Penalty kicks end BCC women's soccer season
Blues fall in Region semis
BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer
What 110 minutes of soccer couldn't do, a shoot-out did. That is, decide a winner between Brookdale Community College's women's soccer team and Ocean County Community College's team.

PHOTO BY CHRIS KELLY Brookdale's Courtney Rosado tried to advance the ball during a recent game. The team finished the season with 13 wins.

The two teams, which have been nationally ranked this year, played to a scoreless tie through 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes.

Since the Oct. 23 game in Lincroft was the semifinals of the Region XIX Tournament, a winner had to be determined, and it would be the dreaded shootout.

The visiting Vikings (10-4) would win the shootout, 4-2, sending the Jersey Blues, ranked second in the country, to a heartbreaking defeat.

BCC head coach Frank Lawrence was philosophical about the seasonending loss.

"I've advanced with it [shoot-out] and I've lost with it," he said. "Even if you win, it's not a satisfying thing. It's not indicative of the game."

Save for the first 10 minutes of the second half, Brookdale (13-1-2) had controlled the flow of play and had had the better scoring opportunities. Their depth was showing itself in the overtimes, where the ball was always in the Ocean side of the pitch. Their 10-3 edge in corner kicks demonstrated how much of the game was played in the Ocean end.

But with goalie Erin Roche a fortress, the Vikings kept the Blues off the scoreboard, and they took their chance in the shootout. In the second overtime, Roche came up big, leaping though traffic to snare a pair of corner kicks to keep her team in the game. She deflected a blast from Erin McDonald over the crossbar, also in the second OT.

Brookdale looked on its way to the win late in regulation when Liz Grimaldi one-timed a crossing pass into the upper right-hand corner of the Ocean goal, but the play was ruled offside.

Johanna Lovallo, Jenna Lippi, Liz Walling, Kelly Ackerman, Grimaldi and Courtney Rosato each had taken their turns attacking the Viking third of the field, only to come up empty.

"We've been a little inconsistent in that area [scoring] all year," noted Lawrence. "Some days we didn't finish and some days we did."

The Region semifinal, unfortunately, was a day when the Blues didn't finish.

The Blues defense, led by sweeper Annie Peraggine, Erin McDonald and goalie Melissa Scaduto, was steady as ever, weathering the few attacks that the Vikings were able to mount.

By winning the shootout, the Vikings were able to reverse their 3-0 loss to Brookdale during the GSAC season. They played Gloucester, ranked seventh in the country, in the Region final.

OCC coach Karen Trump said that her team "played with composure and did not panic" in the rematch. She added that Lippi had hurt the Vikings in the first game. In a effort to try to limit her touches, they had Ashley Bechtle mark her.

For Brookdale, it was a difficult ending to a season in which the Blues had again ruled the Garden State Athletic Conference winning a sixth straight title. They were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country and seemed destined all year to make a return to the national championships. It wasn't to be, but the 2007 Blues still left their mark.

"Clearly, this team was one of the best we've had," said Lawrence.

Lovallo and Grimaldi are ranked among the top 25 in scoring in the nation. Lovallo had a team-high 14 goals with nine assists for 37 points. Grimaldi had 13 goals and five assists. Lippi led the team with 14 assists and was also ranked in the top 25.

Scaduto ranked second in the country with a goals-against average of 0.668. She extended her single-season record for shutouts to 12.

Over the past two years, the team's record is 27-4-3 with two GSAC titles and the 2006 trip to the national championship game.

Postseason awards went to a number of the Blues, led by forward Lovallo (Old Bridge), who was voted the Region XIX Player of the Year. McDonald (Red Bank Regional) finished third in the voting.

Grimaldi (Rumson-Fair Haven), Ackerman (Freehold Borough), Perragine (Manalapan) and Scaduto (Freehold Township) were All-GSAC selections.

All-Region honors went to Lovallo, Lippi (Middletown North), McDonald and Scaduto.