EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — Two early goals were too much for Mainland Regional High School to overcome as the girls soccer team fell 3-1 to Egg Harbor Township on Oct. 22.
The Eagles continued their impressive season (16-1 overall, 12-0 in the Cape-Atlantic League American Division under head coach Peter Lambert), getting goals from senior Brielle VonColln (26 goals, 14 assists) and sophomore Jackie Brownlee (27 goals, 12 assists) along with an incredible free kick tally from sophomore Payton Crowell. It was the team’s first CAL title.
Mustang goaltender Riley Townsend came under immediate attack from the high-scoring Eagles (88 goals for, 10 against) during the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament final.
After an initial chance was knocked out for a corner kick that came up empty, VonColln picked the pocket of a defender in Mainland’s half, turning and charging toward net to fire home the opening salvo at 36:59. Senior midfielder Abby Mathis was credited with an assist.
“We wanted this really badly, so we didn’t let one goal put us down,” Mustang junior Emma Tenaglia said.
A little more than a minute later, Mainland committed a foul and Egg Harbor Township had a free kick about 25 yards out on the far sideline.
Crowell netted her second of the season with a long shot that found the top left corner of the net, making it 2-0 at 34:50.
What looked like a beatdown turned into a spirited game, as the Mustangs maintained possession, combining multiple passes, and finally got a goal of their own before the midway mark of the first half.
Forward Maddie McBride struck a brilliant through ball down the middle of the field. Eagles goaltender Arianna Nguyen (10 shutouts) left her line to scoop it up, but Tenaglia (21 goals, 6 assists) beat her to the ball, went around the left side and scored at 22:21.
“We work on playing as a team and sharing the ball and trying to get the ball to our goal scorers,” Mainland head coach Fred Napoli said.
Mainland (11-4 overall, 9-3 Cape-Atlantic League American Division) managed to keep VonColln and Brownlee is check for the remainder of the half and almost half of the second through hard work by defenders Maddie Meade, Lacey Wagner, Addie Pepper and Keeley Dougherty, along with strong midfield play from Maddie Taylor, McBride, Nola Person, Savannah Jones, Emma Preissman and Reilly Nagle.
“With the exception of those two goals at the beginning of the game, I thought they had a solid game,” Napoli said of the defense.
But Brownlee was not to be kept down for the entire match, and notched her own goal on a pass from senior midfielder Ava Ferrara at 22:15 of the second half, making the score 3-1.
“We have our center backs, and we just make sure to mark them and stick with them,” Wagner said. “We work really hard. I know by the end of the game, for me personally, I’m exhausted, muscles sore, and I know everyone else is the same.”
The Mustangs kept fighting but ultimately could not put another ball into the back of the net. It was their third loss this season to the Eagles.
“I thought we played as hard as we could, and we just — today was not our day,” Tenaglia said. “But we tried our best. That’s all that matters.”
Napoli said he was proud of his team’s effort.
“These girls are very good, they’re very resilient. They learn from their mistakes and they fix things. I thought they played really, really hard. I’m proud of them,” he said.
Townsend said playing against Egg Harbor Township’s high-scoring attack was “pretty stressful.”
“I just had trust in my defense, trust in myself,” she said. “It sucks the outcome didn’t go how we wanted, but we played our hearts out, we tried our best and that’s all we could do.”
Mainland, the 15th seed, lost 4-0 to Shawnee on Oct. 24 in the first round of the South Jersey Coaches Association Tournament, while Egg Harbor Township suffered its first loss of the season the same day 3-2 to Eastern. They would have faced one another again had they both been victorious.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff