PHS boys reach CJ III semis
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Julia Straley had a few more butterflies than usual before the Montgomery High School girls soccer team’s sectional quarterfinal game, but switching to another position was nothing new.
The senior has played everywhere but forward for the defending Group IV state champion Cougars.
”Freshman year, I started outside midfield,” Straley said. “Sometimes I would move into the middle. Junior year, Michelle Wiltse got injured so I moved to left back and I’ve been there ever since.”
Until the Central Jersey Group IV quarterfinal when Straley had to slide into the center back position of Montgomery’s flat three-back defense to replace her good friend Katherine Lynch, who was out with a concussion suffered in the sectional opening 3-1 win over Colts Neck last Monday.
”Katherine is a huge player, and I guess I could say I was nervous but I knew I had a job to do,” Straley said. “It adds to the pressure. It pushes me that much more to be perfect. I don’t want to let my team down.”
Into Straley’s place was an even bigger unknown as sophomore Sarah Bielawski played left back for the first time. On the right side where she’s been all year was freshman Alexandra Szigeti, and the trio limited to fifth-seeded Freehold Borough to three shots before Jessica Goldman won it for the fourth-seeded Cougars in the final minutes of overtime, 1-0, Thursday. Colleen Gaffney assisted the goal.
”I think as a team, we definitely stepped up and came together,” Straley said. “There was a feel like we were dominating. We won in the last couple minutes. We had a feel we were supposed to win. Even if we got to PKs, it was a good feeling.”
Rebecca Ravitz stopped all three shots she faced in the shutout as the Cougars improved to 12-4-2 going into Monday’s scheduled semifinal against ninth-seeded Manalapan, an upset winner over top-seeded Old Bridge.
The Princeton High boys also advanced to the sectional semifinals with a 3-0 win over Hopewell Valley on Friday. Meanwhile, the Montgomery boys and Princeton girls each suffered losses in the quarterfinals. The Montgomery boys lost to Hunterdon Central, 1-0, in overtime, while the Princeton girls lost to Hightstown, 4-1.
”We were able to maintain our shape,” said MHS head coach Jeremy Beardsley after his team improved to 12-4-2. “I wanted to keep our 3-5-2. Sarah and Alexandra Szigeti played out of their minds. Sarah never played defense and never 3-back. That was incredible. That was the difference.”
The Cougars went into Monday’s game against Manalapan knowing they’d be playing again without Lynch. It’s been a difficult year with key injuries for MHS. A knee injury ended high-scoring forward Marissa Kowalski’s season and Wiltse remains on the field despite being injured.
”We’ve been very, very blessed over the last couple years where we’ve avoided the big injury,” Beardsley said. “The Kowalski injury just killed us. We’re trying like heck to not have Katherine’s injury hurt us.
”Wiltse, she just plays. She’s been in that rhythm where she just plays, doesn’t train. She’s in an incredible amount of pain, but has gutted it out. We changed it a bit to help take some running away for her. She has a torn ligament in her foot that she’s playing through. It’s pretty incredible.”
The Cougar seniors are doing everything in their power to keep the season going. They haven’t done all that they set out to this year, and the state tournament is their final chance.
”Just considering this is the last tournament and last of our high school career, it helps us push that much harder for the win,” Straley said. “I can’t imagine just ending our season.”
Straley wants to play one more game with Lynch back where she belongs. The Cougars are hopeful that they can give Lynch one more game.
”I’ve been playing with Katherine for I don’t know how long,” Straley said. “I can’t imagine my last game not being with her. I definitely want her back. I guess we have to make it to the finals for states.”
A Cougars’ win Monday would put them into the final Thursday against either second-seeded East Brunswick or third-seeded Hunterdon Central.
”The chance for finality is certainly on our mind,” said Beardsley, who has announced that this will be his last season as MHS head coach. “That did motivate us on Thursday. It’ll be motivating us (Monday). This senior class has known nothing but conference championships, county championships, and they want to go to one more. We’re going to try our best to get to one more final.”
Said Straley: “Knowing it’s our last year and probably our last chance all together to win something big, that has a big impact.”
In the Princeton boys win over Hopewell, Chase Ealy scored a pair of goals to lead the Little Tigers. Andrew Goldsmith also scored in the win. Ealy moved into a scoring position to help offset the loss of John Blair to injury and he came through for the Little Tigers.
”He was great, he came to life,” Princeton coach Wayne Sutcliffe said. “We weren’t really in a position to really use him as a striker in the first half of the season. We worked to slot him in there. John is out for the season, Chase characteristically can play anywhere. He is a flank left player but he just, as you can see, he is pretty threatening so what a day for him.
”These moments are scripted for guys like that. Chase stepped up and took the penalty kick, we didn’t choose him. These are the things that players bring out in themselves. It was phenomenal.