Cougars oust upset-minded Pirates
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Montgomery High School girls’ soccer team is still hungry.
The Cougars began their quest for a third championship this season with a 2-0 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South on Friday, almost one week after they wrapped up their county championship.
”I was nervous about was the layoff,” said MHS head coach Jeremy Beardsley after his side improved to 18-0-1. “I feel like we lost the momentum we had from Saturday. Generally, I think the effort was very good. The effort won today.”
The top-seeded Cougars opened the Central Jersey Group IV tournament with a victory over the ninth-seeded Pirates, who brought an All-American midfielder and a history of a tournament upsets.
”This is a team that knocked off top-seeded East Brunswick last year,” said Beardsley, whose team hosts No. 4 Steinert today in the sectional semifinals. “If you take them lightly, they’re going to knock you off.”
To add to his worries, the Cougars had to play their first game without one of their back three, Alyssa Bull, out with a concussion. MHS inserted another senior, Kristin Kaufmann, into the lineup, and Lexi Simon and Casey Niper were their usual stalwarts in the back.
”It was different, but we knew Kristin would rise to the occasion because she’s a senior,” Niper said. “She has that senior mentality that this could have been their last game, so we knew she would step up. But we did miss Alyssa.”
Alex Vazquez relieved pressure on the defense when she blasted a loose ball into the goal 13 minutes into the game.
”We always play better when we’re ahead,” Niper said. “It makes us more comfortable when we’re playing when we’re ahead. It helped us to be more relaxed. We’re always better when we’re relaxed.”
Ten minutes into the second half, MHS could relax further when Maddie Roe scored off a scramble to open a 2-0 lead. It was the freshman’s first goal of her career.
”Maddie is a freshman on a senior-laden team,” Beardsley said. “I’ve been on her about contributing and putting together five or six minutes at a time. That was a big-time finish. It wasn’t easy.”
The Cougars’ play in the midfield limited the Pirates’ possession. The MHS defense did the rest in front of Ally Mancino, who made four saves.
”I think we were pretty solid back there,” Niper said. “We didn’t let them get that many opportunities. Ally didn’t have to make that many saves. In all, we worked well together. We made do with our situation.
”They did have an All-American midfielder who we had to deal with, but we’ve been dealing with some really stud players in the last few games when we played against Ridge and Pingry. So we knew how to cope with it.”
Niper didn’t have to mark the Pirates’ Maura McLaughlin because the Rutgers-bound senior is a midfielder, not forward. But as the Cougars advance, they will count on Niper’s continued excellence in her first year in the back.
”What Casey brings is she’s blue collar,” Beardsley said. “She’s very coachable. She’s very dependable. I knew I could train her to play in the back. I knew she could figure it out. We made a ton of mistakes in the preseason, but she’s the type of kid that learns from mistakes and can play her way out of it. She’s technical enough to play back there. She’s athletic enough.”
McLaughlin is one of four seniors that the Pirates will lose from a 12-6-2 that reached the second round of the state tournament. Fellow senior Liz Huttner made 13 saves.
”I give all the credit to Montgomery,” said Pirates head coach Chris Miller. “They outplayed us and outshot us. We’re not quite there. We’re getting there. I wish we had Maura one more year.”
McLaughlin was all that remained for the Pirates from the middle of the field and defense last year, yet the young squad played several of the top teams in the state tough. They battled the Cougars on Friday before closing out their season.
”I felt like we fought to the end,” Miller said. “The only thing you can ask is you don’t give up and look at your mistakes and improve. My team did that. I’m extremely proud of my team this year.”
One of the Pirates’ toughest conference rivals, Steinert, is Montgomery’s next opponent. The Cougars lost to Steinert in the CJ IV final two years ago. The Cougars are only focusing on this year.
”We have something prove because nobody thought we’d be this good,” Niper said. “We use that as fuel to keep playing well and keep winning.”
MHS won its conference title with its regular season play. It opened the state tournament in strong fashion to squash any fears they were content with a county championship.
”We had time to celebrate it,” Niper said, “and then we got right back to work because we knew what had to be done. We’re hungry for more.”

