Schmid sees big season ahead for North
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Kevin Mackenzie came into the season feeling pretty good about his West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls soccer team.
But the team Mackenzie saw for the first half and early part of the second half of Friday’s season-opener against West Windsor-Plainsboro South was not quite what he was expecting.
”Once we got the first goal we were a whole different team,” said Mackenzie, whose team overcame a 2-0 deficit to rally and beat the Pirates, 3-2. “The team I saw in the last 30 minutes, that’s the team I was expecting to see as far as the way the girls played. I didn’t think we played poorly in the first half, but we just didn’t seem to have the same level of intensity as we did in the second half.”
After a scoreless first half in which the Knights controlled much of the play, the Pirates opened the second half with goals from Gabi Portilla and Gabriella Saade to take a 2-0 lead. But the Knights responded with quick scores from Emily Schmid and Morgan Hendry to tie the game before Meghan Wachira scored with just over 26 minutes left to give the Knights the lead.
The Knights responded well after allowing two goals in the first six minutes of the second half and the rally for the win has to be a boost to the confidence of a team looking to improve after finishing 7-10 last year.
”I trusted my teammates that we could believe in each other and turn it back around and get back into our game,” said Schmid, who scored the first Knights goal off a wonderful cross from Hendry. “The first goal took a lot of pressure off because then we knew we could score against them. We got some momentum going for us. Meghan and Morgan had two big goals.”
The Knights team that responded after falling behind 2-0 was the team Mackenzie expected to see coming into the season.
”We talked about being relentless,” said the veteran coach. “That was the goal going into the game. We weren’t doing that in the first half. But as soon as we got that first goal it was like a switch went off and we were just aggressive all over the field and created a lot of opportunities. We were a lot better.
”And once we got the third one we had so many chances to get that fourth one and put it away but we just couldn’t seem to do it.”
But three goals were enough for the Knights, who have a solid mix of veteran leaders to go with some talented newcomers in the lineup.
”I think we’re going to have a great season,” said Schmid, a sophomore midfielder. “We worked really hard in the preseason and in practices. We have a really good group and we’re all really close. We’re like a family and we all trust each other.
”We have really good speed up top. We have good midfielders who can take on players in the middle and the outside and serve balls into our forwards.”
The Knights have never been a program known for producing big goal scorers. But this year the combination of Meghan Wachira and her freshman sister, Jillian, gives the team a pair of weapons that not many teams can match.
”Goal scorers are hard to find and we have some girls who can finish this year with the two Wachira sisters and Morgan Hendry,” Mackenzie said. “Emily’s goal tonight was beautiful. She is a very skilled player. She works very hard at her game not just in practice but on her own. She is a kid that can juggle the ball all day long. When I saw the ball going to her on the far post I had no doubt that she was going to score a goal.
”We have had some good soccer players and some good athletes but we have never had the forwards that we do now. These forwards are fast and skilled and have great size. It’s a nice luxury. We’re going to get into games against some really good teams and they always give you a chance when you have girls like that up front.”
And that offense made a difference in the opener as the Knights overcame a good performance by the Pirates to get the season started right.
”It gave us a lot of confidence to come back and win and play the way we did,” Mackenzie said. “It’s always exciting against South. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how good they are. It just always seems to be a close game.”