Faith Slimmer has four goals, including 100th of career, in 9-1 victory
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
‘I’m super excited to go out on a good note like that and for us to get that win …. we played great this whole season and we completely earned it and that win means a lot to us.’
–Faith Slimmer, who has 100 career goals
OCEAN CITY — Senior all-star forward Faith Slimmer scored 4 goals, including the 100th of her career, to lead the Ocean City girls soccer team to a 9-1 victory over Absegami on Sunday, Nov. 22, in the South East B final.
The defending state Group III champions were unable to defend that title this season because the coronavirus pandemic forced the NJSIAA to schedule only regional playoffs, but the girls arrived ready to play.
The Red Raiders (second seed) got going early and had a 4-0 lead at halftime — when they really stepped on the gas. In less than 4 minutes, they were up 9-0 and Slimmer had reached the coveted scoring milestone.
“I’m super excited to go out on a good note like that and for us to get that win … we played great this whole season and we completely earned it and that win means a lot to us,” said Slimmer, who had 96 career goals entering the match.
“It was a reach but it’s something I have been working toward all four years and my team came behind me and they wanted it just as bad as me and they helped me out and I got it. It’s great but as always it’s a team effort and I’m glad to be part of such an amazing program,” Slimmer said.
The Upper Township resident who will be playing for Rutgers University in the fall said she couldn’t have achieved anything without “my team, my sisters, my coaches and all the support we have in Ocean City.”
Head coach Lisa Cuneo said the program owes a lot to Slimmer, who helped raise the team from a Cape-Atlantic League champion to a state champion in just three years.
“Ever since her freshman year, she changed the persona, she changed the workload of this team. She changed the style of play that we are doing, and we just kept working toward that style of play and three years later, state champs,” Cuneo said. “She brings the energy, she brings the skillset in practice every day — she brings her sisters (Slimmer’s younger sister Hope is a starting midfielder and Joy is a freshman player). They raise the bar for each other, they push each other, they challenge each other and they just bring everybody up to their level.”
Slimmer opened the scoring at 37:13. After receiving a pass from sister Hope Slimmer, she moved diagonally to her right and fired back across the mouth of the goal to beat Absegami goalkeeper Rebecca Silipena.
Fellow scoring superstar Summer Reimet doubled the lead just a couple of minutes later. Midfielder Emily Benson took the ball away from an Absegami player and passed it to senior Kelsey White, who served it forward to Reimet. The junior was harassed by Ikechi Wokocha but got around her, beat several players to the net and poked it in right-footed at 30:56.
Following Reimet’s goal, the Braves’ defense tightened up — assisted by some spectacular play from Silipena — and blanked Ocean City for 25 minutes until senior Paige Panico finally broke through. Forward Kamryn Chisholm threw the ball in to Faith Slimmer, who fought it out with a defender and eventually found Hope Slimmer in the middle. She turned and passed forward to Panico, who used her long legs to close in on the goalie and score from about 10 yards out to make it 3-0 at 5:49.
Reimet followed that up with her second at 3:17. Silipena fired a goal kick directly to Faith Slimmer, who controlled the ball and dropped it off for Benson. The sophomore moved down the sideline and crossed the ball in to Reimet, who turned, shot and scored from the edge of the 6-yard box to give the Red Raiders at 4-0 lead at 3:17.
It took just 2 minutes after the break for Ocean City to get its next goal, the first of five between 38:00 and 34:12.
Faith Slimmer scored the first, her second of the game, followed just 44 second later by Chisholm’s tally. Chisholm scored on a free kick from about 35 yards out when she sent the ball over the goalie’s head.
Slimmer scored her third goal at 35:35 and Benson followed with a long shot just 49 seconds later. Finally, senior defender Suzy Dietrich fired a great ball down the sideline that Slimmer chased down. She took a couple of touches, then beat two girls to the net and fired it left-footed into the bottom right corner at 35:35 to notch her 100th goal and complete the scoring for the Red Raiders.
Slimmer was mobbed by her teammates after the score.
The Braves managed a late goal but it hardly mattered except a little to goalkeeper Tory Vliet, who didn’t get her first touch in the game until the second half. She said it’s been “an honor” to play with the outgoing seniors.
“I’m so happy for these girls. They really deserved it — all the seniors — for everything they’ve done and I’m so lucky to be able to play with them,” Vliet said.
The moment was bittersweet for the seniors playing their final game as Red Raiders.
“It’s sad that it’s over but I’m happy that it ended on a high note, that we won by a lot. We worked really well together as a team today,” said defender Kelsey White of Northfield.
Asked to compare winning the state championship last season with this win, she said “the state championship was a really good day, probably the best day of my life, but this day is also really special because it’s my last game.”
Ocean City had another terrific season, going 8-0-1 in the regular season and earning a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The Red Raiders then beat Vineland (seventh seed ) 11-0 before topping cross-bay rival Mainland Regional (third seed) 3-1. They ended the year 11-0-1 with 77 goals for and just 4 against with 10 shutouts.