BM girls soccer off to fast start in 2007
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer
Despite a frustrating 2-1 overtime loss to Jackson, Brick Memorial girls soccer coach Bill Caruso is pleased with his team's 3-1 start.

PHOTOS BY ANDREW MILLER staff Above: Brick Memorial High School's Erica Suhl (l) goes for a ball with Toms River North's Jill Fowler during their night game in Brick. At right: Brick Memorial's Jordan Downs connects with a head ball during her team's game with Toms River North.

"I'm impressed with our preparation and focus," said Caruso. "Hopefully it's a sign of good leadership from our three captains (midfielder Ann McCarthy, fullback Jourdan Thompson and forward Christina Cuffari)."

After the Jackson loss, the Mustangs bounced back strongly with a 5-2 victory over Lacey in which they scored all of their goals first and with a 1-0 victory over Toms River North on Friday in which Cuffari scored her fifth goal of the season on a penalty kick after a hand ball in the box called by the officials. It came at the 26th minute and goalie Amanda Simon made it stand up with her second shutout of the season in her second year starting in the nets.

Against Lacey, Cuffari had the hat trick and assisted the other two goals by sophomore Briana Fisher and freshman Jordan Downs. Simon left the game with a 5-0 lead as the subs finished.

Early last week, Jackson tied the score with a half-minute left and scored the game-winner, beating Simon high in goal. Brick Memorial's defense was caught short on the golden goal after moving up on a re-start. Cuffari gave Brick Memorial its lead with a goal in the 44th minute.

"It was not a game we deserved to win," said Caruso. "We played well enough to win but you don't deserve it when you give up a goal with 30 seconds left. They outphysicaled us and hopefully we learned. We hit the post three times and you've got to put great teams away."

It was Jackson's third straight victory over Brick Memorial spanning last season.

Brick Memorial on Wednesday played host to crosstown rival Brick Township, which split its first four games coming into the week. The Dragons lost early last week to Lacey, 5-3, which scored all of its goals in a 30- minute span before Kim Battista answered for Brick Township with two goals and Chelsea Garkowski put in the other.

Brick Township then beat Toms River South, 2-1, as Corey Pannone headed in the winning goal in the 61st minute off an indirect kick that bounced over defenders. Heather Murphy scored unassisted just four minutes into the game off a scramble in front before Toms River South tied it.

Toms River East beat Brick Township, 2-1, in a game in which coach Mike Berardinelli said his team was "very unlucky." Garkowski took a cross from Battista and beat a defender before taking a shot from the left side from 20 yards out that reached the right side of the net. But Garkowski also hit the post after making a nice run to the goal and Kim Price could not get her foot on a ball in front of the goal right that was knocked away with 15 seconds left.

"For the most part, I'm pretty positive. It's the same team as last year and offensively we're doing pretty well with ball movement and getting scoring," said Berardinelli, whose team scored 13 goals last season.

"The key is we need to be consistent and can't have lapses like the 20 (actually 30) minutes we had against Lacey when they had their goals. It's just a matter of maturity and experience. We're able to hold our own now and close out games."

That was put to the test on Monday against Jackson and Wednesday against Brick Memorial and again will be challenged on Friday against Toms River North.