Bulldogs Girls Soccer Clinch Class A Central Division With Win Over Holmdel

Photo above: Bulldogs sophomore midfielder Sofi Giglio pushes the ball upfield in Thursday’s win.

RUMSON – The Rumson-Fair Haven girls soccer team locked up the Class A Central division for the second straight year dominating last season’s NJSIAA Group II champion Holmdel 3-0 at Rumson’s Borden Field Thursday afternoon.

The Bulldogs, ranked No.2 in the latest Asbury Park Press poll, were running on all cylinders as they excelled in all phases of the game when it counted most playing against their long-time rival Holmdel –ranked right behind the Bulldogs at No.3.

The two teams met earlier this season in a Shore Conference classic, as Rumson beat the Hornets 5-4 in double overtime when Grace Forsyth scored off an assist from Jacqueline Littleson to end the marathon contest.

In Thursday’s match-up, it was the Bulldogs defense and goaltending that shined, holding Holmdel’s potent offensive attack - led by Hornets all-time points scorer Gabby Bair (55 goals, 30 assists) - at bay until the opportunistic Rumson offense eventually got on the board.

At 27:19 of the first half, freshman forward Grace Karagjozi was tripped up in the box and a penalty kick was awarded to the Bulldogs (10-1-1, 7-0-1). Sophomore forward Margot Ridgeway converted her eighth goal of the season, and the Bulldogs took a vital 1-0 lead with the significance of scoring first in a game of this magnitude more important than you could imagine.

“I usually shoot from the goalie’s right side, even though that’s the goalie’s strong hand,” Ridgeway said. “I shot high because the last game I missed low. So I went high today and hoped for the best.” The penalty kick goal was her eighth goal of the season.

On the few scoring chances the Hornets (7-3, 5-2) had in the first half, the defense - led by Michaela Borneo, Emma Gill, Brianna Worobel and Julianna Meinz - repeatedly clogged the scoring lanes with air-tight coverage that resulted in turnovers and getting the ball upfield putting the offense back on attack.

But the play of the first half – if not the game – came with seconds left as Bair was all alone about ten yards in front of the goal when she fired a shot on goal that Rumson goalie Samantha Beaudreault made a breathtaking diving stop at the buzzer to preserve the Bulldogs 1-0 lead heading into intermission. Beaudreault made nine saves in the game with most riveting in execution.

“Sammy was phenomenal,” Rumson coach Mary Beth Coleman said. “She’s doing great this season, she’s improved so much and she’s kept us in a lot of games.

The Bulldogs went ahead by two goals at 51:30 when sophomore Sofi Giglio’s dead-on corner kick from the left side found Karagjozi planted in the middle before she soared above the rest of the pack and headed it into the net for her 10th goal and an insurmountable 2-0 lead. It was Giglio’s team-leading eighth assist of the season.

“All corner kicks are nerve wracking,” Giglio said. “I usually aim for Margo because she’s the tallest and has good aim, but Grace made a great play for the score.”

Giglio is a lightning-quick player who controls the midfield and who never stops hustling. She’s a spark plug who consistently sets plays in motion by winning 50/50 balls and getting the ball to her forwards upfield.

“Coming into the game our strategy was communication,” Giglio said. “Making sure we knew our tendencies and their tendencies so we could shut them down. They’re a tough team but I think we played more together as a team and stayed more focused. As a whole we’re really coming together and our chemistry is taking us to wins.”

With a little over 10 minutes to play, Rumson closed out the scoring with a cross from Littleson that found junior Lehigh University commit Grace Forsyth on the rush for her 13 goal of the season and a 3-0 advantage.

The Bulldogs outshot the Hornets 12-to-8 while Holmdel goalie Mattie Milkowski made 10 saves.

“This was a big game because it was basically for the division,” Coleman said. “We didn’t want to have to share the division title with anybody; we wanted to win it outright. Now we’re just taking it one game at a time, we’re not looking ahead to anything. If we continue to play like we did today we’ll be very successful the rest of the way.”

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