What started off as a challenge for the Jackson Memorial High School girls soccer team has turned into an advantage for the Jaguars as they won their second straight NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV state sectional championship and earned a rematch on Nov. 16 with Lenape High School, the team that beat them in last year’s Group IV semifinals.
Jackson Memorial High School goalie Sydney Lavan (above) makes a save in front of an East Brunswick attacker during the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional tournament championship match. At right, Jackson Memorial’s Ariana Smith (black jersey) heads the ball away from the Bears’ Cassandra Riccio. The Jaguars traveled to East Brunswick’s home field in Middlesex County on Nov. 12 and won the state sectional crown, 1-0. For more photos, visit www. gmnews.com. PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff The Nov. 16 match was played after the deadline for this edition of the Tri-Town News. The winner of that match will play for the state Group IV title this weekend.
After beating Manalapan in a penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw in the Central Jersey Group IV semifinals, the Jaguars traveled to Middlesex County on Nov. 12 and defeated East Brunswick in the sectional championship match.
Sophomore Brielle Stem took a ball that was deflected on a throw-in by Kim Clemmer and fired in a shot from a crowd of players inside the right post in the 26th minute for her third goal of the season.
Goalie Sydney Lavan made the goal stand up with some sure-handed saves down the stretch as the Jaguars’ defense withstood East Brunswick’s desperate attempts for the equalizer. The Bears had the edge in shots, but the Jaguars (16-5) were the only team to find the back of the net.
“We are better defensively as a team than we were last year,” said coach Drew Gibson. “We lost some great players (to graduation) and to see the girls come back and play hard and be here is great. Now we have to play very good defense and limit Lenape’s good scoring chances.”
The Jaguars, who repeated as Shore Conference A South Division champions, were intent on getting something back on their season after losing in the opening round of the Shore Conference Tournament to Brick Memorial High School of Brick Township.
They kept their composure against East Brunswick (21-3). Lenape, the defending Group IV state champion, won its South Jersey sectional crown with a 2-0 victory over Absegami.
“It feels a little bit different (winning a second straight sectional title) because the expectations are that this is our title and we have to defend it,” Clemmer said. “That was new for us last year. There was a lot of pressure on the girls who were there last year to get everyone there again It was rough in the beginning (a 1-2 start) when we had some tough losses and losing in the Shore Conference Tournament and we bounced back and knew what we had to do.”
Dani Andreas, one of the team’s leading scorers with seven goals, said it is a matter of her and the other seniors leading the way.
“We provide a lot of leadership and we know if we step it up, they will follow our lead,” said Andreas. “A lot of the young players and the bench have stepped up. That’s a big thing for us. They keep the same level of intensity for us. There’s not a drop-off when they come in.”
Jackson Memorial had beaten East Brunswick in the 2009 sectional semifinals (before beating Manalapan in the sectional title match) and weathered a series of shots in the closing minutes of this year’s title game against the Bears with Lavan punching away corner kicks from in front of the goal and then pulling in a header with seven seconds left to seal the victory.
Despite the disparity of shots and East Brunswick having possession for most of the second half, Lavan lined up East Brunswick’s shots for relatively routine saves as she notched her ninth shutout.
“Defensively, we played awesome inside and had a good opportunity and took advantage of it,” said Gibson. “We played with heart and you do what you have to do to win the game. Lavan was unbelievable making her saves and her confidence has risen. She is confident with her decisions, comes off the line when she has to and stays on the line when she needs to.”
“I felt I had the ball clearly,” said Lavan, who added that she is playing her best soccer these days. “I knew how to play them from last year and the experience from last year helped me a lot. It got a little crazy at the end, but I knew we were a tough team and could pull together.”
Clemmer said the team was not trying to protect its lead because the goal was scored early in the match.
“We came out at halftime thinking we needed to play good defense because they had good technical skill, so we had to stay behind the ball, which made it look like we were on our heels,” said Clemmer. “Mostly we tried to win the 50-50 balls and clear it out as far as possible.
“We still wanted to score, but as it got closer to the end they started putting more girls on me, extra girls on the defenders and more girls on top, and we had to compensate for that and get people back to mark down.”
As the match wound down, the defense that has been the strength this year became the factor in the Jaguars’ sectional finals victory.
On Nov. 9 the Jaguars and the Manalapan Braves hooked up in a memorable Central Jersey Group IV state sectional semifinal match in Jackson.
The teams played to a 0-0 tie through regulation and two overtime periods before Jackson Memorial outscored the Braves 4- 3 in the penalty shootout to advance to the Central Jersey Group IV championship match.
“Sometimes it’s just not meant to be,” said Manalapan coach Rick Garretson.
The Braves clearly had the better of play, especially in the second half and in overtime, but they ran into a hot goalie in Lavan, who stopped everything sent her way.
Lavan made her finest save when she went airborne to stop what looked like a sure goal off the foot of Manalapan’s Cassie Inacio.
Inacio beat her defender inside the 18 and drilled a shot that seemed destined for the top shelf, but somehow an airborne Lavan was able to get her hands on the ball as it was about to rocket by her.
It was that kind of day for the Braves.
“The kids played their hearts out,” said Garretson. “They put so much pressure on the Jackson defense and their goalie. Give credit to (Jackson Memorial’s) defense and goalie, who played a super game. We had a lot of opportunities.”
In the penalty shootout, Lavan came up with two saves that made the difference in the match. Her second save came in the fifth round with the shootout tied 3-3. Lavan’s save allowed Clemmer to win it for the Jaguars, which she did on her spot kick.