MHS girls soccer ends year with three straight wins
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Helen Sluder won’t forget the championship seasons with the Montgomery High School girls soccer team.
She also won’t be able to forget the rebuilding season that the Cougars just finished.
”A lot of the girls weren’t used to the level of play that obviously the varsity standard is,” said the junior who played defense this year. “It was extremely difficult to instill such a we-need-to-win mindset into these girls. They never met or played with any of the varsity girls last year. There were only four healthy returning varsity players.
”The level was not there. We had to work 20 times as hard, and since we had so many injuries, it was that much harder to dig ourselves out of a huge hole.”
The Cougars struggled to find wins early, but closed their year strong with three straight wins to finish 5-14. In the finale, a 3-0 win over Rutgers Prep last Saturday, senior Olivia Tilles scored two goals and senior captain Sarah Bielawski assisted on a goal.
”Olivia totally improved this season,” Sluder said. “It was great to see. I’ve played with her since I was a freshman. She’s 100 percent stepped up as a leader. It’s awesome to see how she improved herself and how she got to enjoy that final moment.”
Montgomery won its first Somerset County Tournament game against Bound Brook, and finished the year on a three-game winning streak.
”I think at the beginning everybody was really stressed to have to live up to the previous year’s expectations, having such an incredible program and such an awesome team,” Sluder said. “We had been getting injuries left and right. At the end, everyone wanted to step up for the seniors, Sarah Bielawski and Olivia Tilles and Allie Delloiacono.”
Sarah Knight had a goal and Jeanie Lisanti had two assists while Bre Cocuzzo stopped three shots for the shutout over Rutgers Prep as Montgomery ended its season with a promising result.
”I hate already looking at it, but it makes me excited for next year,” said Montgomery head coach Sean O’Hagan. “They started to click. They realized they’re far behind in physical ability and technical ability. I only have two girls that play club soccer outside of the school. It’s a vast difference from the beginning. The girls understand much more what it’s like.”
Getting the Cougars up to speed was the biggest struggle. There were only four girls that returned with any varsity experience, and MHS was further weakened by injuries.
”At the end we finally got a taste of what it’s like to compete with teams in our conference,” Sluder said. “I think next year we’ll have the drive to win. A lot of the girls will be freshmen. There will be a ton of people that won’t be injured. It’ll be pretty good for our roster.”
Sluder, who will be a captain for next year’s team, wants to get the Cougars working on their skills and strength. It’s a necessary step in helping them improve.
”I plan on starting out the offseason work in one month or two month,” Sluder said. “We’re going to get in the weight room. You can’t do much if you’re at such a small level of skill. Sean told me that’s his goal too — to get the girls touching the ball as much as possible.”
Sluder expects to clear time in her schedule to return to playing club soccer and setting an example of the work that has to be done. MHS needs more of its players to commit to improving in order return to prominence.
”It’s the biggest eye-opening experience for everyone — for me, for the team, for the township,” O’Hagan said. “Montgomery soccer is not healthy now. We don’t have a JV team. I think there’s a push now to build the town soccer program again.”
Several players from last year did not return to the team, and Montgomery looked different from the outset.
”I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a really difficult journey,” Sluder said. “Mainly the reason I actually wanted to get better and improve — it was obvious we were going to be incredibly worse than last year — but I really wanted to play for my seniors. The season was pretty frustrating because last year was so amazing.”
The Cougars’ late run showed progress. It’s progress that Montgomery is banking on to continue.
”The girls who were healthy, I can say with full confidence, that we improved so much,” Sluder said. “At the beginning, it was just a group of girls that had no idea what the level of intensity was. At the end, all the girls stepped up, some for the seniors, mostly for themselves to prove that they can play at this level.
”I’m really excited to get back to training,” she said. “I’m super excited to see how we look with all our injured girls healthy again. I’m kind of nervous on the other hand. I really want next season to be so much better than this season.”
It can be better if MHS can find more interest and commitment going into the year. MHS spent the season catching up in experience and skillwork. It made for a difficult starting point.
”This year, there were no cuts and no JV,” Sluder said. “You didn’t have to prove yourself.”
Sluder has been a varsity contributor since she was a freshman. She was hurt and missed part of last season, but came back in a different and bigger role this year.
”Last year, I played outside mid,” Sluder said. “This year, I played center back. I haven’t played center back in four or five years. I switched up positions. That’s not the biggest struggle I had.”
It was hard for her and some of last year’s varsity players to see the program struggle. They had only known success, and they want to see it return.
”I’m just trying to build the program up,” Sluder said. “The talent is there in the younger kids. I hate the fact that this season and next season are going to be a building year.”
On Senior Night in a win over North Hunterdon, the Cougars put together their best effort in terms of passing and playing good team soccer. O’Hagan hopes that is something that will carry over into his second year with so many potential returning players back.
”When I came into Montgomery, when I knew the players they had, I read an entire curriculum about the things I wanted to get done this year,” O’Hagan said. “I had to throw that out the window. We had to go back to introductory stuff — how to play a position and how to juggle.
”It was a big wake-up call on my side. I’ve never lost as many games, I’ve never lost as badly. It’s a nice humbling experience. Just like the girls, it makes me want the taste of victory that much more.”
Sluder certainly wants to get back to winning. She spent each of her first three years playing for the Cougar senior class at the time. Next year, it will be her senior year, and she wants to push Montgomery back toward a higher level. It’s a goal that all the Cougars share after enduring a tough campaign that finished with promise.
”We had tons of girls that were injured this year and they would have been varsity starters,” O’Hagan said. “That was huge. The growth in the girls that played this year is huge. I can see us being a nice team. We’re still going to be an immature team. We won’t be a walk-over team.
”I’m so excited about next year because of the possibilities for next year. I couldn’t even tell you where we’ll be like next year. We don’t have any really great players, but I think we’ll have a really solid squad of good players.”