Brave Heart: Manalapan defeats Trinity Hall to win first Shore Conference Tournament since 1988
Neptune – In 2024, the Manalapan girls soccer team surprised everyone with a deep Central Jersey Group 4 run that ended in the finals on penalty kicks. With every player returning, the team had championship aspirations for 2025. The Braves (16-0) took home hardware after defeating Trinity Hall (16-3-2) 3-1 to win their first Shore Conference Tournament since 1988.
Manalapan celebrating with the Shore Conference Tournament trophy. 10/25/25 Photo by Tom Smith
After trailing for the first time in the season in the semifinal round against Rumson-Fair Haven, the Braves wanted to make sure they did not fall behind in the championship game. It was back-and-forth for the first 20 minutes of the game, but then Manalapan took control and scored two goals within a seven minute period.
“It is all about the mentality,” senior Constantina Papadakis said. “It was all about switching our mindset and fighting back. Last year we would have gotten down on ourselves right away, but this year we came in with a new mentality. It was all about not letting up and playing our game and not anybody else’s game.”
Playing their game is exactly what Manalapan did in the second part of the first-half. Senior Olivia Ziobro put the Braves up with 19:13 left in the half after junior Kyra Greenberg beat two defenders to cross the ball right to Ziobro’s foot.
Ziobro missed last season due to an injury, but she has come back strong in 2025 scoring her 11th and 12th goals of the season in the championship game. Her second goal came with 12:26 left in the first-half after Manalapan strung together five straight passes leading to a far post goal by Ziobro off Greenberg’s second assist.
Olivia Ziobro scored two first-half goals for Manalapan in the SCT Final. 10/25/25 Photo by Tom Smith
“I think what goes unspoken about last year is when we lost Olivia (Ziobro),” Manalapan head coach John Rogers said. “She tore her ACL and was out all year. I think we felt that all year last year. I can not say enough things about her with her leadership, toughness, and her finishing ability. She has given us such a layer to our team that we have not had I think in years.”
Manalapan kept the pressure on the rest of the first-half but the Trinity Hall defense held them to just those two goals. The Braves came out strong to start the second-half, but the Monarchs were able to cut the deficit in half 5:19 into the half.
Junior Kailyn Fitzgerald was able to gather a pass from Kaylee Davis inside the 18-yard line and score. That was Fitzgerald’s team-high 15th goal of the season Davis’s 7th assist of the season. Fitzgerald was all over the field for the Monarchs making the Manalapan defense work hard.
Kailyn Fitzgerald scored her 15th goal of the season in the SCT Final against Manalapan. 10/25/25 Photo by Tom Smith
“To open up the second-half we put the pressure on and I said lets get three, lets get four, but it was not happening,” Rogers said. “Next thing you know it’s 2-1 and I think that locked everyone back in. Everyone said here we go, the game is back on and lets lock down. Lets stay to what makes us successful and the defense played a really strong end to the second-half to finish the game.”
Manalapan was able to settle down after Trinity Hall went on the attack for several minutes after the goal was scored. The Braves got an insurance goal with 7:45 remaining from Lyla Ottenheimer. Ottenheimer took a pass from Ziobro and blasted a shot just inside the 18-yard line to beat a diving Emily Venezia.
“We go in with the mentality that nobody is better than us,” Ziobro said. “If we go in with the mentality that we are going to run through everyone that is in our way no one is going to stop us. Honestly when we play our game it is really hard to stop because we are switching the ball fast, we are scoring on each end, and we have weapons on every aspect of the field.”
After winning the Class A North title and now the Shore Conference Tournament title, Manalapan will switch their focus to returning to the Central Jersey Group 4 final. The Braves clinched the top seed in Central Jersey Group 4 and unlike last season where they snuck up on teams, this season they will be the favorites.
“I think it was something we needed to take pride in,” said Rogers about an undefeated season. “Instead of worrying about it and thinking about everyone targeting us, I think it was something we needed to take some pride in. I tell them they are the number one team for a reason, you guys are really good. The target will grow bigger because you guys have stated who you are.”
