Colts Neck High School defender Allison Russo heads the ball away from a Northern Highlands Regional High School attacker during the NJSIAA Group III final played at Kean University in Union Nov. 21. The Cougars beat the Highlanders, 1-0, to win their first state championship. SCOTT FRIEDMAN Doug Phillips spent the preseason looking for a goalie. His 2015 Colts Neck High School girls’ soccer team had every major player back but one from the 2014 team that had played for the Group III state title.
The one area where his team might have been vulnerable was in goal.
So he turned to a fine field player in sophomore Lauren Feaster.
In Feaster, Phillips, who played goalie himself, pointed out that he had someone who was such a good athlete that he was confident she could grow into the role.
Feaster certainly didn’t come into the season thinking she’d be the team’s last line of defense.
“I didn’t really want to go [play goalie],” Feaster said. “No one stepped up, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”
Phillips and the Cougars are pleased that Feaster became their goalie. Feaster played the game of her life Nov. 21 in the NJSIAA Group III final at Kean University in Union. Her incredible play led the Cougars to a 1-0 victory over defending champion Northern Highlands Regional High School, which is generally regarded as the best team in the state.
“We needed her tonight,” Phillips said after the victory.
Amanda Visco, who sparked the Cougars’ gritty defensive effort in front of Feaster, noted that the goalie’s play helped inspire the team.
“She played out of her mind,” Visco said. “It gave us a boost of confidence.”
For her part, Feaster welcomed the challenge of facing such a dangerous team — the same squad that had beaten the Cougars in last year’s final, 4-0.
“I was very excited to play them,” she said.
Northern Highlands tested her, but she answered every challenge, whether it was a corner kick, a straight-on blast or aggressively leaving the goal area. She made 10 saves, with several of them being spectacular in keeping the defending champions off the scoreboard.
“It was insane,” Feaster said of the play in front of the goal. “I never had that much action before.
“I was just focused on not letting the ball go into the net. The first save got me going.”
Feaster added that she has become a more confident goalie with each match, and it helped her become a more aggressive goalie — more proactive and reactive. The aggressive Feaster was the difference at Kean.
The Cougars are also happy that they have Frankie Tagliaferri on their side. It was the junior forward who came through with the magical play, according to Phillips, that the team needed to defeat the Highlanders, who brought a 22-0-1 record to the final, and win the program’s first state championship. Early in the second half, Tagliaferri dribbled through the Highlanders defense, shedding one defender after another and leaving them with no choice but to foul her in the goal area. That set up a penalty kick.
“When I shoot a penalty kick, I don’t plan to go left or right; I just go up there and kick it wherever I feel at the time,” she said. “I had missed on a breakaway earlier, and I didn’t want to let my team down. I had to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Tagliaferri buried her penalty kick inside the left post, and the Cougars had a 1-0 lead. It was a matter of whether the Cougars could keep holding the Highlanders off from there.
Feaster foiled the Highlanders while Visco and teammates Allison Russo, Alexandra Ryan and Kara Camarco formed a wall in front of the Highlanders’ forwards, keeping them from penetrating the 18-yard line.
Phillips had nothing but praise for the entire defensive effort by the Cougars.
“We absolutely stopped them,” the coach said. “They were dangerous, but we didn’t let them get into the box like last year.”
Colts Neck’s win was even more impressive considering it played without one of its offensive sparkplugs in the injured Bridget King.
Tara Walenczyk’s hustle was indicative of a Cougars team that was not going to sit back with a one-goal lead. Hustling to and winning 50/50s kept the Highlanders on their heels and limited their attacking ability.
The Highlanders had two great chances off corner kicks in the final four minutes, only to come up empty each time.
In the final seconds, the Highlanders couldn’t even mount a charge upfield, and Colts Neck captured the state championship.
“This is an unbelievable feeling,” said Visco, one of the Cougars’ three seniors with King and Russo, who were team leaders all season.
To get to the group finals, Colts Neck defeated South Jersey Group III winner Toms River High School South, 2-0, in the semifinals Nov. 17. Tagliaferri and Visco were the goal scorers, while Feaster collected another shutout.
In Colts Neck’s 10 postseason games, including the Shore Conference Tournament, the team allowed just one goal.
After Colts Neck won its second straight Central Jersey Group III championship, Phillips looked ahead and noted that if his club could get back to the Group III title game against Northern Highlands and win, the Cougars would have a chance to be a special team — one that would be talked about when the subject of the Shore Conference’s greatest teams are mentioned.
Among them are the 2006-08 Freehold High School teams that won back-to-back titles in 2006-07 and were finalists in 2008.
Like the 2006 Colonials, the Cougars won four championships this season: division, conference tournament, state sectional and group.
With a final record of 24-0-1, the Cougars are a team for the ages.