By Wayne Witkowski
A late-season surge has helped Howell High School’s girls’ soccer team, under new coach Shannon Mayrose, return to the NJSIAA and Shore Conference tournaments.
It was an interesting route for Mayrose, whose team took a big step toward qualifying by beating her former high school team, Freehold High School, 2-1, Oct. 13 and then clinched the postseason spots with a 4-0 victory over Neptune High School the following day.
The Rebels ended their regular-season at 7-6 when Colts Neck High School, which is ranked No. 17 in a state poll, ended Howell’s four-game winning streak with a Shore Conference A North Division victory, 6-0, Oct. 17. Colts Neck won the first meeting between the teams, 3-0, which launched a three-game losing streak that put Howell on the precipice of falling short of postseason play until its season-ending run.
Howell looks to quickly bounce back in tournament play, which started with the No. 18-seeded Rebels’ Shore Conference Tournament opener at 3:45 p.m. Oct. 19 at No. 15 seed Red Bank Catholic High School.
“We’re focusing a lot on the technical side of the game,” Mayrose said.
Howell has enjoyed offensive balance and the reliable goalkeeping of Rachel Kern, who is one of only four seniors on the team and one of the three senior captains. Senior midfielders Marissa Dare, who scored one of the goals against Freehold when Howell took a 2-1 lead at halftime, and Kayla Fay are the other captains along with junior midfielder Katie Klein.
Dare and Fay scored against Neptune, as did junior Alexis Serido and sophomore Jessica O’Brien. The Rebels had a 2-0 lead at halftime.
This year’s team wants to advance farther in both tournaments after losing opening-round games last year in a 9-7 season.
Amanda Verdoni — one of the two interior fullbacks in Howell’s flat-back four formation — said she sees the team fine-tuning its technical aspects, starting from when she was on the sidelines early in the season recovering from surgery in mid-summer.
“Just being on the sidelines at the beginning of the season gives you a different perspective — seeing the strengths and weaknesses and seeing the team not playing together. Then I saw it click,” Verdoni said.
“I think we’ll be ready [for the tournaments],” Dare said. “We know we have to be hungry and to want it. That’s been in our heads and makes us work harder.”
Mayrose knows about channeling efforts in tournament play from her high school days, as well as when she played as a forward at Virginia Tech, which reached the Final Four of the NCAA Division I Tournament when she was a redshirt senior in her fifth year of eligibility.
“We weren’t switching the field and swinging the ball in the beginning. But when we find feet and find the open players, there’s room for the attack and then we can score goals,” Mayrose said.
Mayrose has been assisted by Vincent Silvestri, who coaches the junior varsity team, and Michele Vitale, who coaches the freshmen.
With a veteran lineup of seven starters from last year’s team, Mayrose said her team knew what it needed to do to make that push at the end of the season, and it showed in the victory against Freehold.
“They needed to stay organized with their marks in the middle and to put their chances away and, from the back, to have their passing routes and communication,” Mayrose said.
Verdoni said she has seen the transition from defense to offense improving, starting first in a 2-0 victory earlier in the season over perennial Shore Conference A South Division contender Brick Memorial High School. Sophomore Alex Piccinich is the other center back, while junior Jenna Cholowinski starts on the left side and freshmen Christina Margadonna and Ali Serido share the duties on the right.
Piccinich and Cholowinski had assists on goals scored against Neptune.
They’ve all helped the defense allow only four goals in the last four games.
“We’re pretty young back there and trying to get two freshmen acclimated,” Mayrose said. “But now we’re in a good place, and I feel comfortable with where we’ve been playing.”
“We’re getting better. We usually play [the ball] through the middle, and now we’re going more to the side than we’ve been,” Dare said. “We’re communicating well now.”
Credit that wider ball movement largely to the play of midfielders Dare and Fay on the outside as well as junior interior midfielders Sarah Hugenin and Alyssa Corrado and Megan Meyer sharing time at the other interior spot. Klein also has contributed rotating into the midfield.
They’ve been able to move the ball to juniors Angela Sulfaro and Alexis Serido at forward. O’Brien and freshman Taylor Pagano have provided depth at forward, along with junior Lauren Melendez.
“It’s our willingness to work hard,” Mayrose said. “A few games early in the season, we didn’t come to play. It’s not talent that wins games but effort.”
Mayrose said that effort extends along the bench, including Erika DeSantos — a junior who has played in goal — and junior outside midfielder Gianna Enea.