Brookdale women repeat as GSAC soccer champs
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Brookdale's women's soccer team seems to be rounding into form at just the right time.

With last Thursday's 2-1 win over Ocean, Frank Lawrence's Blues extended their winning streak to nine, but more importantly, wrapped up the Garden State Athletic Conference title for the defending champions.

Aly Mullany's goal off a free kick in the 89th minute of the match won it for the host Blues, who are undefeated in GSAC action (3-0) and now 9-2 overall. The free kick was the result of a foul in the box.

Kelly Ackerman opened the scoring for Brookdale, scoring in the final 18 seconds of the first half.

Ocean slipped to 7-2-2 for the season and 2-1-1 in the conference.

Both teams are nationally ranked with BCC at No. 6 and Ocean at No. 10.

With just two returning starters this fall, Lawrence expected it to take time to get all the pieces together and working as one especially on offense.

"It takes longer for the offense to come together," he pointed out. "The players have to find out how they play together."

It took a little longer than expected for the offense to jell, Lawrence noted, mostly due to four missed games. But jell the team has, and the club is hitting on all cylinders, winners of now nine straight matches.

Center-midfielder Mullaney (Howell) is the field general of an offense that has been very balanced and productive.

"She makes it run, she's our playmaker," said Lawrence. "She controls the field. I expected that going in."

What was missing early in the season was the right partner to team with Mullaney and after some experimenting, Lawrence found it with Liz Walling (Manasquan). She and Mullaney have clicked, making the Blues double dangerous in the middle.

In the first eight games, Mullaney is leading the team in scoring with 11 goals and three assists, while Walling has three assists.

Ackermann (Freehold Borough) is second on the team in scoring from her outside midfield slot. She also has eight goals and four assists. She scored the only goal of the match in Brookdale's recent 1-0, over Mercer.

Kim Thompsen (Raritan) and Johanna Lovallo (Old Bridge) are the team's forwards. What Lawrence is impressed the most about them is that they have more assists than goals. Lovallo and Thompsen lead the team in assists with four each. Thompsen has three goals and Lovallo has a pair.

"It shows how unselfish we are about scoring," said Lawrence. "They've been looking to set people up. We've been getting a lot of contributions."

A little networking by Lawrence strengthened the team after it returned from Georgia. It came to his attention that Melissa Scaduto (Freehold Township) and Liz Grimaldi (Rumson-Fair Haven) were enrolled at Brookdale. He contacted them, invited them to try out for the team and now both are key additions - Scaduto as the keeper and Grimaldi at forward.

"We had a midfielder playing goal," noted Lawrence. "She was doing a good job, but it wasn't her position. There is so much that goes into the position besides making the save. Melissa knows how to play the position. She has taken the pressure off the defense. They can think more offensive.

"Liz has given us another scoring forward," he added. "She's getting better with every game and helping us."

Scaduto has registered four shutouts in her six games.

Defense has never been a concern for Lawrence. His two returning starters were All-American sweeper Laura Fiorentinov (Sayreville) and All-Region stopper Katie Miller (Raritan).

The Jersey Blues have something else going for them as they prepare for the stretch run to the playoffs - talented depth.

"I'm rotating 16 or 17 players every game," said Lawrence. "Everyone is getting substantial playing time and helping us.

"Our kids are fresh in the second half," he added. "We've been wearing some teams down."

Saturday will be the last home game for the Blues before the playoffs begin when they take on Nassau, N.Y., at noon.

The Region XIX playoffs will begin on Oct. 23 at the home of the higher-seeded team. The semifinals are Oct. 25, again at the higher seed. Mercer is hosting the Region final on Oct. 28 at high noon.

As GSAC champions, BCC will play all of its matches at home leading up to the final at Mercer.