At this time last year, the Verona girls soccer team was coming off of a four win season in which they were shutout in the opening round of the state sectional playoffs. One year later, the Hillbilly girls were six minutes away from playing for the Group 1 Championship.
Last week, the Verona girls soccer team completed what is inarguably the best season in the program's history. They finished up with a 14-10 record, their first ever playoff victory and their first ever state sectional championship. With around six minutes to play in the Group 1 semifinals against New Providence, Verona was up 2-1 and on its way to slaying yet another dragon.
Things did not work out that way, as New Providence rallied to take a 3-2 win before winning the Group 1 title in a much less competitive 4-0 win over Haddon Township. However, with all of the newfound success that the girls and Scorciolla enjoyed this season, and a host of girls returning next fall, it appears that Verona girls soccer has arrived.
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"It was a tremendous effort. I'm very proud of the girls," said Verona girls head coach Anthony Scorciolla. "I didn't expect to be here, but deservedly so, the girls belonged there."
Four years ago, Scorciolla took over a middle of the road Group 1 program which had seen some regular season success but only defeats in the postseason. At the beginning of this fall, Scorciolla thought that his team, with all of the new young talent they had, was a year away from competing for a sectional championship.
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"We had a great group of girls, but to tell you the truth, I was hoping we would get over the hump next year," Scorciolla said.
Luckily for the fourth year head coach, his Hillbilly girls were a year early.
Things didn't get off to such an explosive start for Verona, which hovered around the .500 mark for most of the season. The girls were a game under .500 at two different times this fall and entered the postseason with a 9-9 mark, on the road as a No. 9 seed against New Milford. It two overtimes and two clutch goals by surprise freshman, Julia Ashley, but the Hillbillies got past the opening round of states for the first time in school history, getting the proverbial monkey off of their backs.
"I think that changed the energy and changed the momentum," Scorciolla said. "That first game made us believers."
The girls then went the next three games without allowing a goal, knocking off top seeded Pompton Lakes and fourth seeded Cresskill in the process.
If you were to take a look at the Verona stats this season, the one thing that jumps out is that there was not one dominant scorer. The Hillbillies scored 64 times this season, getting goals from 14 different players, with the top scorer being Olivia Marino, tallying 15. Coming into the spring, Scorciolla knew Marino had speed, but she transformed herself from just a speedster to a scorer, according to the coach.
"That's just the way it worked out. I really didn't have a goal scorer," Scorciolla said. "But Olivia Marino slowed down her pace and changed the way she was doing things and became a goal scorer."
At first, Marino and Claire Fitzpatrick were the team's main scorers. However, a midseason injury to Fitzpatrick opened the door for Ashley, who basically just knocked that door right off of the hinges. Ashley ended up leading the team in points, getting 12 goals and 14 assists, and was a huge part of what the Hillbillies were able to accomplish this fall.
"I had never seen her play, but I had heard a lot of good things about her," Scorciolla recalled about Ashley. "You could tell the first day she came in that she was the best freshmen to ever step on the field for us."
Now it's time for the hard part for Verona: doing it again.
There's no doubt that expectations have now risen for the Maroon and White girls, who have 14 girls returning next season, including the top four goals scorers on the team (Ashley, Fitzpatrick, Marino and Jill Sprong). The girls do lose keeper Alison Sprong, Caroline Mols (who Scorciolla referred to as the heart and soul of the team). However, they are losing just three goals and five assists of production.
