STEVEN BASSIN/STAFF

Mazzella’s hat trick steers Bordentown to fifth victory of the season

It’s been an outstanding start to the 2021 season on the pitch for the Bordentown Regional High School girls soccer team and senior captain Lexi Mazzella.

The Scotties rolled to their fifth victory of the season on Sept. 20 against New Egypt in Bordentown, defeating the Warriors by the score of 5-0.

Mazzella dialed up a huge performance in the Bordentown victory, scoring a game-high three goals with an assist.

Her second hat trick of the season gives Mazzella eight goals through the first six games of the season to help the Scotties begin their 2021 campaign with a mark of 5-1.

“It always feels great to get a hat trick,” Mazzella said after the game. “I just like to help the team win. Winning is a great feeling.”

Mazzella knocked in the game’s first goal off an assist from Taylor Bassion in the fourth minute to give Bordentown an early 1-0 lead.

The senior forward led Bordentown to two scores in the final 10 minutes of the first half to help the Scotties take a 3-0 lead into the half.

She dished out a perfect pass up the field to teammate Danyela Jones, who would then slap home her second goal of the season to put Bordentown up 2-0 in the 34th minute.

Mazzella then showed off her nifty footwork and strong leg with 3:59 to go in the first half to score her second goal of the contest, finding the back of the net with a shot from the 12-yard line.

The hat trick came about for Mazzella in the 65th minute of the contest.

The senior found herself in the right spot by the net to poke in the loose ball that was dropped by the New Egypt goalkeeper off the corner kick from teammate Georgia Boberg to give the Scotties a 4-0 lead.

Mazzella now has eight goals and two assists on the season. It’s also the 10th time in her high school career that Mazzella has captured the proverbial hat trick.

The whole start to the 2021 season has been “surreal” to Mazzella after going through a COVID-19 shortened season last fall as a junior.

She said she is happy to be able to experience a normal season with her teammates

this fall and has her sights set on breaking her season-high mark of 18 goals scored when she was just a freshman.

“It’s a great feeling to have a full season back for my senior year,” Mazzella said. “I’ve been really pushing the team a lot. Personally, I think pushing them is going to help them even more. I think we can go pretty far this year.”

Senior Victoria Santoro knocked in the final goal of the afternoon for the Scotties in the 68th minute.

Bordentown now has eight players on its squad who have scored at least one goal this season. The Scotties have tallied a total of 17 goals in their first six games of 2021.

“The biggest thing right now is the entry pass into the offensive third,” said Bordentown Coach Dominick Castaldo. “When we get it right, they’re pretty goals.”

The victory over New Egypt helps Bordentown stay undefeated (3-0) in the Burlington County Scholastic League-Patriot Division.

Castaldo has been very pleased with how his team has begun the season and feels this group of Scotties can be “really good”.

That said, Castaldo added that his squad needs to become more consistent with its play on the field to get to the ultimate level he feels they can reach.

“This team can be very good but they’re not there yet on a consistent level,” Castaldo said. “It’s up and down. They show signs of being brilliant.”

The 5-1 start by Bordentown gives Castaldo 401 career victories as head coach of the Scotties since taking the helm in 1984.

Castaldo said he never thought when he first became the Bordentown coach that he would be with the program this long.

Now 38 years later, Castaldo is still patrolling the sidelines, doing everything he can to help out his group of girls become better players on the field and better people off the field.

“It’s been a great ride,” Castaldo said. “We’ve put together a program that I think works. It goes back to the girls and the dedication they have given the program. The dedication the school and the community have given us. That’s why we’ve been able to achieve this.”

Bordentown has two tough back-to-back BCSL matchups ahead of them to finish off the week. The Scotties were set to travel to Burlington Township on Sept. 22 and turn around to host Moorestown the following day.