Memorial girls superb in playoffs
Lady Mustangs save their best soccer for the postseason

Brick Memorial High School girls soccer saved its best for the end of the season, which got it into last Saturday afternoon’s NJSIAA Group IV championship game for the third year in a row at The College of New Jersey.

“I’m extremely pleased that for three games in a row, they played as good as they can play and as hard as they can play,” said coach Bill Caruso as his team put its 18-2-1 record on the line against a 21-2-2 Roxbury team that plays nine seniors. “I’ve seen them play like this before, but I don’t remember it being for three games in a row like this. We’re definitely peaking now.”

The Mustangs were looking to sustain that level of play on Saturday as in the last two championships when they beat Bridgewater-Raritan, 2-0, last season and Westfield, 3-1, in 2002. They got their opportunity for a three-peat with a 3-0 victory over Lenape in the South Jersey championship on Tuesday, as Jessica Fuccello scored twice and Shannon Boe got the team’s 11th shutout with only one dramatic diving save needed, that one coming with four minutes left.

“We were winning every ball in the back and moving it up to step into our attack great,” said Caruso, who credited his midfield of Shana Brady, starting her third state championship game, Sarah Conway and Aly Geran, who was winning balls in the air consistently.

“Shana played great and we wanted Shannon Boe to learn as the season went along. She’s proven she’s ready,” said Caruso as three senior starters played their final game Saturday, including Brady, Geran and Amy Feyko, who excelled at fullback with Caitlin Toomey and Kylie Stankiewicz.

It was the third shutout in four postseason games for Brick Memorial, which brought a 7-1 scoring edge into the championship game. And it was another tournament game-winning goal for Fuccello, whose 32nd and 33rd goals this season spotted Brick Memorial a 2-0 halftime lead. Fuccello, a junior, is third on the all-time list for goals in a season behind Crystal Petracoro, who had 35 in 1999 and 36 in 1998. She has 74 career goals and hit the 100-point career mark early in the season.

BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI

Staff Writer

Brady gave Fuccello the first ball over the top and she ran onto it into the crease to hammer it home for the 1-0 lead just two-and-a-half minutes into the game. It put a quick end to any concerns about starting slowly in the game, which was a problem for Brick Memorial in one stretch earlier in the season.

“We’ve been worried about coming out early but that has not been a problem (in the state tournament),” said Caruso, who feels his team has harnessed the intensity for the full 80 minutes in every game.

Mallory Baker fed Fuccello a through ball for the second goal with 10 minutes left in the half and Baker sealed it 12 minutes into the second half off a pass from Conway.