WEEK 1 SHORE CONFERENCE SCORES

For years, the Shore Regional girls soccer team has made a name for itself on the statewide level with its impressive run to the NJSIAA State Finals. This year, it appears the Blue Devils, the defending NJSIAA Group 1 State Champions, want that same level of respect when it comes to the Shore Conference. In what has become an annual showdown to start the season, the No. 1 ranked Blue Devils hosted No. 2 Freehold Township on Tuesday afternoon. The Patriots took early lead but the Blue Devils had a strong response in the second half and eventually won, 5-2. Shore Regional coach George Moutis noticed something wasn’t right with his team’s approach to the game in the first half and the Blue Devils (1-0) fixed it in the second half. “In the first half, we were playing the kick and run. That’s not our style,” Moutis said. “Our game is to possess the ball and bring the ball together as a team and that’s what we did in the second half. We possessed the ball and got a lot more movement and that’s how we got great opportunities.” Freehold Township’s Kat O’Brien converted a Jessica Judge corner kick into the lone goal of the first half, which came in the 37th minute. Then Shore Regional dominated the second half by scoring five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead in the 65th minute. “I knew we had it in us. We were a little shaky coming out and it was our first game and we were playing Freehold Township and we obviously saw the rankings and we were No. 1 (in the APP top 10) and they were No. 2,” Shore Regional senior forward Frankie McDonough said. “So, we knew it was going to be a really close game and a really hard game.” Last year, Freehold Township defeated Shore, 3-2, and in that contest the Patriots held a 2-1 halftime lead. So, trailing to Freehold Township (0-1) once again at halftime didn’t worry the Blue Devils as much this time. “Being down 1-0 was unlucky on our side but we knew if we stepped it up really hard in the second half and if we all gave 100 percent that we could win this game,” said Shore Regional senior forward Hannah Birdsall. Shore 5, Freehold Township 2 Freehold Township (0-1) 1-1 = 2 Shore (1-0) 0-5 = 5 Scoring: (FT) O’Brien (Judge) 37:00; (S) Birdsall 44:00; (S) Ford 51:00; (S) Agresti (McDonough) 52:00; (S) Eichenbaum 53:00; (S) McDonough 65:00; (FT) Zuczek (Judge) 68:00.

WEEK 1 SHORE CONFERENCE SCORES

SHERLON CHRISTIE

Asbury Park Press | 9/4/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Noak K. Murray