Aided by the offense of Jessica Puchalski and a young and improving defense, the South Brunswick High School girls soccer team has taken a 4-2-1 record into the break.
South Brunswick lost to East Brunswick, 3-2, this past Saturday. It is off until it plays at JP Stevens on Oct. 1.
"The girls have become more settled as a team over the course of our first seven games and are looking forward to the second round of competitive Red Division play," South Brunswick Coach Beth Barrio said.
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In the loss to East Brunswick, Puchalski and Casey Armstrong scored for South Brunswick.
Prior to the loss at East Brunswick, South Brunswick had recorded three shutouts in a row.
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The shutout streak for South Brunswick started with a 1-0 win over Edison on Sept. 17.
Puchalski, assisted by Jade Gonzales, scored the lone goal. Vanessa Perdomo had 11 saves in goal.
Perdomo had 8 saves in a scoreless tie with Piscataway on Sept. 22.
South Brunswick can also thank its youthful defense for helping it salvage a tie with Piscataway.
"Our defense consists of only one returning starter in Julie Curcio," Barrio noted. "Julia Bossert, our other returning starter, is currently injured and on crutches due to a collision at the Edison game.
"We have two freshman in Courtney Hendrickson and Rebecca Michael and one sophomore in Cagnie Antczak starting in the back. As a whole, this young and inexperienced defense, which is being led by Julie Curcio and Vanessa Perdomo (our goalie), is doing a tremendous job."
This group also blanked Woodbridge on Sept. 20. This was a contest in which the offense was also at the top of its game and South Brunswick came away with a 4-0 win.
Perdomo had six saves to record the shutout against Woodbridge. Perdomo also had seven saves in a tough 1-0 loss to Old Bridge on Sept. 15.
Puchalski had two of her 9 goals this season against Woodbridge. Hailey Hendrickson and Rachel Schaffer also scored. Casey Armstrong, Kellee Baylis, Jenna Mastronardi and Michelle Spataro had assists.
