Liebrand, Rhodes level match but Raiders cannot find a winner
OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City High School girls soccer team dropped a 3-2 overtime heartbreaker in its NJSIAA South Jersey Group III championship battle with Shawnee High School on Monday, Nov. 6.
Ocean City battled back from a 2-0 hole to send the title game to extra time, only to see a questionable no-call turn quickly into the decisive marker in their net to end their season.
“We were resilient, that was good,” head coach Lisa Cuneo said. “Not proud of the goals we gave up. Those are moments where if we had another game we would have to really think about what happened and break that down. But unfortunately there is no next game.”
Shawnee jumped on the board in just the third minute after a flurry in front that saw two ricochets off the crossbar end with a third shot into the back of the net.
“We were upset to give up the early lead,” Red Raiders striker Naomi Nnewihe said, “but we knew what we had, we knew we could do it. So we just stuck to our stuff and it helped us get to overtime.”
The Renegades kept the pressure up and had the Raiders on their heels in the early going.
Just past the midway point of the first half, Shawnee doubled its lead off an Ocean City miscue.
A missed clearing attempt allowed a clear lane to the Raider net and Mackenzie McCready cashed in for the 2-0 lead.
“After they got the first two goals on us, I feel like we were moving pretty slow,” Ocean City senior Ashley Rhodes said. “We all knew we had to pick it up. Then after we got our first goal, we knew we were still in it. We couldn’t give up, we still felt like it was our game.”
The Raiders responded with a crucial goal to trim the deficit before the break.
In the 35th minute, Shaela Gannon perfectly placed a free kick where Brooke Liebrand touched it home to pull within a goal.
“It’s a big difference going into the half 2-1 instead of 2-0,” Nnewihe said. “Credit it to Brooke, off the Shaela kick, for getting us back into the game.”
The Raider defense picked its game up as well after the tough start to calm things down.
“I give a shout-out to them,” Cuneo said. “Zoey (Lappin) was a utility player last year. When we played Shawnee last year in the semifinals, she was a forward. Now she’s our center back. Maddie Putz is a freshman, Shaela (Gannon) was on the bench last year. So the only returning back is Coryn McDonnell and I think that says a lot.”
Ocean City upped the offensive push in the second half with a tweaked lineup.
“I always remind them, ‘We can score goals,’” Cuneo said. “We had to figure it out and make adjustments. We put Ashley Rhodes up top to be a little more physical there and have a natural left foot.”
Both teams played more wide open and the goalies were forced to stand on their heads as the second half wore on.
In the 64th minute, Raider keeper Kaia Ray leapt to block a top-corner rip after a turnover yielded a breakaway.
“She did such a good job,” Cuneo said of Ray. “We’ve been splitting time and Kaia has been finishing up for us. Kaia is going to be a great goalie for us next year; she was a great goalie today. Next year is promising, and it starts with Kaia in goal.”
Then in the 62nd minute, Rhodes scored a beauty to tie it up at 2. She received the ball, pivoted and launched a shot that was labeled for the top corner the second she hit it.
“Someone passed me the ball, I wasn’t really sure who,” Rhodes said, “then I turned and I had an open shot. So I just took it and right away I knew it was going in. After I scored, the feeling was, ‘We got this.’ We all genuinely felt like we were going to win this.”
A scramble in front of the Ocean City net shortly after looked like trouble before Ray sprinted out to squash the threat, colliding with a forward to make the stop.
“She’s just a great goalie,” Nnewihe said. “She just knows when to come out. She has nothing to blame herself for this game, it wasn’t her fault. She’s a great goalie.”
Nearing the end of regulation, Nnewihe had a chance to be the hero when she sprung free on a breakaway.
But Renegade keeper Mackenzie Borbi matched Ray’s highlights with one of her own, coming out of the net to stifle the opportunity.
“I thought she had that one,” Rhodes said. “It was close, but …”
“I thought I had that one,” Nnewihe said. “I could have ended the game there. I just didn’t finish, I had the touches. Obviously the goalie came out, did the right thing, and saved it. But I just didn’t get my finish.”
“That’s just good goalkeeping,” Cuneo said. “She’s Syracuse-bound for lacrosse, but she’s a great athlete and that’s what happens when you can’t get a touch around her. She’s going to save those and shut it down. Of course that would have been game over on our end if Naomi could have got a touch around. But that’s soccer; that’s breakaways. When you’re going at that high a speed, it’s hard to make that super-finesse touch. Goalkeeper got big, made a great save.”
Both teams would have their chances in regulation to put it away but would have to settle it in extra time.
The way it would end was a shame for such an excellent battle.
In the seventh minute of overtime, a ball in the Raider end looked to have been played by a hand. Most of the players on the field stopped, some signaling a hand ball.
After a heartbeat the players began playing again, the moment’s hesitation possibly being the difference as seconds later the ball was in the Raiders’ net and the South Jersey title was Shawnee’s.
“You give them one play, you take one play off, and they make you pay,” Cuneo said. “Unfortunately that happened in overtime. So kudos to them — they didn’t take the play off and we did.”
Ray was visibly upset after the loss.
“She did amazing,” Rhodes said. “She really helped us out a lot back there. If she didn’t make those saves, it would have been over.”
But the Raiders as a whole have nothing to hang their heads about after a 21-2 campaign with a championship berth.
“My four years here I’ve had a chance to look at the big picture,” Cuneo said. “We don’t have too many losses, but unfortunately we don’t have too many trophies. This one was kind of the one I wanted, but the wins are there and the team camaraderie is there. I think they’ve learned a lot with us and hopefully we just continue to build.”
“The past few years we’ve had Summer Reimet, the Slimmers, we’ve had one person to really rely on,” Rhodes said. “This year everyone had the chance to score. We were able to play as a team more, just working together to get the job done.”
“It was a fun season with the girls,” Nnewihe said. “I’m sad it’s over. It was a great season. I love this team, I love these players.”
“It’s a mixed feeling,” Rhodes said. “It was a tough game, but how far we’ve come, all of our wins, I’m super proud of everyone on this team. We’re always there to pick each other up.”
By KYLE McCRANE/Special to the Sentinel
