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BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP: McTamney nets 100th goal

GOOOAAALLL!

By Anthony Williams, Special Writer
   BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — After three years of varsity soccer, senior forward Lexi McTamney had found the back of the net 68 times in her career. Thirteen games into her senior season, Mctamney needed just one more tally to become the first 100-goal scorer in Bordentown Regional High School Girls Soccer history.
   On Tuesday, Oct. 16, she would get her chance to forever etch her name into the record books against cross-town rival Northern Burlington County Regional High School at home.
   For seventy minutes, the Northern Burlington defense kept McTamney and the Bordentown attack off the board and the fans waiting to see what they came for, a milestone goal like no other the Scottie faithful had ever seen.
   Bordentown’s numerous efforts to feed McTamney the ball were turned away by defenders or passed inches wide of the upper ninety, but still the Scotties pressed on.
   Then, with a quick flick of her left foot, McTamney ripped her thirteenth shot into the back of the net past a surprised Northern Burlington goalkeeper and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
   Despite trailing 2-0 at the time of McTamney’s historic shot, the fans leapt into the air screaming into the fall night, waved banners wildly, and applauded the accomplishment four years in the making.
   ”I was hoping it would happen tonight,” McTamney said. “It was on my mind the whole game and the whole team felt a lot of pressure to make it happen.”
   The game was stopped by the game officials and McTamney was presented with flowers, balloons, and a ball in recognition of her accomplishment and posed with her parents for pictures at midfield.
   Through all of the excitement, everybody in attendance almost forgot there was another ten minutes of soccer to play in the BCSL match-up. After restarting the game, Northern Burlington was able to score an insurance goal when Bordentown’s goal keeper blasted a shot off of her own defender and a Northern Burlington forward that ricocheted into the net for the final 3-1 score.
   Bordentown was unable to come away with a victory on this momentous occasion, but Coach Dominick Castaldo understood his team wasn’t operating under normal circumstances.
   ”We talked about not pressing to get the ball to Lexi, but rather to just run our offense,” Coach Castaldo said. “But as a coach, I wasn’t going to tell them to stop.”
   McTamney’s 100th goal gave her 34 on the season and left her just 8 shy of the record 42 goals in a single season. With 5 games remaining on the Bordentown schedule before playoffs, McTamney and her coach made it very clear what was on their minds.
   ”Ever since Lexi started playing at Bordentown I had 42 goals in a season on our list of personal goals for her,” Coach Castaldo said.
   After Bordentown’s next two games against Willingboro and Pemberton, McTamney sits just three goals from the single season record and could very well surpass the mark later today as the Scotties take on Holy Cross at home at 3:45 p.m. Should McTamney fail to accomplish the feat today, she will get one more crack at it before ending her high school career at New Egypt on Oct. 27.
   Regardless of the outcome of her pursuit for 42, McTamney has had a fantastic career at Bordentown and plans on continuing playing soccer at the collegiate level. Among the schools on her short list to attend is The College of New Jersey which boasts one of the proudest girls soccer program in the country.
   Before she gets an opportunity to score another goal, McTamney wanted to thank her parents and teammates for their support over the last four years.
   ”I really want to dedicate this goal to my mom and dad,” McTamney said. “This was a team effort and tonight was the culmination of four years of hard work.”