By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — Camryn Dirkes had a goal and an assist as the Mainland Regional girls soccer team beat visiting Egg Harbor Township 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Bella Tenaglia and Jane Meade also scored for the Mustangs.
Both teams entered the game with 4-1 records fueled by high- powered offenses and stingy defenses.
Mainland has had three shutouts this season, blanking Pleasantville 10-0 twice and beating Atlantic City 7-0. The Mustangs also beat Holy Spirit 4-2, losing only to defending state champion Ocean City 3-2 in a hard-fought game.
Entering the game, Sage Glover, who got the assist on Dirke’s goal, led the team with 8 goals and 5 assists, while Dirkes had 5 goals.
The Eagles have had three shutouts themselves, winning 8-0, 7-0 and 6-0, and also had a 6-1 win. They lost only to Middle Township, which played Ocean City to a scoreless stalemate earlier this season.
Nikki Danz, who netted the Eagles’ lone goal, had 13 entering the game.
The Mustangs beat the Eagles in their only meeting last year, a 4-1 victory that ended EHT’s 6-0 start to the season. Danz had the Eagles’ only goal in that one as well.
Dirkes started the scoring Saturday just 7 minutes into the match on an assist from Glover. The play started with a throw-in to Glover. The scrappy forward moved the ball into the box and passed to Dirkes, who fired off the post and past goalie Samantha Oliver for the 1-0 lead at 33:00.
“It’s always good to get the first goal just to boost morale, but Sage played a great ball. I was just wide open and happened to get a foot on it,” Dirkes said. “So much hype came from that, and I think our energy went through the roof after that and we just kept it going. We never backed down, there was never a time when we stopped pushing.”
EHT answered with an equalizer in the 18th minute. Teammate Alicia Page moved the ball down the right toward Mainland’s net and crossed to Danz. The Eagles playmaker had the ball at her feet and eluded three defenders before hitting the back of the net.
The game was tied for the remainder of the first half and three-quarters of the second half until Tenaglia netted her third of the season, the game-winner, off a corner kick with 8:03 left in the game. Glover took the kick and Dirkes got her foot on it before setting her teammate up for the score.
“I was really excited to just get it for my teammates and we all played really hard, we all deserved it,” she said. “I was just there to put one in.”
Tenaglia said she played more minutes in the game than usual, which she attributed to having played really well in practice lately.
“My coaches told me I deserved it, and I felt like I deserved it. It felt really good getting those extra minutes to be in there,” Tenaglia said.
Head coach Chris Meade said hard work eventually pays off.
“When you keep going and grinding and grinding, you feel like one’s going to get back there, and that’s what happened. And we added another in the end there,” Meade said.
Meade said center midfielder Meghan Kryjer was playing well and he moved Serena D’Anna to the middle to take advantage of her speed.
“Her energy in the middle changed the complexion of the game,” Meade said.
Egg Harbor Township increased its intensity, knowing that time was running out, but Mainland’s defense continued to shut the Eagles down.
The Mustangs’ final goal came on a cross from Kasey Bretones to Meade, who was perfectly positioned to nod it home on the far post, scoring the insurance goal with just 1:02 remaining in the game.
Mainland knew EHT was not to be taken lightly.
“We knew it was going to be a tough one and we wanted to give it all we had, especially at our home field,” Dirkes said.
Defender Lila Schoen was pleased with the result.
“I feel really good. I think we bounced back from the loss to O.C.,” she said, noting that freshman backup goalie Genevieve Morrison did well filling in for Katie Bretones, who suffered a concussion in the loss to Ocean City.
“I think she held her ground pretty well back there,” Schoen said.
She said she and fellow center back Sydney Kaes were able to keep Danz in check by communicating well.
“We talked constantly, if one of us marked, one of us dropped. We always had each other’s back,” Schoen said. “I know — I played with her growing up — she’s a tough competitor. If we just held her back and stopped her from going past us we had her, and that’s what we did the whole game,” Schoen said.
Morrison said she knew she was facing a tough test.
“She’s really good, a really tough competitor and has great foot skills,” she said of Danz. “It’s a little nerve-wracking because you don’t know what to expect. It’s fun playing against someone like that because you get a lot more shots on you.”
Meade said his defense stepped up big in the game.
“We’ve been really concentrating on our defense in the last couple of weeks,” he said, noting that Ava Tenaglia played well.
“She has the physicality and ability to distribute the ball,” he said. “She has game sense and does not play like a freshman.”
He said Ana Paytas was “tough as nails.”
“The hardest thing for an outside back is when to step and when to hold off. You can’t teach that. That’s years of experience. She’s a senior and I thought today she made very good, sound decisions, and when she made a decision she went with it rather than being hesitant,” Meade said. “I was proud of her today. I think she played lights-out. To hold that team to one goal I think is saying something, because they can be dangerous.”
