Fisler sets Schalick girls soccer all-time assists record with a pair in Cougars’ 8-0 rout of Glassboro
GIRLS SOCCER
Schalick 8, Glassboro 0
Woodstown 6, Penns Grove 0
Gloucester Catholic 7, Salem 0
Salem Tech at Wildwood
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – Cali Fisler is the kind of soccer player who would rather help her teammates score goals than put the ball in the back of the net herself and, frankly, she’s gotten pretty good at it.
And now there is no one better in school history.
Fisler set the Schalick school record for assists Thursday when she set up two Abby Willoughby’s three first-half goals in an 8-0 pasting of Glassboro. The senior center defensive midfielder now has 44 career assists, breaking the record held by Sara Copare since 2005.
“I love to cheer my teammates on,” Fisler said. “I would definitely rather have an assist than a goal because you just get the satisfaction of your pass getting completed and knowing you were the reason that that happened.
“Goals still feel great, but I just love seeing my teammates and celebrating them. I just think it’s so awesome.”
The East Stroudsburg commitment “honestly never thought” she would get the career record when she started because “it’s a really high number,” but she set her sights on it after setting the school’s single-season assist mark (22) her sophomore year. Most of her assists that year fueled Emily Miller’s 48-goal season.
She has recorded at least one assist in 29 games. In terms of getting it past the keeper herself, she has 19 career goals, one this season.
“There’s been many a time when Cali had an opportunity to score but she passes it off; that’s Cali for you,” Cougars coach Will Kemp said. “You always compare it to (NBA assistant great) Steve Nash, just seeing the game differently than anybody else.
“Obviously, being able to have somebody who can put that ball in the back of the net as well, that helps out, too, and Cali’s had so many players around her who have been able to score multi-goal games. When you have those players playing in front of you, it makes your life as an assister earlier and vice versa it makes your life as a goal scorer easier when you have a person who can be playing you in a ball like that.”
Fisler wasted little time getting the tying assist, sending a through ball into Willoughby to finish in the third minute of the match. She got the record-breaker in the 18th minute when she sent Willoughby off to split two defenders and finish at the near post for the natural hat trick.
Before the half ended, Izzy Desantis, Olivia Vanacker and Karlie Bakley extended the lead to 6-0. Vanacker and Kassady Sickler scored goals in the second half.
Now that she has the “lot of weight” of the assists record off her shoulders Fisler can start to concentrate on becoming the additional goal scorer Kemp would like her to be. Right?
“Right,” she said, “but I want to build on the record, too.”
WOODSTOWN 6, PENNS GROVE 0: The Wolverines broke open a close game with five goals in the second half. Bailey Arnold Peters scored twice.
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 7, SALEM 0: Seven different players score to keep Gloucester Catholic undefeated, Salem winless.
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