BCC women second at national championships
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff Brookdale's Laura Fiorentino, of Sayreville, takes a shot during practice last Thursday in Middletown.

Having finally cleared the region XIX hurdle, the Brookdale Community College women's soccer team didn't stop there.

The Jersey Blues had been frustrated in the Region final in recent years and finally cleared that hurdle on Oct. 28 at Mercer County College when they beat Ocean, 1-0, in the final. The Region crown put the Blues one win away from the National Junior College Division III Final Four.

The Blues took that next step at home, beating Nassau, 2-1, on Nov. 5 in the Northeast District title game.

The win was the 14th straight for Brookdale and put them in the NJCAA tournament for the third time in school history, but the first time at the Division III level.

The Blues made the most of their first trip to the tournament (in Herkimer, N.Y.) memorable by finishing as the national runner-up.

Brookdale extended its winning streak to 15 straight when it beat Mohawk Valley on penalty kicks in the semifinals on Saturday. The teams played to a 0-0 tie through regulation and overtime. BCC won the shoot out, 3-2, thanks to goalie Melissa Scaduto.

"Melissa made a huge save," said coach Frank Lawrence. "She stopped their first shot and it lifted everybody else up."

Sunday, the Blues took on Richland, Texas, for the championship, falling in another defensive struggle, 1-0.

"I thought we played gritty and we played well," he said. "Getting to the championship game was huge."

Three of the four games played in Herkimer went to shoot-outs, and the other, the title game, was 1-0.

That didn't surprise Lawrence.

"You have four teams that are very good defensive teams," he said.

Despite the lack of scoring, Lawrence noted that the soccer played at the championships was entertaining, featuring a lot of ball movement up and down the field.

The only goal of the title game came on an unstoppable blast off the foot of Richland's Karina Cavila.

"It wasn't someone's mistake or a fluke goal," noted Lawrence. "It was a really well-hit ball."

Scaduto was named to the All-Tournament team along with teammates Kelly Ackerman and Kim Thompsen.

Brookdale, which finished the season at 15-3, can take solace in the fact that it started seven freshmen. The experience the team gained this fall is immeasurable.

Lawrence had seen other Brookdale teams that were at least equal, if not better than this year's team, fall in the region tournament recently. But 2006 turned out to be different, and credit goes to this team's heart as well as talent.

"They were tough and resilient and not willing to accept defeat," said Lawrence. "Whatever we needed to do we did. The players found a way to win."

There's very little question what got the Blues over the hump this fall - talent, depth and balance. The team's depth enabled it to adjust on the fly during the games. Lawrence could evaluate what was going on in the first 10 or 15 minutes and determine what lineup he needed. He knew that when he went to his bench, there was no drop-off in talent.

"We can go through a handful of kids and they'll go out and perform well," he said.

The depth also came in handy in the second half of the games, when the Jersey Blues would start to dominate the 50-50 balls.

"We wore teams down," said Lawrence. "[Depth] certainly had an impact. This is the deepest team we've ever had."

Then, there was the talent of the team itself.

"We have the right combination," he said. "We have a good goalie and defense, we're solid at midfield, and we have five or six players who can score.

"Our biggest advantage is the different ways we can score," he added. "We can go wide, up the middle or on restarts. We've been very good at them [restarts] all year.

Look no further than Ally Mullaney (Howell) for why Brookdale has been so dangerous on restarts and corner kicks.

"She has an innate ability to read a play effectively, see the opening and play the ball where she wants to," said Lawrence.

Mullaney's special skill was never more important that in the District game against Nassau, where her perfectly placed kicks led to both goals. For the season, Mullaney had 11 goals and seven assists. Thompsen (Raritan) led the Blues with 13 goals and eight assists. Ackerman (Freehold Borough) contributed eight goals and five assists to the team's attack while Liz Grimaldi (Rumson-Fair Haven) had six goals and one assist. Johanna Lovalla (Old Bridge) and Liz Walling (Manasquan), tied with Mullaney for second on the team in assists with seven.

Melissa Scaduto (Freehold Township) was the top goalie in the nation with a 0.39 goals-against average. She benefited from having two of the finest defensive players in front of her, in sweeper Laura Fiorentino (Sayreville) and stopper Katie Miller (Raritan). Lawrence was happiest for the sophomores, like co-captains Fiorentino and Miller, who lost a heartbreaking Region final last year.

"They [sophomores] took the loss hard and focused all year on what it took to win," he said. It was enough to take them to the national championship game.