ALLENTOWN: AHS girls soccer off to impressive start

By Bob Nuse, The Packet Group
   There is plenty new about this year’s Allentown High School girls soccer team.
   There is also plenty familiar. And together, the new and the familiar have helped the Redbirds get off to an impressive start.
   Allentown, which has a new head coach in former Clearview assistant Coleen Weber, improved to 3-1 with a 4-1 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro North last Thursday. Annie Lee scored a pair of goals, while Kali Hartshorn and Jess Gazzani added solo tallies in the win.
   ”We have four seniors and they all start and we also have a really big group of juniors that contribute,” said Weber, whose team was scheduled to face Lawrence on Tuesday. “We also have four freshmen, including one that starts. Kali Hartshorn is the first forward off the bench and a hard worker. She has been very impressive. Our sweeper, Sarah Settlecowski, is a freshman also.
   ”They are playing the way we need them to play. They are not phased by the fact they are freshman, at least not outwardly. I don’t look at them as freshmen.”
   While freshmen have contributed and there is also a new head coach, the Redbirds return plenty of experience from the team that went 14-8-1 last year. Heading the group are four seniors who all play key roles. Gihane Quintana is the center midfielder, Alex Moore and Annie Lee are forwards, and Morgan Keefe is in the back.
   ”They are our core group and they are very talented,” said Weber, a guidance counselor at Allentown.
   Quintana, Moore and junior Kirsten Littlefield are the captains and they have helped make the transition to a new head coach a smooth and successful one.
   ”I am very excited that we have started well,” said Quintana, who had two assists in the win over WW-P North. “We played against Princeton and they are very good. We lost that game but it was a good reality check. It’s been good with our new coach. She is such a good coach. She has had the experience and you can tell when she makes subs it is the right sub. She works at the school so some girls knew her and some didn’t. I didn’t but some girls did and we all got to know her quickly.”
   Added Weber: “My first day was the first day meeting most of these kids. I used to coach at Clearview and that was where I went to high school. I was an assistant there and joined the staff at Allentown full time ion the spring.
   ”I thought it was a really good way to start for the kids, I didn’t know who played where or who was varsity or JV. I came in and everyone had a blank slate and an opportunity to prove themselves.”
   The Redbirds have posted wins over Hamilton and Delran in addition to the win over North and the loss to Princeton. It’s been a nice start for a team still getting to know one another at some levels.
   ”The freshmen on varsity play very well and it is a good mix,” Quintana said. “I feel like we have all strong players and we don’t think anyone is really weak. We are all around the same standard. We had six or seven seniors last year so it is a big difference. But I think we stepped up even though we lost a lot of seniors.
   ”We lost almost all of our defenders but the freshmen have stepped in really well back there.”
   It helps to have a player like Quintana controlling things from the center midfield. It’s a position Weber relies on heavily and one where she is fortunate to have an experienced player.
   ”Everything goes through her,” Weber said. “She is a solid player. She is not the loudest player on the field and she won’t be talking the most. But she leads by example and will do anything she knows needs you need her do.”
   Since arriving on the varsity as a sophomore Quintana has spent most of her time on the field for Allentown as the team’s center midfielder, which suits her just fine.
   ”It is the position I been playing since I was 8 years old,” she said. “I am not much of a scorer, I leave that to the forwards. But I feel like I have good vision. I am not worried about getting the credit for the goal. I know myself if I help create the play. It is really a teamwork effort and not just me creating the play. Everyone is involved.”
   With a good start under their belts, the Redbirds are hoping to have good things continue the rest of the season.
   ”If we keep working hard as a team I believe we will keep winning,” Quintana said. “We just have to take every practice and every day step by step and put 100 percent on the field. With our work effort and skill we can definitely do well.”
   In Allentown’s earlier 4-1 win over Delran, Hartshorn scored a pair of goals while Moore and Carly Dubrosky added single tallies.