EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The Red Raiders girls soccer team got three goals from three players and kept the Eagles’ top threats off the scoreboard as they won their fifth consecutive Cape-Atlantic League Tournament title 3-1 on Oct. 23 at Egg Harbor Township High School.
The top-seeded Eagles had the Raiders on their heels in the early going but it was Ocean City High School, the second seed, that struck first.
Top scorer Naomi Nnewihe (25 goals) caught up with a long pass in the right corner and crossed the ball. Eagles goalkeeper Abigail Lyon got a hand on it, only to deflect it to an open freshman Savannah Rhubart who put it in for the opening goal at 28:48.
“Naomi was sprinting down the side and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can run with her,’ but I just started going and it skipped past a couple people and I just like threw my leg up and it went up. I didn’t think it was even going to go in,” Rhubart said.
Nnewihe, a senior, padded the lead just a couple of minutes later when she got free in front, juked Lyon and calmly kicked the ball into the back of the net at 26:48.
Senior Brooke Liebrand got the assist on Nnewihe’s goal, then netted her own at 37:12 of the second half, shooting from a tight angle as she came straight in on the goalie after receiving the ball from Rhubart to put the Raiders up 3-0.
It was the team’s plan to come out strong after the break.
“Coming into the second half, I told the team we just had to put our foot on the gas pedal and I think right away that’s what we did,” Liebrand said. “I was playing alone up there (Nnewihe was moved to a defensive position), so I knew I just had to make a play on the ball,” Liebrand said.
The third goal felt like it sealed the deal for the Raiders.
“Going into halftime, we knew that we were controlling the game, and that’s really important, but getting that third goal just really put us in a good mindset to calm down and play our game,” Liebrand said.
Despite the lopsided score, the Eagles did not go gentle into that good night.
When down 2-0 in the first half, EHT was fouled and had a free kick from about 28 yards out in the center of the pitch. One player tapped the ball to senior Aniyah Parker, who fired just over the bar but showed that the Eagles are dangerous with about 12 minutes remaining.
The Eagles followed that up with a corner kick and a near-goal in which Red Raiders senior goalkeeper Kaia Ray took a shin to the face as the attacker slid into her after Ray made the save. After being down for a couple of minutes, she was up and able to continue playing.
With about 3 minutes left in the opening stanza, Brielle VonColln struck a free kick from about 30 yards out that evaded the hands of a diving Ray but hit the post, denying yet another chance.
VonColln, whose father Mark VonColln is chief of the Northfield Police Department, continued her strong play in the second half, getting the opening shot and forcing one of multiple great saves from Ray.
“It was definitely challenging. EHT is a great team, a great competitor. We lost to them here last time, so just coming out here today and putting our best foot forward, I think we did that,” Liebrand said. (Ocean City lost to EHT 4-2 on the road, but but beat the Eagles 3-0 on their home field later in the season.)
Following her goal to make it 3-0 Ocean City, EHT turned up the pressure, getting more of the ball and multiple set piece chances, but could not capitalize.
The Eagles finally broke through with a goal with 7:06 remaining. Ali Weller fired a shot that Ray saved, but VonColln was there to bury the rebound for the Eagles’ only score of the contest.
Ocean City’s defense was able to take EHT’s top scoring threats — freshman Jackie Brownlee (27 goals, 3 assists) and Parker (17, 10) — out of the game.
Head coach Sean Matteo was elated after the final whistle.
“They’re very well coached, so to do that — to beat them last week, to come back this week, still making adjustments — that’s a big win,” the first-year head coach said. “I can’t be more proud of them. They focused in, they dialed in. They didn’t let anything tonight get in the way. It’s a good feeling to get that win tonight.”
Matteo was pleased to see Rhubart score the opening goal.
“She’s been a playmaker this year. We’ve used her in a bunch of different roles. … She has been an X factor in different games — we’ve flexed her on the wing, played her in the mid — to have her score it, I’ve said it to them all season, means we can score from anywhere from anyone at any time, and to have a freshman step up in that moment, have our own freshman star (a reference to EHT’s Brownlee), it bodes well for the next three years,” Matteo said.
Rhubart said there was a lot of emotion on the bus ride over from the island.
“I think there was a lot of anticipation for this game. There was a lot of energy, good and bad, on the bus — stress and excited — but when we got out here I think we knew that we were the better team and we deserved to win it,” she said.
Ocean City’s goalkeeper played a strong game, stopping multiple shots.
“I think they were pretty important saves for this game,” Ray said. “I felt great, it was really nice saving them, especially winning. That was my favorite part.”
The Raiders improved to 16-3, 11-1 in the Cape-Atlantic League American Division, its only CAL loss coming at the hands of the Eagles, 4-2 on Sept. 23. The Raiders won the second meeting 3-0 on Oct. 14 and the rubber match.
The other losses were to out-of-conference foes Cherokee and Eastern in back-to-back games Sept. 12 and 14, during which they gave up three goals to each team and scored only one (Cherokee).
The Raiders have 10 shutouts on the season, scoring 78 goals and surrendering only 19 throughout the season.
The team entered the contest on an eight-game winning streak, including a 4-0 win over Hammonton on Oct. 21 in the semifinal round of the CAL Tournament.
– STORY by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
