Columbia Girls Looking To Build From '09 Success

Perhaps one of the biggest stories in the state last fall was the dramatic turnaround of the Columbia girls soccer team under first year head coach Stephen Jones.

After accumulating just four wins in the previous three seasons, the Cougar girls battled to a 9-4-4 record and an impressive run in the sectional championships, ending in a 1-0 overtime loss to Hunterdon-Central in the second round.

"I thought the season last year was really great. The improvement in the season last year was a really nice change for everybody. Also the team was really close last year so it became really fun," said senior co-captain Lucy Nelson.

It would seem that the girls are primed for a step forward entering year two of the Jones regime (especially with him coaching many of his players in club soccer), but he isn't taking anything for granted.

"It just depends entirely on how hard the girls work. It could be a step backward just as easily," Jones said. "I would so far in preseason they have worked very hard. I would say they are a bit fitter than they were at this time last year."

Some of his top returnees include captains Olivia Sohr, Nelson and Violet Tamayo, along with Kelsi Burgess, Margot Kleinberg, Chisolm-Thomas Tuerre and keeper Amy French, who may share time in net with fellow junior Eliza Gray this season.

Both Sohr and Nelson dubbed Tamayo as one of the most improved players on the team. Tamayo was stuck behind a host of midfielders a year ago.

"I think her confidence has really built up over the past year and she is the fastest player ever," Sohr said.

 "She has really improved I think and she is a really strong reliable player," Nelson said. "I think thi year she'll be a big help for the team."

Despite the potential of  the junior laden team, the loss of 11 seniors, including their leading scorer, Megan Mathews and four defenders, will be a tough obstacle to overcome.

However, Jones said that defense will once again be the strength of the squad, which posted 11 shutouts a season ago, and surrendered two or more goals just three times. Even with those numbers, Jones is expecting an improvement on that side of the pitch.

"There were a couple of girls who were very unlucky not to make varsity last year, they made it this year. We have senior leadership in that department with Lucy Nelson, who is a very, very strong player and a very unselfish player," he said. "I think they understand the system a year into it better than they did."

Sohr, one of the team's leading goal scorers from a year ago, is likely to be a large source of offense for the Cougars this season, but they do have other scoring options.

"There's several players on our team with the potential to score. The problem that we have is that the players don't take the opportunities when they arise," Jones said. "I wouldn't be shocked if five girls score 10 goals each, as opposed to a team that has one girls who scores 30."

During the off-season, many of the girls continued to play club soccer and a group of players from the varsity squad competed in Spain this past summer. Nine Cougar girls played against Spanish teams and a Belgium team. They were joined by a few other players from around the state, but were mainly a Red and Black team squad.

"At first they kind of felt left out, cause we were already a team and we were a little union. But slowly we kind of formed together as one team," Sohr said. "[The Spanish players] were amazing and it would be great to play other teams from other countries because they play differently."

The favorite in the Super Essex Conference Liberty Division is likely defending champions, Glen Ridge, who have a host of returning players coming off of an appearance in the North II Group 1 state sectional semifinals.

 But considering they split with the Ridgers last season (giving up just one goal), and they had at least one win against every Liberty Division opponent, except Montclair Kimberley Academy (two draws), the Cougars have to be considered contenders for the division title this fall.

"I think it's wide-open. I think West Orange is very good, I think Verona will be very good again, MKA have national team players on their team, Newark Academy had national team players in their pool last year. I think it's a very strong conference," Jones said.

The coach said that he has not set any goals like a win total or reaching a certain round in the counties or the state tournament. With the fickle nature of soccer, it's hard to control the outcome of games, he said. What they can control is their performance, and if that improves each game, Jones said he'd be happy with that.

 Of course, coming off of such a surprisingly successful fall, this season has been highly anticipated and the girls are excited to try and take the next step forward.

"We're all really pumped for the season. We're all really pumped to improve and we're striving to have a better season than we did last year," Nelson said.