Girls Soccer – Shore Storms Into CJ 1 Final

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WEST LONG BRANCH – Shore Regional senior Ciara Boice is the only senior on the Blue Devils roster healthy enough to play during the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I playoffs, and she is hardly healthy.

Boice is playing with a large brace on her right leg to stabilize a fracture in her knee, but that has not stopped her from serving as not only the senior leader, but a pretty good scorer as well.

Boice scored 1:11 into Monday’s Central Jersey Group I semifinal match against seventh-seeded Point Pleasant Beach to start Shore’s five-goal outburst in a 5-1 win over its Shore Conference Class B Central rival.

“Ciara is our warrior,” Shore coach George Moutis said. “She is as tough as any player and her attitude and work ethic rub off on every single player on our team. We have a very young team, but it’s a very tough team and when you see what Ciara goes through, you have to admire that.”

The Blue Devils move on to face top-seeded Metuchen in the sectional final for the second straight year after beating the Bulldogs 5-1 in last year’s CJ I championship game in Metuchen.

In addition to scoring in the first two minutes of the game, Shore scored two goals within a span of 4 minutes on two separate occasions. Sophomore Shannon Bonner and freshman Katie Stephens scored goals four minutes apart in the 24th and 28th minutes, respectively, and sophomore Emily Egan and junior Samantha McDonough put the game away with goals 3:20 apart in the 63rd and 66th minute.

“We saw this as a dangerous game because that third game against a team is always tough, especially when you already beat them twice,” said Boice, whose team beat Point Beach twice during the regular season, 3-2 in overtime in Point Pleasant and 3-1 at Shore. “The main thing we talked about was to be patient and take our time. We’re a much better team when we’re calm and focus on executing and if we can get out to an early lead like we did, we’re even better.”

Three of the Blue Devils’ five goals came off corner kicks, the first two by sophomore Jess Egan and the last by McDonough.

Boice emerged from a scrum with a volley into the back of the net to give Shore a 1-0 lead and the Blue Devils made it 2-0 when Bonner did the same with a shot off her knee and into the net in the 24th.

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“We’ve been very good at heading the ball this year,” Moutis said. “That’s one thing that we’ve become much better at and that is part of the fearlessness of these girls.”

Just 13 seconds after Bonner’s goal, Point Beach answered with its lone goal on a perfect 45-yard blast to the upper left corner of the goal by Garnet Gulls senior Morgan LaDuca out of the restart at midfield.

“After they scored, we just reminded ourselves to keep calm and continue playing our game,” Boice said. “They wanted to play fast, get up the field, kick and run, whereas we wanted to play slow and keep the ball.”

Instead of letting Point Beach hang around, Shore quickly got its two-goal lead back. Stephens and Bonner executed a give-and-go near the top of the 18-yard box, with Stephens getting the ball back on the right side of the goal. The sophomore took the pass from Bonner and slid a shot to far lower corner to give Shore a 3-1 edge heading toward halftime.

McDonough served her corner kick from the right corner to the far post, where Emily Egan one-timed a shot back to the right corner of the goal for a 4-1 lead. McDonough scored three minutes later off a through-ball from Stephens, slotting a shot to the far right corner of the goal from 10 yards out on the left side.

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Point Beach put up 10 shots against the Blue Devils, but only two were on net. Shore, meanwhile, put six of their 10 shots on frame.

The Blue Devils reached the Group I final last year and lost to Glen Ridge 2-0. Shore lost eight starters from that team and entered the tournament with a 6-8-2 record while having lost seven of its last nine games. Despite the growing pains, the young Blue Devils have survived a challenging schedule that included quality games outside of the Shore Conference Class B Central, which proved to be a challenging division with South Jersey, Non-Public B semifinalists St. Rose and Mater Dei Prep, as well as Point Beach.

“With eight new starters, I think we all realized it was going to take some time to get where we wanted to be,” Moutis said. “The good thing for us is that we played in a very competitive division this year and played a quality schedule outside the division and that prepares us well for the Group I Tournament.

“Plus, we have a lot of good players who play year-round, so even though they are young, they don’t require a lot of teaching once the season starts. It’s just a matter of them growing as a team.”

Box Score

Shore 5, Point Beach 1

Goals (Assists): (PB) LaDuca (Gesumaria) 24’; (S) Boice (J. Egan) 2’, Bonner (J. Egan) 24’, Stephens (Bonner) 28’, E. Egan (S. McDonough) 63’, S. McDonough (Stephens) 66’
Shots: Tied, 10-10
Saves: (S) Katie Colaguori 2; (PB) Hulse 1