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Women's Soccer Team Suffers Frustrating Loss in OT
At Region 19 Championship
11/4/10
West
Windsor, N.J. -- Just seconds prior to the end of the first overtime
in the Region 19 championship game on Oct. 30, the women's soccer
team's dream of advancing to the NJCAA District Tournament ended following
an unlikely goal by Burlington. According to Head Coach Jodie Ricciardi,
a Burlington player, with the wind at her back, took a shot from about
35 yards out that went up and over the head of goalie Chelsea Quinlan
without ever touching the ground. And that was that.
After Burlington went up 1-0 early in the game, most of the action
took place at Burlington's end, as the Vikings offense threatened
repeatedly. Forward Cristina Alonso, who scored two goals in Mercer's
3-0 victory over Sussex in the semis, finally found the goal with
about 20 minutes remaining in the second half. Said Ricciardi, "After
our goal, we continued to dominate through the rest of regulation
and throughout overtime, but just couldn't find the net!"
That
the Vikings held the undefeated Burlington squad to a 1-1 tie for
most of the 100 minutes of play says a lot about how far this team
has come. In September, the Vikings lost to Burlington 3-0, but
according to Ricciardi, who completes her fourth season as head
coach, her players hit their stride as the season progressed. "We
had many injuries at the beginning and then more throughout our
season. This forced us to move players to different positions, so
it took us longer to mesh as a team. Fortunately we came together
at the right time and did very well at the end."
The
Vikings ended the season with a record of 7-8-1. Within Region 19
Division I, their record, including their two games in the playoffs,
was 5-2-1
Alonso was named Player of the Year for Region 19 women's soccer.
Named to the All-Region First Team were Alonso and midfielder Marissa
Segal (East Windsor, NJ). Named to the Second Team were defenders
Irene Calabria Nuevo (Madrid, Spain) and Brittney Fornarotto (Ewing,
NJ). Alonso, Calabria Nuevo and Segal were also selected to the
All-Garden State Athletic Conference First Team; Second Team selections
included Fornarotto and forward Jess Villalba (Cookstown, NJ)
Ricciardi is optimistic about the team's prospects in 2011. "We
have a very talented freshman class this year that will continue
to improve and be great leaders next year. We are already working
hard to recruit another strong freshman class to replace the sophomores
from this year who made a big impact for our team."
Ricciardi was assisted this season by Mike DeAngelis, Joe Franc
and Bobbie Gioscio.
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