Both the Red Bank Catholic and Rumson-Fair Haven girls soccer teams entered their respective state sectional tournaments feeling as though they were the teams to beat.
Turns out, they were both right.
The Caseys and Bulldogs both celebrated sectional titles over the weekend, with RBC beating a familiar foe, St. John Vianney, 2-0, in the Non-Public South A final, while RFH knocked off sixth-seeded Delaware Valley, 2-1, to win its second consecutive state title.
Both teams will now move on to the next round, where RFH was scheduled to face Haddonfield (the same Haddonfield that knocked off the Bulldogs in last year’s Group II semifinal, 3-1, and has reached the Group II finals the past three seasons) on Tuesday in a Group II semifinal, while RBC will take on Immaculate Heart later today at The College of New Jersey in the Non-Public A final. Immaculate Heart is a nationally ranked team that entered the postseason as the favorite to win the Non-Public crown.
However, the Caseys (22-1) are playing at a very high level this season, and have every right to believe they can pull off the upset.
Against SJV on Nov. 13, the Caseys got their first goal when Francesca Yaccarine scored on a penalty kick at the 61:56 mark, set up by a handball on a corner kick. After RBC’s Noelle Arcomano blasted a shot that appeared headed for the net, an SJV player made contact with the ball, setting up the penalty kick. Yaccarine then stepped up and beat SJV keeper Ali
Ragusa with a shot to the right side. It marked just Yaccarine’s third goal of the playoffs, with the other two coming in the Shore Conference Tournament and state sectional finals. Apparently, she was saving her scoring for the big games.
Devin Griffin scored the Caseys’ second goal at 70:14 with
a shot from about 25 yards on the
left side placed neatly in the upperright. SJV, which finished 16-4 on the season, tried to come back when they nearly scored on a header off a corner kick, but Casey goalie Anabel Schmelz dove to knock the ball off the crossbar before a defender cleared the ball. With the win, the Caseys captured their first sectional crown since they beat Holy Cross in 2005 and went on to tie Pingry in the Non-Public A final.
In the sectional semifinals against second seeded Gloucester Catholic, Yaccarine’s goal in the 33rd minute stood up as the game-winner. RBC dominated this game from the outset, outshooting the Rams 12-0 in the first half and putting together a number of quality scoring chances. However, they couldn’t seal the deal until Yaccarine’s goal.
After junior defender Lori Davy took a pass from Danielle Colaprico along the right sideline, she beat Gloucester Catholic’s June Maloney and sent the ball into the 18-yard box. The ball sailed past Rams keeper Caitlin Sweeney in the center of the goalbox and came down to Devin Griffin.
Griffin was unable to get a shot through the crowd, but made its way to Yaccarine, who placed a shot inside the right post.
The second half was a more tightly contested affair, but the RBC defense, led by Schmelz (who recorded her 12th shutout of the year) held firm.
The win was made even sweeter considering Gloucester Catholic was the team that beat RBC a year ago in the semifinals.
SJV advanced to the sectional final with a 3-2 win over Paul VI, as the Lancers scored three goals in the second half. Clare Kerrisk’s goal in the 78th minute was the game-winner, and came off a Kaitlyn Fare corner kick.
Also scoring for Vianney in this game was Jen Mulvey, who got her first goal just 2:04 into the second half off a pass from Fare, and added the game-tying tally 14 minutes later, heading in a Kirsten Danna pass.
Rumson-Fair Haven reached the CJ Group II final by beating top-seeded A.L. Johnson on Nov. 11, 2-1. Amanda Yaccarino scored the game-winner, beating the keeper to a Mary Solimine through ball about 15 yards out in the 74th minute. Rumson (13-5) took the lead at 2:13 when Heather Tomozawa scored on rebound of a Lizzy Apicella’s shot, but A.L. Johnson (15-3-2) tied the score with a goal from Stephanie Avena in the
16th minute.
In the sectional final on Friday, RFH had to beat a stubborn Terriers team in a shoot-out, 5-4, to clinch its second consecutive title. The two teams played to a 1-1 tie through regulation, with Chrissy Lushefski scoring the Bulldogs’ goal at the 44:54 mark off a beautiful feed from Yaccarino. That tied the score and set up the shoot-out, where RFH went five-forfive, with Yaccarino, Mary Solimine, Lushefski, Meg Douty and Tomozawa all beating the Del Val keeper to clinch the title.