty open. If I can be in the right spot at the right time, hopefully the goals will add up.”
   They’ve added up faster than anyone could imagine, as have the wins for MHS which figured to slide a little after losing some of the mainstays of its championship teams. Chenot has helped the Cougars stay unbeaten, both with her defensive play in the midfield and her scoring.
   Chenot, slowed a bit by an ankle injury suffered five days before, came off the bench to score the only goal of the game as the Cougars beat arch-rival Hillsborough, 1-0, last Thursday. Two days later, she helped MHS hand Watchung Hills just its second defeat of the season — the Cougars also gave them their first — on a goal in the eighth minute of overtime for a 2-1 win. It was her fourth goal of the season and all four have been game-winners for MHS.
   Molly Chenot is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
   ”She’s picking her moments when to get into the play and coming in unmarked,” said Beardsley whose team improved to 11-0 with an 8-1 win over Immaculata on Monday. “She’s picking her moments perfectly. She’s gotten in on these four enormous goals. She’s cashed in big time. Her play this year wasn’t supposed to be about scoring. And it really isn’t. But the timing of those goals and the pressure of the game when she has scored those goals has been immense.
   ”That’s what we need out of a senior who’s been playing varsity four years of the quality Molly is. It’s so great for me to watch Molly shining like this. We lost all those big girls and she and a bunch of the other seniors are the girls everyone is talking about now. Now Molly Chenot is in the spotlight. It’s great to see.”
   Chenot is happy to be helping the Cougars sustain their high standards. That she has done so with some goal-scoring is a bit of a shock.
   ”I thought it was going to be more of a shared role,” Chenot said. “We have Alex Vazquez who is a natural goal scorer. Emily (Knesevitch) has scored. Marcia (Voigt) has scored. It’s more spread out than McClintic doing it all.”
   Chenot has provided scoring and some offensive push without taking away from her defense. Immaculata’s goal on Monday was just the third of the season allowed by MHS. The Cougars have been good at both ends.
   ”We have 12 seniors,” Chenot said. “I think we build off that, just having a lot of natural leadership. A lot of us have played together since we were 10. We all know each other and how we play. Even if it gets past 10 of us, we have one of the best goalkeepers in Ally (Mancino). And we have good forwards who can score. We want to keep it going.”
   Few expected it to go this well for the Cougars early. They are the first MHS team in recent history to go this far without losing. MHS won’t play again until Tuesday.
   ”No matter what the tradition of winning is, it would be dishonest of me to say I’m not utterly surprised,” Beardsley said. “We lost so much. No Montgomery team has ever gone 11-0. This is uncharted waters. At the same time, we knew what kind of girls we had in this program. This senior class and the girls under them are unbelievable winners. I knew if we could get the play from the players who had some experience and players who are unproven, we could be pretty good.”
   Chenot, whose sister Maureen also played for MHS before moving on to play for Roanoke College, is one of the most experienced players on the Cougars. She dressed varsity and then began playing significantly as a sophomore. Molly is also hoping to play in college, but her first focus is on making this the best senior year possible.
   ”It’s definitely amazing,” she said. “The four of us, the captains, we have won something every year — states freshman year, then counties and then conferences. Our whole motto is we can’t let it go, we have to finish it off. We didn’t know what to expect. We definitely want it. If we keep working, hopefully we can continue everything.”