Woodstown wakes up in second half to pull away in South Jersey Group I girls soccer playoff opener, Schalick posts runaway victory, Pennsville drops close one
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I PLAYOFFS
Monday’s First-Round Games
Gateway 3, Clayton 2 (SO 5-4)
Riverside 2, Pennsville 1
Haddon Twp. 8, Buena 0
Woodstown 6, Wildwood 0
Palmyra 5, Maple Shade 0
Glassboro 3, Pitman 2 (OT)
Schalick 9, Cape May Tech 0
Thursday’s Quarterfinals
(8) Gateway at (1) Audubon
(5) Riverside at (4) Haddon Twp.
(6) Palmyra at (3) Woodstown
(7) Glassboro at (2) Schalick
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Kieran Keyser isn’t the type of coach to yell and scream on the sidelines, but this time warranted getting a little loud.
Keyser’s third-seeded Woodstown girls soccer team was locked in a scoreless tie at halftime of their South Jersey Group I playoff opener with Wildwood, a team it had beaten by seven goals early in the season. The Wolverines were having the best of the play and had a couple good scoring chances, but just couldn’t finish the ball.
Keyser had his say at the break and it was obvious the Wolverines got the message. Talia Battavio found the back of the net in the first five minutes of the second half and the Wolverines went on to score six goals in a 6-0 win.
The Wolverines (13-4-2), unbeaten in their last seven games and 10-1-2 in their last 13, now host Palmyra (15-4) in the quarterfinals Thursday.
“I had to light a fire under them,” Keyser said. “We’ve never had a game where we’ve been outhustled and outworked; we were for 40 minutes.
“Maybe because we beat them 8-1 in the second game of the season I think our girls thought this is an easy win. We had moments of greatness in the first half, don’t get me wrong, but we couldn’t convert. We came out flat.”
Battavio scored twice in the second half, giving her 17 for the season and 64 for her career – one shy of fourth on the Wolverines’ all-time scoring list. Gina Murray, Blair Baldi, Bailey Arnold-Peters and Emma Morgan had the other goals.
“They answered the call,” Keyser said. “I said we need to do this and they started doing it. I was proud of them. It should’ve been an easy win for us and in the end it was but at halftime there was a lot of tension in the air. We figured it out.”
SCHALICK 9, CAPE MAY TECH 0: Quinn Berger scored the first of her two goals in the opening minute of the game and it opened the door to an eight-goal first half and the second-seeded Cougars’ 11th straight opening-round win.
“It’s always good to get the morale going, especially going into the playoffs,” Schalick coach Will Kemp said. “The girls stepped up big time today. It was the type of match we needed to get through.”
Abby Willoughby scored three goals, giving her 22 for the season, Olivia Devoe scored twice and Cali Fisler and Liv Vanacker each had one. Willoughby and Vanacker each had two assists.
“The girls handled business, definitely,” Kemp said. “They know where we are in the season. Their intensity was great. Their ability to kind of control the game on their own, they stepped into that really big this time. They were really together today.”
The Cougars (13-5) now host Glassboro (9-5-3) in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
RIVERSIDE 2, PENNSVILLE 1: Natalie Tkacs scored a goal in the first half Larissa Santos DaSilva scored what proved to be the game-winner off a pass from Tkacs in the second half.
Riverview Sports News 