Sports
Brookdale Women Shutout Raritan Valley 7-0 For Fourth Win In A Row
Manasquan High School's Caroline Duerr nets 12th goal of the season for Brookdale
Photo By Tom Smith: Brooke Tartis had two goals and three assists in Tuesday’s win at Brookdale
LINCROFT – The Jersey Blues (6-1, 4-0) remained undefeated in conference play after running past Raritan Valley Community College 7-0 Tuesday at Brookdale.
Brookdale, the defending NJCAA DIII National Champions and currently ranked No.1 in DIII play, did not allow the Golden Lions (3-1, 1-1) a shot on goal in the first half while they bombarded the net with 18 shots of their own - five of them going for scores. The Blues outshot Raritan Valley 26- 4 in the game, thoroughly outplaying them from start-to-finish.
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It was classic Brookdale soccer: controlling time of possession, moving the ball to find the open player, defending the goal and making every shot count.
“The team played very well today,” head coach Katie Miller said. “Everything we were looking to accomplish today we did.”
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Freshman midfielder Ashley Cafarella (Old Bridge H.S.) scored the first and fifth goals of the half with sophomore midfielder Brooke Tartis assisting on the first and freshman midfielder Viktoria Odell assisting on the fifth. It was Cafarella’s fourth and fifth goals of the season.
High-scoring forward Caroline Duerr, a sophomore from Manasquan High School, scored her 12th goal of the season to put the Blues up 2-0, eight and a half minutes into the game. Duerr, Most Valuable Player of last season’s championship tournament, is ranked third in NJCAA DIII scoring in both goals (12) and points (28).
“We played really well,” Duerr said. “We need to be ready no matter who we’re playing because as champions every team is really pumped to beat us. We take that into consideration and like to turn it around on the field to help us win.”
Sophomore midfielder/forward Nicole Rodriguez (Union H.S.) netted her third goal of the season to make it 3-0 at 14:20 of the first half with sophomore midfielder Raquel Rodriguez (Red Bank Regional) assisting. Rodriguez ended with two assists in the game.
Brooke Tartis, a sophomore midfielder from Neptune High School, pushed the score to 4-0 at the 33:47 mark and also tallied her ninth goal of the season with about 16 minutes remaining in the second half to put the finishing touches on the game. Her three assists in the game give her seven on the year and with her nine goals she’s now tied for sixth in points scored (25) in DIII play.
Freshman Alexandria Montefinese (Monmouth Regional) scored the first goal of her Brookdale career seven minutes into the second half. Normally a defender, Miller moved Montefinese up to outside midfielder and slid Cafarella into the backfield for the second half.
“I have 15 student athletes that are willing to play any position I ask them to play,” Miller said. “I’m blessed to have 15 very versatile athletes who’ll do anything to help this team win. Amanda (Anastasia – Middletown South H.S.) was a midfielder last season who scored the winning goal in the championship game and she’s playing defense for us now. Amanda’s a leader back there and playing tremendous soccer as our sweeper, and Alexandria and Ashley played very well at both positions I asked them to play.”
The Jersey Blues will host long-time nemesis Ocean County College this Saturday, September 27 at 12:00 p.m. The Vikings (6-1, 3-0) are right behind the Blues in the standings and currently ranked eighth in NJCAA DIII play.
