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SEVENTH HEAVEN AS RBC CAPTURE SCT GIRLS SOCCER TITLE
By Eric Braun
WEST LONG BRANCH – This time last season, the Toms River North Mariners girl soccer team pulled off a great run to capture their second Shore Conference Tournament title with a 1-0 win over Red Bank Catholic. Once again the Mariners were on a similar run and once again met the Caseys in the final at Shore Regional on Wednesday night.
Red Bank Catholic entered the championship game as the number three seed and had to do some work to get here. The Caseys earned a first-round bye and then opened with a shutout win over Red Bank Regional, 2-0, and then headed to second-seed Shore Regional. The Blue Devils took a 2-1 lead in the first half before RBC battled back for a 3-2 win. This set up a rematch against Middletown South, who was the only team to beat the Caseys this season. This time however, the Caseys would come out victorious with a second-half surge to earn a 2-0 win and a trip back to the final.
Toms River North entered the tournament as the fourth seed and also earned an opening-round bye. In the second round, the Mariners struggled with No. 20 Southern Regional and had to get a last-minute goal in regulation to tie it, 1-1, and then scored in the second overtime to keep their title defense alive. In the next round against Saint John Vianney, they needed some more theatrics to advance when they converted on a late penalty kick to take a 2-1 lead. In the semifinal against Freehold Township, they would once again advance on penalty kicks, but this time after a 1-1 tie through double overtime and win on penalty kick shootouts, 4-2, to earn their way back into the final.
Both teams lost a lot to graduation last season, but the underclassmen from Red Bank Catholic still knew this was a revenge game and were determined to keep their winning season intact and on a positive note.
The Caseys were all over Toms River North from the opening whistle, but it took until 12 minutes left in the first half to get the scoring going. Junior Emma Bruther ripped a shot from 25 yards out that rattled the crossbar and sophomore Morgan Cupo headed in the rebound for the 1-0 lead. Red Bank Catholic would waste no time extending their lead when just five minutes later, junior Aubrey Silverman found Bruther open along the left flank and Bruther beat her defender deep in the Mariners’ end then beat the keeper to the upper corner for the 2-0 lead.
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Bruther, who did not play last season because of Academy soccer, became an immediate impact for the Caseys this season and provided the 1-2 punch along with Cupo.
“I felt really good scoring the second goal because we knew as a team they were not going away and after missing a lot of this season due to injury it was just good to get back out here and play,” she said.
“We just wanted to play our best and had to keep playing because we knew they were not going to quit and had to keep going until the game was over. Losing to them last year, I knew the feeling, and I knew I didn’t want to go through that again,” said Cupo of the rematch with Toms River North in the final.
This would be all the scoring Red Bank Catholic needed to walk out of West Long Branch with its the first Shore Conference Tournament title since 2013 and seventh title in program history.
“After losing 11 girls to graduation and then having to go through the only team that beat us in Middletown South this year, the girls were super excited to get back here and they felt last year we were the better team but just didn’t score. This time we came out determined to score and we did,” said Red Bank Catholic coach Frank Lawrence.
When talking about the toughness of Bruther and her battle back from an early season injury, Lawrence added, “You cannot say enough about this kid and her mental toughness. She got hurt early in the season after falling on her knee and had to miss three weeks and when she left, was a starter for us. She battled back and became a major impact for us down the stretch and a major contributor. We decided to bring her off the bench the rest of the season and bring in fresh legs and an immediate scorer.”
Red Bank Catholic will look to continue their great season as they sit at 15-1-1 going into the NJSIAA tournament, where they are the No. 2 seed behind top-ranked Pingry. They already have nine shutouts and 66 goals. After their lone loss to Middletown South, the Caseys are 11-0-2 and have been on a tear, which is good news for Lawrence heading into their second- round NJSIAA Non-Public A South matchup against either Paul VI or Saint Thomas Aquinas.
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