Every week, Shore Sports Network will select eight girls soccer players as candidates in the Player of the Week Vote, sponsored by Surf Taco. Voting runs from post time until Wednesday at 10 p.m., so vote early and often until the poll closes.

Coaches are encouraged to nominate players at the end of every week (ending on Saturday) by emailing soccer writer Matt Manley at mmanley21@gmail.com.

Without further ado, let's meet the Week One nominees. Scroll to the bottom of the post to vote.

Soccer Girls POTW
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Juliana Caccamo, Howell

The Rebels opened their season with two games last week against teams with a winning pedigree and Caccamo scored in both. She scored a goal against a Colts Neck team with a Shore Conference Tournament and Group III title in the last three years and another against a Toms River East squad that reached the Central Jersey Group III final last year.

Olivia Carney, Brick Memorial

Carney stormed out of the gate with a four-goal outburst in a 5-2 Brick Memorial win over Ocean and capped a five-goal week with another goal in a 3-2 Mustangs win over Manasquan.

Julia Douglas, Wall

Despite losing a deep, accomplished senior class that helped them finish No. 1 in N.J. last season, the Crimson Knights are off to a 2-0 start with two wins in close games. Douglas delivered a win in the second one, scoring two goals in a come-from-behind, 3-2, overtime win over rival St. Rose – including the golden goal in overtime.

Julianne Leskauskas, St. Rose

The Purple Roses came out on either end of a 3-2 decision during the first week of the season. They beat Point Boro, 3-2, and lost to Wall in overtime by the same score with Leskauskas scoring a goal in each game. She scored the third and deciding goal of the game against the Panthers and gave St. Rose a 2-0 lead on Wall before the Crimson Knights rallied.

Fran Peloro, Holmdel

Holmdel is off to a 1-1 start and it is about as good of a 1-1 start as is possible. The Hornets opened with a 4-2 win over defending Group III runner up Middletown South and Peloro led the way with two goals and four assists in that win. She followed that up with a goal and an assist against Group IV co-champion Freehold Township, which Holmdel took to the wire in a 4-3 Patriots win.

Juliana Rafaniello, Red Bank Catholic

The Caseys are off to a strong start with shutout wins over Colts Neck and Marlboro and Rafaniello has played a key role in each. The senior scored one of the two goals in a 2-0 win over the Cougars and rung up two more in a 4-0 victory over Marlboro.

Ranya Senhaji, Monmouth

It doesn’t get much better than five goals in two games, which is what the Falcons junior posted in win over Ranney and Mater Dei to open the season. Senhaji recored a hat trick in a 5-0 win over Ranney and found the net twice more in a win over the Seraphs.

Alena Totten, Neptune

Totten and her team are off to a 3-0 start after putting away Point Boro on opening day and topping Lakewood and Manchester in their next two. Totten scored the lone goal in the 1-0 win over Point Boro, scored twice in a 5-1 win over Lakewood and assisted one of Neptune’s two goals in a 2-1 win over Manchester.

 

 

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