Shore Regional Rolls Into Shore Conference Field Hockey Semifinals

Photo above: Shore star midfielder Jessica Welch attacking the goal in Thursday’s SCT quarterfinal win.

WEST LONG BRANCH – Jackson Liberty’s first trip to the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinal’s in program history wasn’t a pleasant one as third-seeded Shore Regional schooled the No.11 seeded Lions in the mastery of soccer with a 8-0 win Thursday at Nancy Williams Field.

Ranked No.4 in the Shore Conference and 12th in the state, the Blue Devils (16-3, 10-0) did not allow Jackson Liberty (12-5-1, 10-2) a shot on goal the entire game while Shore Regional bombarded Lions goalie Katie Koehler with 29 shots.

The stingy Shore defense barely allowed Jackson Liberty a chance to cross their own 25 as Anne Deusch and company completed shutdown the Lions offensive attack.

Deusch – a first-team All-Shore defender and Monmouth University commit – is as unique as she is talented as she patrols both ends of the field.

“Anne is a four-year varsity starter and plays field hockey year-round,” Shore Regional second-year head coach Kelly Koenig said of her star defender. “She’s come to really understand the game and she’s unique because she’s a two-way defender. She’s able to sustain defense in our twenty five but she’s able to make reads and counter attack. Anne did a nice job today seeing and taking that open lane, distributing the ball then following up on the second shot.”

Deusch – one of three Shore captains - scored the final two goals of the first half to push the Blue Devils lead to 6-0. Junior Kaitlyn Hunter assisted on Deusch’s second goal for her third assist of the season. On the year, Deusch has exploded for 34 goals with six assists.

Senior midfielder Jessica Welch, had three first-half goals and closed out the scoring with a little over five minutes left in game off an assist from freshman Maggie Lamb – her third assist of the game and 21st of the season to go along with her 11 goals.

The Stanford University – bound Welch, a first-team All-Shore selection, scored four goals giving her a team-leading 40 goals on the year in addition to her 11 assists. Her 40 goals ranks her fourth in the state in goals scored.

Over the years, Welch and Deusch have developed an uncanny ability to know where each other are on the field at all times.

“Jessica and Anne balance each other and the two of them are really able to work off each other,” Koenig said. “This provides each other options throughout the game. Jess did a great job today, not only finishing on the play, but providing passing options to the team. Jess is a really good captain and keeps the team disciplined in our structure. Both of them have a deep understanding of the game and are able to move our team from offense to defense with their play and communication.”

The third captain on the team and another first-team All-Shore selection is goalie Sarah Dwyer, who picked up her 14th shutout of the season in Thursday’s win. The indispensable Dwyer and defensive cog will take her talents to Boston College next season continuing her career and education.

“Our defense did a nice job from the defensive 25 to the 50 slowing the play down,” Koenig said. “This allowed us to change the angle of attack so we could move on counter attack. Reese Collin stepped in as sweeper and did a great job slowing down the play and hats off to our right back Kaitlyn Hunter who was playing with a broken thumb and she really was our distribution option when we were changing the angle and she played really well today.

Junior forward Lauren Maul added her fourth and fifth goals of the season while Vikki LaMorte contributed with her fourth assist on the year in addition to her 16 goals.

Shore will host No.7 seed Freehold Township (10-4-1, 6-2-1) in one of Saturday’s semifinal games after the Patriots got by second-seeded Southern in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Shore captured the Class B Central title this season going undefeated (10-0) for their astonishing 45th divisional title in a row. But the team would like nothing more than to reclaim the Shore Conference Tournament title after holding the title for 15 consecutive years before giving it up to Rumson-Fair Haven a year ago.

“It’s something they’ve been working towards all season,” Koenig said. “We just have to take it one game at a time and respect every competitor that we play.”

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