'Unbelievable Season' Comes to an End for Madison

A season that saw the girls soccer team earn conference and sectional titles ended in the Group 2 semifinals on Tuesday night, as a three-goal second half resulted in a 3-1 loss to Ramsey in Millburn.

Despite holding Ramsey scoreless in the first half, Madison eventually succumbed to Ramsey's leading scorer, Lexi Knief, who netted two goals and assisted on a third, to help Ramsey—ranked No. 13 in The Star Ledger Top 20—advance to the group final.

“An unbelievable season for us,” Madison head coach Kevin Lynott said. “The conference title, the sectional title and we just came up a little bit short tonight. You’ve got to tip your hats to Ramsey. They’re a good side…probably the best side we’ve faced all season.”

Madison’s defensive mindset proved effective in the first half, as the Dodgers employed an overloaded back line to limit Ramsey's scoring chances. In turn, though, the defensive approach—coupled with numerous turnovers—also limited Madison’s quality shots on goal in the half.

“We’ve been defensive all year, that’s our strength,” Lynott explained. “We said at halftime that we made it a 40-minute game, and we just said that we just wanted to go out and defend the same and stand up strong. But we just didn’t have any composure on the ball in the first half and we allowed the pressure to build because we kept giving it away.”

But the second half showed a much more comfortable Dodger squad early on, despite a scare in front of the Madison goal that included a Ramsey shot off the post following a rebound off of Madison goalkeeper Meg Calcaterra, the Dodgers began to control possession and challenge the Rams' defense.

“The team that we have right now is one of the best teams that our school’s ever had,” Calcaterra said. “It’s just awesome to be able to play with every single one of these girls on this team.”

Even after Knief struck for the game's first goal, Madison remained poised as Catherine Zimmerman answered just minutes later, beating goalkeeper Nicole Cirilli to the far post on a breakaway, knotting the score at 1.

“We had an incredible season,” Zimmerman said. “From the beginning, we all worked hard as a team, and to be where we are now is a huge accomplishment. Even though it’s a sad day right now, I’m sure we’ll look back and just be really proud of everything that we accomplished.

But Zimmerman’s goal—her 22nd of the season according to NJ.com—would be all that the Dodgers would muster, as Knief struck for a second goal to put Ramsey up 2-1 with under 15 minutes remaining.

Knief added an assist on an Addie Jensen goal minutes later to seal the 3-1 victory.

“In the second half, we said keep doing the same things with their strikers, who are very good, but we’ve got to work better possession,” Lynott said. “At 1-1, I thought, 'hey we bounced back,' but I think the pressure just tolled in the end. Mentally, you’ve got to concentrate for 80 minutes against a side like this. They were physically strong and I think they just wore us down.”

After the loss, Lynott shared his feelings about his team's run in 2011.

"[The loss] doesn’t take away anything that this group of girls behind me achieved this year,” he said. “I’m very proud of them, and I’m very proud for what they’ve done for this school.”