By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — Even though she’s only a junior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High North, Ana Lucia Dellien knew she wouldn’t have another chance at the Mercer County Tournament.
Dellien is relocating this summer to Indonesia, where her father has a new job.
”I don’t want to think about the end,” Dellien said. “I just want to make sure we get as far as we can.”
The Knights midfielder has made the most of her final scholastic season in the United States, and that continued as she scored four goals, was vital to the critical draw control game and in the battle for ground balls as third-seeded WW-P North won its first MCT championship, 17-13, over top-seeded Allentown on Saturday.
”It’s amazing,” Dellien said. “It’s a feeling I can’t even explain. It’s even better knowing that no one can take it away from us.”
Olivia Harpel scored eight goals, Devin Brakel scored three goals and Kristine Towell added two goals. Alexa L’Insalata made seven saves or the Knights, who had lost twice to Allentown in the regular season and fell to Princeton High in last year’s county final.
”I learned from last year, no matter what the situation is, you have to go 100 percent the whole game,” Dellien said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in, who’s not. You have to work together and then you’ll get the results.”
There was predicting that Dellien and the Knights would even get back to a final this season after significant graduation losses last year.
”How do you not worry when you have 12 seniors and eight of them were starters?” said Knights head coach Beth Serughetti. “The concern is, how are the girls going to come together?”
It’s been a slow but steady process. The Knights lost their first two games of the year, to Allentown and Princeton High. They lost to Allentown again in the second meeting of the year, and also to West Windsor-Plainsboro South. They beat both WW-P South and Allentown on their way to the county title.
”We were definitely disorganized at the beginning of the season and we weren’t playing as a team to start,” said Serughetti after improving to 12-5. “Once we settled and with a lot of hard work, it was a progression. I think it also helps when things start coming together.
”When you start the season off 0-2, that can be difficult. But these girls never stopped working hard, never stopped believing that we had a chance at anything, whether it was to win a CVC, to win counties, to win states.”
For the first time this season, the Knights had the lead on Allentown at halftime, 8-5. It wasn’t the biggest difference from the previous meetings.
”Our poise,” Serughetti said. “Our poise at the offensive end and the defensive end, I haven’t seen either side as solid as today’s game. I thought our defense was poised, I thought our offense was poised, not really forcing it. Sometimes we get in there and force. We’ve come really far. We’ve had great team chemistry, great team leadership.”
Dellien is a part of that leadership. When there was a big play to be made, she was in the midst of it Saturday.
”Since it was finals, since the regular season ended, we’ve had a different mentality,” Dellien said. “We knew that possession was a big part of this game, so every chance we could get for draw control we went for it, no matter what.”
A warp speed beginning to the second half saw a flurry of goals from both teams as Allentown tried to chip away. Barely five minutes into the half, they had narrowed the lead to 12-10, but after a WW-P North time out, the Knights allowed them to get no closer. Harpel scored off a draw, then back-to-back goals by Dellien gave the Knights a 15-10 lead and a glimpse of their first title with only 10 minutes to go.
”We felt very confident,” Dellien said. “We had a significant lead. Three is a good amount. We knew they were a second half team, we knew they weren’t done. We kicked ourselves into the thought of the end of the game. We knew the next 25 minutes were the most important of the entire game. We just told each other what we need to work on and what we need to do and what the game plan was in order to achieve the win.”
Part of the game plan was keeping the ball away from the high-scoring Allentown offense that featured Alex Moore, the top goal scorer in the state. Dellien did her part by controlling almost half of the draws taken by Harpel, particularly over the final five minutes as Allentown tried to get back in the game. Dellien made sure that three of the last five draws landed in her stick, and she also came up with a key ground ball.
”In the beginning of the game, it looked like Alex Moore was coming up with a lot of those draw controls,” Serughetti said. “That was something we talked about in timeouts and halftime, we said, it’s got to be about the draw control. We have to fight really hard for it and we have to see it onto our sticks. Ana was unbelievable, Olivia was unbelievable getting those draws.
”Then there’s those other crucial moments where Dana Siano would get a draw control, and Morgan Magid did a great job in the midfield. It’s her first year starting for her, and she gets a great check on Alex Moore from behind and Ana picks up the ground ball. Those are the things. Those are the 50-50 balls that we had to be on top of immediately. There was no hesitation today.”
The Knights have been on a steady upswing all year. Dellien admitted that it could have been difficult to envision reaching a final, let alone winning it, one year after losing so many starters.
”At first, it was hard to tell,” she said. “Once we got our season going, we kind of knew we had the ability. We knew the teams we were going to play, how they played and we knew we were just as good, even better. We wanted to get as far as we could without anyone stopping us.
”We’re a younger team, and everyone individually is amazing, and then together when we work as a unit, it brought us together and helped us a lot. We know each other’s weaknesses and strengths and with that we were able to work together today.”
It was a fine send-off for the Knight seniors, and Dellien, who acts the part of a senior and plays the part of the veteran all over the field.
”You feel like she’s a senior because the way she steps up and the way she wants it,” Serughetti said. “It’s that senior mentality, and how composed she is. That’s not something you normally find from a junior, but she’s been starting since her freshman year and been contributing big-time since her freshman year. I can’t say enough good things about Ana.
”She got her 100th goal this season early on. She also has our assist record. She has the single-season assist record that she broke last year. This year, she broke Kimmy Collins’ career assist record in three years. Her goals, her assists, her ground balls, her draw controls, her checks, she was awesome.”
The Knights got big contributions across the board. Harpel was also key on the draw controls and her finishing skills kept the momentum going North’s way. Brakel, who missed last year’s final after she broke her foot in warm-ups, was the epitome of a poised senior. L’Insalata made critical saves, including a save on a free position in the final 15 minutes and a save on Moore in the final three minutes.
”This is her first year getting the spotlight,” Serughetti said. “The pressure of shot after shot coming at her with a young defensive unit, I can’t even express my appreciation for what Alexa has done in goal. She’s the anchor. She’s composed and focused. She’s the heart of our defense.”
The Knights are looking to keep things going. They’re seeded third in North Jersey Group III and are scheduled to host No. 14 Demarest today.
”You have to keep rising to the next level, especially when you get to states,” Serughetti said. “It’s one and done in states. They’re not going to slow down, this group. This kind of proved and showed our team what we need to do to beat a really good team.”
The county championship was just the start to the tournament portion of the season, but it was the perfect send-off for the Knight players who won’t have the chance to return next year.
”Obviously last year we didn’t get the result we wanted,” Dellien said, “so this year we really came out with big heart and knew we had to win it for the seniors and each other.”
