By Justin Feil, Contributor
Alana Baron’s message before the Hillsborough High School girls soccer team opened the state tournament was a statement and a plea.
“We’re not done,” said the Raiders tri-captain. “It’s really if you want to be here and you want to continue, you have to fight.”
It’s a refrain that she hopes will continue to get her teammates charged up in the future.
“I’m going to say it to the girls again when we go to play Manalapan,” Ms. Baron said. “It’s not going to be easy and it sure as heck isn’t going to be always fun, but you have to want to do it for the seniors that are going to be done after the season’s over.”
Ms. Baron and her fellow seniors had their season extended as the 11th-seeded Raiders became the lowest seeded team to advance in the Central Jersey Group IV state tournament with a 2-0 win against number six seed Old Bridge on Tuesday.
“I think a lot of the girls were happy to know we were playing Old Bridge because some of them had played them two times in the past four years and we won both times,” Hillsborough head coach LeeAnn Best said after her team improved to 7-9. “I think they had a little more confidence knowing we had handled them okay.”
Originally, Ms. Best said, it looked like the Raiders were going to face Sayreville, but a situation with Colts Neck’s 13th game of the season caused everyone to slide down a seed.
“We were a little hesitant about Sayreville because we didn’t know too much about them,” Ms. Best said. “Once we realized it was going to be Old Bridge, I think the girls were excited and wanted to at least get the first state win under our belt. They were definitely working hard to try to get the win.”
The win sends Hillsborough on to play at third-seeded Manalapan, a 6-2 winner in their first-round game. Manalapan defeated the Raiders last year.
“Getting on the bus, we were all excited and happy,” Ms. Baron said. “We realized we had to step it up, especially after hearing Manalapan won, 6-2, we know we have to score more goals and capitalize sooner and continue to kick butt and fight.”
Their first-round game was scoreless at the half after Hillsborough had a potential goal waved off. A controversial offsides call disallowed a first-half goal by the Raiders.
“For us, we knew that we deserved it,” Ms. Baron said. “As Delaney Smith, she’s a sophomore, she always says if we’re losing the first half that we need to start the second half like it’s a new game and fight to win. That, in the back of our heads, pushed us.”
Kristen Malebranch broke the 0-0 tie early in the second half. Midway through the half, Amelia Curtis provided an insurance goal to back the shutout goalkeeping of Olivia Bandola and the Raiders defense.
“The kids were frustrated,” Ms. Best said of the halftime feeling. “Then they regrouped. We came out on fire. The first at least half of the second half, they didn’t even come over into our half of the field.”
Kristen Malebranch, she said, has been seeing limited playing time lately because she has been playing through an injury. With that in mind, Ms. Best said she repositioned her player to perform better, despite the injury.
“We put her up top thinking there are less tackles there and she can avoid a tackle if she needed to. She was in the right place at the right time and she has enough skills to finish,” she said. “The second one was Amelia Curtis, who we gave her a break out of the midfield and pushed her up top to try to get another one and she was able to caapitalize.”
The win extended an up and down season for the Raiders. Their continuity has been hampered all season by injuries here and there. At times, Ms. Baron was the only senior healthy enough to be on the field.
“Being it’s my last year, I knew that we could always have done better than what we actually put in,” she said. “We always made excuses, whether it be like someone was injured and we didn’t have our starting center forward, or we were sick or we were out at the football game. Finally now, realizing it’s the end of the season, we’re taking it more seriously. We’re kind of hungry now.”
With the state tournament’s arrival comes the second season that every team looks forward to, and in the case of the Raiders it’s a chance to show where they stand in the state after slugging through a difficult Skyland Conference schedule. Hillsborough did not win a conference game.
“I think especially with the competition that we have, we don’t always have it easy,” Ms. Baron said. “We may not be number one, but it helps us to develop for when we don’t play teams in our conference. They may look at our stats and think, they’re last in their conference or they’re aren’t good. They don’t understand we’re playing some of the best teams in the state. They help us in some sense to become a better team.”
Earning a convincing win – Hillsborough outshot Old Bridge, 15-6 – over a higher seeded team was a strong indication of just how tough a conference they have.
“It gives a little credibility to our conference,” Ms. Best said. “We don’t usually score very many goals, and then to get a shutout combined. To compete against another good team and get a win and shutout says a lot for our conference knowing that we finished on the lower half of our conference standings.”
With their win against a higher seed team, the team is getting ready to face a new batch of opponents moving forward.
“It’s great because we’re going to be facing a lot of teams we don’t normally face. It’s kind of like a new season,” Ms. Best said. “You get to start over again.”
As a result, she said the team has been more focused at practice and have been more “rejuvenated.”
“Pretty much everyone that was hurt is back in the lineup and that helps. You get that camaraderie back. Everyone is stronger. We have a deeper bench now,” she said. “It takes a little pressure off, knowing if you’re not on your A game, there’s someone who can replace you and you can cheer for and they’ll get the job done.”
While Ms. Baron has been steady all season for the Raiders, another senior captain, Carly Swetz, was lost before the season began to a season-ending injury. Kristen Malebranch, who will graduate early to get a head start on classes before her college career begins this spring, has also been trying to get healthy. She came on for a big goal Tuesday.
“Even though Kristen’s injured, she is ready for competition,” Ms. Best said about her teammate. “Once you get that first goal, it just takes so much wind out of the other team’s sails. The team was playing well, but it’s just a different feel when she’s on the field and the team responds to her. Her scoring opens things up for us. Even though she’s not at 100 percent, she’s astounding.”
There are eight seniors on the Raiders roster. They are trying to extend their scholastic careers with each game and they want to lead Hillsborough to a memorable finish.
“I take some pride in that because for me I don’t know if I’ll be playing in college or not,” Ms. Baron said, who is eyeing Division III or club teams at the next level. “To be out there and be a leader for the girls, it’s something I want to do for the program.”
Hillsborough is hoping it can earn another game when they take on Manalapan in the sectional quarterfinals.
The soccer team has seen ups and downs in other athletic teams at the close of their season. Hunterdon Central knocked the HHS field hockey team out of contention in overtime in the state tournament quarterfinals. The HHS girls volleyball team won the Somerset County Tournament last Thursday with a 2-1 win over Watchung Hills.
The girls soccer team would like to celebrate another state upset Friday.
“I think we have such a great group of girls,” Ms. Baron said. “They’re going to work and they’re going to try. And even if not all our seniors are in, they’re going to want to do it, if not for themselves for everyone.”
It’s the next step for a Hillsborough team that was thrilled to get a first-round win to reinforce the work that they put in this season.
“I think it’s really an exciting thing for us,” Ms. Baron said. “Even though Coach Best had so much confidence that we’d win this game, we were all kind of doubting if we’d win it or not. Coming out and having a 2-0 win showed we’re not done with our season yet and we still want to fight for something.”
