Shore Regional of West Long Branch Clinches 44th Straight Division Title With Win Over St. Rose

Photo above: Jessica Welch on the attack

OCEANPORT – Shore Regional tacked on another division championship to their mind-boggling streak of 44 straight division titles on Tuesday by defeating St. Rose of Belmar 5-0 at Coach Nancy Williams Field.

The Blue Devils (12-1-2, 9-0), ranked No. 2 in the Shore Conference and eighth in the State, captured the Class B Central title in a dominating performance against the second place Purple Roses (9-3-3, 6-2-1), ranked ninth in the Shore.

“The girls are aware of the streak and they take it very seriously,” First year Shore Regional head coach Kelly Koenig said. “Every year there’s always an incredible amount of pressure for the team to continue on with the streak. It’s about them working hard and taking pride in what they do and not taking anything they do for grant it; I’m just really proud of them.”

Junior midfielder Jessica Welch – No. 1 in the Shore and second in the State in goals scored – caged three goals for the Blue Devils to give her 38 goals on the year, while senior forward Katie Mannino and junior midfielder Veronica Goldberg each scored a goal in the win.

Mannino’s goal gives her 17 on the year – second on the team – and junior defenseman Annie Deusch added two assists, her seventh and eighth assists of the year.

Deusch – a 2013 second-team All-Shore selection - led a stifling defense that completely shut down the St. Rose offense while also generating Shore’s transition game with pin-point outlet passes up field.

Shore’s defense - which did not allow a shot on goal the entire game - also had outstanding play from a trio of senior defenders including Kristina Grigos, Olivia Barone and Liza Amador.

“The defense did a nice job today,” Koenig said. “They have great leaders back there to keep them organized defensively. Annie (Deusch) really responded to what I was asking her to do and made the adjustments we needed to make. She did a nice job distributing the ball on the counter attack in transition; she really stood out.”

The game was scoreless midway through the first half when Mannino caged the first goal of the game blasting a shot from about 15-feet out in front of the cage.

The first half ended 1-0, but if not for some stellar goal tending by St. Rose goalkeeper Katie Coakley – who stopped 10-shots on goal – Shore’s lead could’ve potentially been much larger.

In the second half, the Blue Devils shots began to find the back of the cage as they continued to apply relentless pressure on goal.

Welch’s goal off a Deusch assist less than a minute into the second half opened the flood gates and ten minutes later Deusch found junior midfielder Veronica Goldberg open out in front for the goal to make it 3-0 at the 41:43 mark of the game.

On Welch’s second goal of the game at the 53:08 mark she displayed her outstanding ball handling skills dribbling past two defenders before juking the goalie and slipping it past her for a 4-0 lead. Her third-goal of the game six minutes later capped the scoring handing the Blue Devils their twelfth win of the season.

Next on the list for the Blue Devils will be trying to keep their Shore Conference Tournament winning streak alive which now stands at 15 straight titles – 19 overall. After that they’ll attempt to win their 25th NJSIAA State Sectional Championship then their second straight state group title - 14th overall in school history. If they survive all of that it’s on to the Tournament of Champions for a chance to claim the No.1 ranking in the state.

“I definitely think we have the talent to be successful and to go far,” Koenig said. “It’s just putting all the pieces together at the right time and really peeking at the right point of the season.”

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