BRHS girls’ soccer just short of state tourney bid

By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
    All signs pointed to the Bordentown Regional High girls’ varsity soccer team qualifying for the state tournament last week.
    But the very unpredictable nature of sports is what makes sports great and keeps us watching. It’s what keeps us at the very edge of our seats. It’s also what breaks our hearts.
    And a lot of hearts were broken in Bordentown after the Bears nipped the Scotties, 2-1, in overtime on October 22 in Delran.
    “There’s no way we should have come out of that game with a loss. At worse it should have been a tie,” said the Scotties’ longtime girls’ varsity soccer coach Dominick Castaldo.
    After losing eight key players to injury, many of whom were seniors, the Scotties got off to a slow start this season but they battled back to go a game over .500 by the start of the Delran game.
    The game was close throughout as neither team scored until the second half when Delran’s Tara Bellay broke the ice with a tally. With 26 minutes remaining in regulation, Kayla Pagnani scored the equalizer for the Scotties, but despite numerous offensive drives before the overtime session, the Scotties couldn’t quite deliver the game winner.
    “Kayla (Pagnani) had a good goal and then Jenna Adams had some opportunities and Kayla had even more opportunities. The wind had an affect on the game,” said Castaldo. “Going against the wind they scored with 2:10 left in the first overtime.”
    The Bears played a ball to the right side of the box but the wind blew the ball away from a Scottie defender attempting to clear the ball and Taylor Umbrell was there to put in the winning tally for the Bears. Bordentown goalie Nicole Walls made seven saves and played very well for the Scotties in defeat.
    “I felt we had the better of play in the game,” said Castaldo, who was extremely proud of his team’s effort. “It was a tough loss for a variety of reasons, but I felt we played well enough to win.”
    Bordentown still had one more chance to qualify for the post season with either a win or a tie. Unfortunately, a very strong Moorestown team won at Bordentown, 2-0, on Thursday to eliminate the Scotties from playoff contention.
    “The game we felt was everything was the Delran game and we came out and lost it in overtime,” said Castaldo, who loved his club’s chances going into that contest. “They could have mailed in the Moorestown game. But my girls came out and they worked hard.”
    Moorestown scored a pair of goals on unbelievable shots. The Quakers’ second goal was virtually unstoppable.
    “The velocity of the ball on their second goal was such that nobody was touching it,” said Castaldo, who thought his goalie (Walls) played very well. “Even Mike Brennan (the Scotties’ boys’ varsity soccer coach who used to be a star goalie in college) couldn’t have stopped it during his college days.”
    So many times when a team is in danger of losing a playoff berth with a loss or a tie, it will find a way to postpone a late week game on cutoff week until after the state cutoff date. But with Dominick Castaldo, the epitome of dignity and class coaching the Scotties, postponing the game was never an option.
    “I had a good excuse that could have gotten us out of playing the game. But in 25 years I have never used an excuse to get out of a game to qualify for the post season,” said Castaldo. “You get into this tournament because you earn it. And what kind of message am I sending these kids if we postponed the game. The message I’d be sending them is you can always take the easy way out and that’s not life.”
    And for Castaldo, teaching life lessons has always been his primary mission as a soccer coach. Still the way Bordentown played soccer the past few weeks it’s a shame it fell short of its playoff goal. Bordentown had a game scheduled against Life Center Academy cancelled which it was heavily favored to win. It also lost a close game to Northern Burlington and tied NBC 3-3 in another tight contest.
    “They deserved it,” said Castaldo, who felt this team should have made the playoffs. “But there’s at least three games we didn’t finish out that we should have.”
    Even so, Bordentown has a chance to climb back to .500 with a win over Rancocas Valley at Joe Lawrence Park on Saturday.
    “I’m so proud of them,” said Castaldo, whose team withstood challenge after challenge this year.