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Athlete of the Week

Mancino saves big week for MHS

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Ally Mancino relaxed on Sunday.
   Understandably so. The Montgomery High School goalkeeper’s previous five days had been filled with emotional and meaningful games, particularly as a senior.
   It started last Tuesday with a game against Hillsborough, the Cougar seniors’ last regular-season meeting with their rivals. They had the chance to sweep the season series and clinch the Skyland Conference Delaware East Division. Mancino and the Cougars enjoyed a 3-1 win in which they kept the Raiders out of the net through the first 75 minutes of play before a late goal ended the shutout bid. The win also put the final nail in Hillsborough’s state tournament chances
   ”Our main goal was to win our conference,” Mancino said, “but it was a nice little sider.”
   Thursday, the Cougars honored their graduating class at Senior Night while taking on Immaculata. Mancino was hardly put to work in a 4-0 shutout win. She had a tougher time dealing with the bigger meaning of the game.
   ”It was really emotional,” she said. “Everyone was trying not to cry. I wasn’t tested that much in goal. I was able to play with my feet a little.”
   Those two games were just a warm-up for Mancino and MHS, which took on Ridge in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals on Saturday. Mancino was brilliant as she came up with eight saves, five in the first half when Ridge had the wind at its back, including a clutch save in the final seconds of the first half that preserved a 1-0 lead. In the second half, Mancino and the Cougar defense kept it that way for a 1-0 win to send MHS to its third straight SCT final and keep it unbeaten this season.
   ”It was pretty tense,” said Mancino, who recorded her 53rd career shutout. “With the one-goal lead, it was good, but never a time to relax. We knew they’d be coming at us. With the fact we beat them before, 2-1, we knew they’d be coming at us. It was the county semifinals and they were coming off a big win. They were pretty much fighting for their lives. I was happy we held them off.”
   Ally Mancino is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
   ”It isn’t a surprise,” said MHS head coach Jeremy Beardsley after the Ridge win. “Ally really enjoys the limelight. She loves to play in the big games. She’s played in a lot of big games. I think she was having a blast back there. She was flying all over the place. She had a couple really acrobatic saves that most girls just cannot make.”
   Welcome to the luxury of playing on the Cougars team over the last four years. Mancino has been helping to anchor a solid, and most seasons spectacular, defense since she was a freshman. She’s been making big saves for the Cougars since she broke in, and the Cougars have been big winners ever since she moved into goal. This year, there was a new challenge with three new players in front of her in the back three.
   ”The last couple years, I’ve had a defensive line that was amazing,” Mancino said. “I had two all-staters and Meghan Nahass was amazing. With a brand new defensive line, I knew I had to do more.
   ”Of course, I was a little worried,” she said of the beginning of the year. “I’m so happy with Alyssa (Bull), Casey (Niper) and Lexi (Simon). I’m so comfortable having them in front, I know they’ll get the job done. It’s just like the other three years.”
   And if they can’t, there’s always Mancino to save the Cougars.
   ”Certainly in Ally’s career, she’s been a huge part of our success,” said Beardsley, whose team plays Pingry in Saturday’s 5 p.m. SCT final at Watchung Hills. “She’d be the first person to say she’s behind some tremendous girls and defenses. But Saturday, we needed some big saves. There are a lot of games in her career that she didn’t have to come up with a big save. She did on Saturday.”
   The University of Connecticut-bound Mancino is intensely competitive. Even “good goals” do little to assuage her disappointment in allowing anything by her. In one of the Cougars’ biggest games of the season, she made sure no Ridge shot did so, a task all the more difficult because of the wind and rain in her face.
   ”You have to be on your toes because of anything,” she said. “It’ll skip because of rain. It’ll go farther because of the wind. It’s fun. You have to always be ready. My heart was racing the whole time.”
   With Mancino in the back, the rest of the Cougars’ hearts could beat a little slower. It’s what having a four-year starter in goal has done for a team that has relied on plenty of inexperience in the field this season.
   ”It calms us down,” Beardsley said. “It stabilizes the team. We all know we have her behind us. If we do have a breakdown, they do have to get through one more girl. She is a tremendous teammate.”
   Not much from Mancino surprises Beardsley anymore. But he has noticed a little change in her in her senior season.
   ”I think she’s embraced the leadership role,” he said. “All four of the captains have. She’s always been vocal. It’s different as a senior. You’re playing for your career. When you’re a senior and asking for more from your teammates, it’s a little different.”
   Ally Mancino just wants it to last as long as possible before heading to UConn, where she is thrilled to be joining a team that attracted her with “awesome players and great coaches.” Right now, she’s working on finishing her career in perfect fashion with another great MHS team.
   ”I guess it is a little ideal, having to do more and having more expectations,” she said. “The best thing is our team is still here and we won our conference which no one thought we could do. That’s the best part of the year, and it’s not even over yet.”