UNION TWP. – Amid the postgame celebration, Holmdel senior goalkeeper Helen Burleigh did not put down the game ball from her team’s NJSIAA Group II championship win against perennial power Ramapo on Saturday at Kean University. As tight as her clutch was on the ball after the game, it paled in comparison to her nose for it during the biggest match in the history of the Hornets program.

Burleigh made five critical saves and the Holmdel defense made a 16th-minute direct kick goal by junior Gabby Bair stand up as the Hornets knocked off the 12-time Group champion Raiders, 1-0, to capture the Group II championship, the first in the history of Holmdel girls soccer.

“It’s great, this is amazing,” Burleigh said. “I’m glad it’s over, but I’m even more glad that we won. We worked really hard to get to this point, and it’s a great feeling to win it.”

Photo by Matt Manley
Photo by Matt Manley
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The five Burleigh saves, combined with the defensive effort, helped the Hornets overcome a 9-5 disadvantage in shots and a Ramapo pressure-possession combination that asserted itself for more than three quarters of the game.

“Our defenders in the back have been solid all year, and Helen – oh my God,” Holmdel coach Jennifer Conroy said, referencing her four-year starter in goal. “I knew they were going to put pressure on and float balls into the box, and I was okay with that because I knew Helen would get to all of them. That’s just how she is back there.”

The Hornets had the option to play defensive because of a perfect strike by Bair in the 16th minute, the 27th goal of her junior season and 12th during this tournament. With Ramapo beginning to seize control of the game, the Hornets countered and earned a foul on the left side of the field, 25 yards away from the goal. With a slight wind at her back for the ensuring direct kick, Bair tucked a shot just under the crossbar, inside the far right post and out of the reach of Ramapo goalkeeper Lizzy Stellakis for the game’s only score.

“It was close enough for me to shoot it, and I knew I had to go to the far post because of their wall,” Bair said. “Honestly, I thought she was going to save it or it would hit the post, but once I saw it go over her head, I knew it was in. It was a great feeling.”

From the moment Ramapo kicked off following Bair’s goal in the 16th minute, the Raiders controlled the pace of play and held the ball in Holmdel’s end for the vast majority of the remaining 63:54 of game time. Holmdel played the game with three defenders in the back of the formation, anchored by junior Casey Matthijs in the center.

“A lot of times, Casey will yell at me during the game, ‘We need another defender!’” Conroy said. “I just tell her, ‘Nope. You’re not getting one.’ They played with two forwards all game, so we wanted that extra player in the midfield and the three girls in the back – Casey Matthijs, Maggie Matthijs and Kat Rebelle – do such a good job, and it allows us to play with only three back there."

While the defense stayed in front of the Raiders attack, Burleigh did her part by making one key stop in the first half and three after halftime. She came out to smother a shot in the 47th minute to thwart a one-on-one chance for Ramapo and later made a lunging save to her lower right to deny a shot in the 65th – her two most acrobatic saves.

“She’s phenomenal,” Bair said of Burleigh. “She works so hard, she’s a great captain and she helps us through everything. Whenever our shoulders are slumped, whenever we’re down, she’s the one who lifts us up. She’s an amazing keeper and an even better leader."

“It was tough, but this is what I train for,” Burleigh said. “We’ve done a lot of training, trying to prepare for games like this when the pressure is on. We were able to handle it because we were well-trained.”

Matthijs also saved Burleigh from having to handle a one-on-one chance when she recovered to knock the ball out of bounds after Ramapo broke open a free run at the goal in the 71st.

Holmdel junior forward Hannah Lee – who scored the game-winning overtime goal to beat Sterling in the Group semifinals on Wednesday – nearly gave Holmdel an insurance goal three separate times. She hit a breakaway shot on frame in the 35th minute that was saved by Stellakis, then had two more chances at an open net in the second half.

The first of the two second-half chances was a contested shot from 35 yards away that Ramapo’s defense recovered to clear, while the second shot rolled just wide of the far left post in the 73rd minute.

Holmdel’s first state championship in its first Group final appearance capped a postseason run that began during the Shore Conference Tournament and carried into the Group II playoffs. Between the two tournaments, the Hornets went 8-1 with the lone loss coming at by a score of 2-1 against Wall in the SCT quarterfinals. Wall went on to win the SCT and also reached the Central Jersey Group III championship game.

Of Holmdel’s eight postseason wins – six of which came during the NJSIAA Tournament – six were decided by a one-goal margin. Prior to Lee’s game-winner to beat Sterling on Wednesday, Bair scored a 52nd-minute goal to down Governor Livingston on the road in the Central Jersey Group II final, 2-1. The Hornets also opened their Group II run with a 2-1 win over Matawan, which they won thanks to a late goal by Bair to break a 1-1 tie.

Bair also led the two blowout wins during the run, scoring four goals in a 6-0 victory over A.L. Johnson in the sectional quarterfinals and five in a 7-1 drubbing of Bordentown in the following round.

“We started the season 10-0 and then lost four games, and at that point, it seemed like it was going to be tough to bounce back,” Bair said. “Then, we beat Ocean in the Shore Conference Tournament and things just kind of took off from there. We won two games, 6-0 and 7-1, against two good teams, and we’ve been playing great ever since.”

Fittingly enough, the Hornets’ first Group championship season ended with a win over the program with more state titles than any other public school program in the state.

“You hear from a lot of your friends when you go to the state final and mine were telling me the same thing: ‘I’ve heard Ramapo is really good,’” Conroy said. “I’m just kind of like, ‘Believe me, I know.’ I just figured if we could play our game, keep possession a little bit and Helen did her thing, we would have a chance to win.”

Burleigh is one of five seniors who will not be back to defend the title next season, but only three of them – Burleigh, defender Cassidy Wall and midfielder Danielle Pantaleone – are starters. With 43 goals returning between Bair and Lee and plenty of experience around the formation, the Hornets may not have to wait long for a second banner to join the one they finally won on Saturday.

“I think this is the beginning of a great two or three years for this team,” Burleigh said. “We have another good goalie in (sophomore) Maddy Milkowski ready to step up and help carry the team. We have a very good back line coming back, so the defense will be solid. Hopefully this is just the beginning. I think they have a great chance to come back and win states again next year.”

 

Box Score

Holmdel 1, Ramapo 0

1

2

F

Ramapo (20-4)

0

0

0

Holmdel (20-5)

1

0

1

Goals (Assists): (H) Bair (DK) 16’
Shots: Ramapo, 9-5
Saves: (R) Stellakis 1; (H) Burleigh 5

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