Her team has tallied an amazing 25 goals in their first three games, but Summit head girls’ soccer coach Christine Bohan doesn’t know what to make of it--except for one thing. The Hilltoppers are certainly scoring goals from all over the place.
“I’m happy how we’re scoring goals,” said Bohan, whose team has already defeated Roselle Catholic (8-1), Plainfield (8-0) and Hillside (9-0) thus far. “We’re scoring goals from outside the 18 (yard line), on headers, on set pieces. We’re definitely mixing it up and it has been a little bit from everyone. I’m happy that they’re all getting involved.”
For example, in the lopsided win over Hillside Monday, eight different girls scored a goal. Only standout midfielder Kate Martino scored more than one, putting two in the net. The rest of the scoring was distributed throughout the lineup.
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“We have such great people on the team,” Bohan said. “They’re all sharing the wealth. Instead of worrying about who’s scoring, they’re worrying about who else they can get involved in scoring. We have a very balanced team. We don’t start the same people every game and they’re fine with that. They understand that it’s all for the good of the team.”
Leading the way thus far has been senior forward Mary Kelly, who has definitely picked up where she left off a year ago. Kelly had nine goals in the second half of the season last year, but has already tallied six goals this year, including three in the win over Plainfield last Saturday.
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“It’s definitely what we expected from Mary,” Bohan said. “We expected her to score goals.”
The sophomore Martino, who earned All-Union County and All-Conference honors last year, has also been a force, scoring four goals and adding two assists thus far.
“Both Kate and Mary have been very solid,” Bohan said. “They both have very strong shots and you don’t want to be in the crosshairs when they shoot the ball, because they certainly pack a punch.”
Senior forward Emily Rojas had three goals in the win over Plainfield Saturday. She added an assist in the win over Hillside.
Taylor Perry has also been impressive in the early going. The senior midfielder has scored the team’s first goal in each of the three victories, which is some feat.
“She’s come out of the box strong and gets us started,” Bohan said. “Taylor’s been firing shots from long range and she has this tough curvy shot that keepers just can’t stop.”
In the win over Hillside, seniors Caroline Welch, Maddie Kaplan (from her defender position) and Meghan Klassen, junior Lauren Zarsky and sophomore Brittany Toffey all added goals.
In the win over Plainfield, sophomore Eden Smith registered three assists.
The scoring is definitely coming from all over the place.
Bohan knows that the scoring barrage won’t last forever. The competition will get tougher as the season progresses.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of the schedule,” Bohan said. “I don’t think the first three games were a good way to measure the rest of the season, especially with our strength in schedule. But so far, so good.”
Through it all, goalkeeper Liz Cassin has been rock solid in net, giving the Hilltoppers a solid balance of scoring and defense.
The Hilltoppers face Roselle Park Wednesday and then play Rahway at home Friday night as part of the school’s Hilltopper Weekend, where the sporting events are tied into a carnival-like atmosphere to get the student body excited about the new fall season. The game is set for 7 p.m. at Tatlock Field.
“I’m just having so much fun with this team right now,” Bohan said. “I see them working so hard together. They compete for playing time all the time and then they’re so kind to each other. The senior class is such a nice group of kids. They really want to do so well. It’s really been great so far. We’ve experienced no ills yet.”
Winning lopsided matches can do that for a team.
