Lacey Powell and Nicole Whitley were both thinking the same thing. Freehold Township High School’s girls’ soccer team had one last chance to win their NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV match against Hunterdon Central Regional High School in regulation on a corner kick.
“When you have an opportunity like that, you have to take advantage of it,” Powell said.
Whitley, who was to deliver the corner kick on the left side of the pitch, looked at it as an opportunity as well.
“I was thinking this could be our last chance,” she said. “I knew I had to make a play. I wanted to keep it away from their goalie’s hands; she’s 6 feet [tall]. I wanted to kick it further [from the goalie] to the post and hope someone was able to put their head on it.”
When Whitley was sizing up the kick with less than 30 seconds left in the match, Powell raised her arm signaling to Whitely to look for her. It didn’t matter that Whitley didn’t see the gesture — it showed Powell’s determination to make something happen.
“I wanted [to score] real badly,” Powell said. “I’m not the tallest in the box. It’s how much you want it. It didn’t matter how many were in the box — I was going to make a play.
“Nicole made a real nice kick in the box.”
Powell jumped above the others for Whitley’s serve and directed the kick into the upper corner of the goal out of the reach of Hunterdon Central goalie Bristol Pizzuto for the 3-2 victory that completed an incredible comeback that will be part of Freehold Township history forever. It delivered the program’s first state sectional title.
The Patriots, the top seed in Central Jersey Group IV, trailed the Red Devils, 2-0, on goals by Brianna Floyd and Luciana Zullo in the Nov. 13 match played in Freehold Township. It looked dire but not to the Patriots, who had actually outplayed the Red Devils in the first half, having tested Pizzuto frequently.
“We were very calm,” Powell said. “We’re not a team that panics.
“We came out in the second half with more energy. Everyone wanted it. We never really give up.” Whitley noted that the Patriots drew confidence from the way they had played in the first half despite the score,
“We kept knocking on the door,” she said. “The first half was even. We needed to keep playing great soccer with more energy. We stepped it up.”
Nicole Sasso gave the Patriots momentum that stayed with them through the remainder of the match when she scored a minute into the second half to cut the deficit in half.
“It was very important that [Sasso] scored so quickly,” Powell said.
Whitley said the quick strike by Sasso gave the team more momentum.
Sasso struck again in the 74th minute on a shot that skidded away from Pizzuto on the slick turf.
Just like that it was 2-2 and a new game. Freehold Township didn’t let up, though.
“We didn’t want to just sit on it and take it to overtime,” Powell said.
The Patriots’ aggressive play led to the lategame corner kick and Powell’s winning goal.
It also avenged a semifinals loss to the Red Devils in overtime two years ago at Hunterdon Central.
This was Freehold Township’s first trip to a sectional final, and that provided an added incentive to the team. That — and the fact that despite their fine 18-4-1 record, the Patriots hadn’t won anything this year — gave them a sense of urgency.
“The whole year, we hadn’t won anything,” Whitley said. “We wanted to come out and leave it all out of the field.”
Powell added that for the seniors like herself, this was their last game on their home field, and they wanted to make it a win. “We had gotten very close in our division and conference,” she said. “We had so much skill, talent and chemistry to do something this year. We didn’t want to come close again. This was our last chance to do something.”
They brought a state sectional title back to the school for the first time. Whitley pointed out that it’s not over yet
Freehold Township (19-4-1) moved on to the Group IV semifinals Nov. 17 to play the South Jersey, Group IV champion, Shawnee High School (20-2-2).
The winner will play for the group championship at Kean University Nov. 21.