The Matawan Regional High School girls’ soccer team missed qualifying for the Shore Conference Tournament by one game last year.
With every starter back but one, the Huskies expect –and are focused -to make the tournament in 2018.
Coach Ken McCabe has three senior captains, Dana Morgan, Kailie Benko and Alina Ogurek, starting in the midfield.
The rest of the Matawan lineup is divided among five juniors, “a big sophomore class” and “a lot of good upcoming freshmen,” Morgan said.
Matawan opens its season Sept. 7 at the Ranney School in Tinton Falls. McCabe is excited, but also measured in his excitement.
“I think it’s a group that has potential. I’m not going to say we should win the division or state championship. We’ve always been fighting in the middle,” McCabe said. “But with experience, we should compete with some of these better teams. Last year was a good year, but we were disappointed we didn’t make the Shore Conference Tournament.”
The Huskies may have missed the conference tournament last year, but they land a berth in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 sectional tournament. They also won their opening state sectional game when they edged Voorhees High School, 2-1.
McCabe’s club then lost to top-seeded Wall High School, 7-0, in the state sectional quarterfinals. Wall kept winning and eventually claimed the Group 2 state tournament championship in 2017.
Those 2017 state sectional results epitomized the 2017 Huskies. They were good in low-scoring games, but they couldn’t keep up when opponents scored on them.
The strength, Matawan’s backline and goalkeeper, should be even better this year.
Junior Kelly Lambertson is back in goal.
“She had a really good year last year and is hoping to play somewhere in college, maybe D1,” McCabe said. “She’s solid. She’s good.”
Defensive anchors Sarah Margaritas and Paige McInerney are also back. Margaritas plays outside and McInerney lines up inside.
“The defenders are solid as a group. Sarah and Paige anchor the backline,” McCabe said. “No matter who we put in with them, they should be the strength of our back. Our keeper is very good, so hopefully we can secure the backline. The backline and keeper are one of our strengths.”
Between the keeper, the backline and the midfield, Matawan should be able to prevent goals and control the ball. The question, though, like it is for most middling high school soccer teams, is who will score?
If Matawan can answer that question, it will be better than a middling team. If it can’t, it will remain in the middle of the Shore Conference B North Division pack.
“We are looking to score more and find someone to be consistent up there,” McCabe said.
The answer could come from one of the younger classes. Matawan’s captains are confident in their younger teammates. Many sophomores even got varsity experience last year.
“We should be just as strong, if not stronger, with the freshmen and sophomores we have this year,” Benko said.
The different classes just need to develop chemistry. They have it between the midfield and backline, just not as much up front.
“Having freshmen that are coming in and taking starting positions, we need to learn to work together so that we are scoring goals,” Ogurek said. “That’s the biggest thing we need to work on. If we score goals, we’ll win games and make it to the Shore Conference (Tournament).”
They might even do more than that.
“I think we can be really good this year and get a better record than last year,” Lambertson said. “We’ve been known as the underdogs since I’ve been here. Now we’re putting more fear into other teams. We have strong players from keeper on through forward.”
