Pats Pride: Freehold Twp. Girls Soccer Returns to Shore Conference Final

NEPTUNE — The Shore Conference Tournament was a humbling experience for the 2023 Freehold Township girls soccer team and it served as the fuel that powered them to the NJSIAA Group IV championship later that season.

This year, with a vastly different roster compared to last year’s squad, Freehold Township faced its reality check much earlier. Fittingly enough, that early adversity has inspired this year’s team to win the tournament that last year’s loaded Patriots team could not.

Two wins away from the program’s third Shore Conference Tournament title, Freehold Township took care of the win Wednesday night against a high-powered Lacey side.

Seniors Albana Gjonbalaj and Sophie Tonino delivered the goals, the defense slowed down the high-powered Lions attack and Freehold Township advanced to the SCT final with a 2-1 win. The Patriots will make their seventh appearance in the SCT final in the last 15 years and face Point Pleasant Boro Saturday in search of their third title in four years.

“We had a tough start to the season, so we have been working super-hard in practice to try to come back,” Gjonbalaj said. “We knew we wanted to make it to the final so we have all been putting the work in. Every player has been stepping up.”

Freehold Township is the two-time defending Group IV champions and won SCT titles in 2021 and 2022 thanks to an attack that boasted scoring threats all over the formation, but on Wednesday night, it was Lacey that entered the match with the longer list of elite scorers. Seniors Natalie McGovern, Mackenzie Brotherston and Riley Paget each started play Wednesday with at least 10 goals and 10 assists each — which Freehold Township had on its roster in 2021 and 2022 before falling just shy of the feat last year.

The Patriots have no such players so far this season, but have a 25-goal scorer in senior Gaby Parker, who tied is the program’s all-time leading goal-scorer and tied the single-season program record with her 25th goal Monday in a win over Middletown South. Parker and classmate Danielle Howard, who has seven goals and 11 assists this season after posting 12 and 13 as a junior, is the other proven returning scorer on the Patriots, who would not need either to directly contribute to the scoring Wednesday.

Parker and Howard, were, however, instrumental in setting the tone and putting Lacey on the defensive with their early attack. Eventually, the Patriots cracked the Lacey defense and stingy junior goalkeeper Ava Schmidt, who saved 13 shots in the game and denied Parker on a pair of early dangerous attempts.

Girls SCT semis: Freehold Twp takes a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute on this strike by Albana Gjonbalaj. pic.twitter.com/9XMyimnVvc

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) October 23, 2024

In the 34th minute, Howard started the first scoring sequence by outworking a defender for the ball and delivering a deflected cross across the 18-yard box. Tonino stuck the ball off a Lacey defender and it rolled out to Gjonbalaj, who took one touch and blasted a shot over Schmidt that tucked into the far-right corner of the goal.

“We had a lot of opportunities to get up and once I saw that ball came back to me, I knew I had to finish it,” Gjonbalaj said. “I took my time to place it and it went in.”

Freehold Townshp maintained its pressure into the second half and broke through for a second goal in the 59th minute. Senior Courtney Speck found herself with a clear look at the goal from 28 yards out and ripped a shot that Schmidt parried off the crossbar. The ball bounced right to a charging Tonino, who knocked in the rebounded shot for a 2-0 Patriots lead and her sixth goal of the season.

Sophie Tonino cleans up after a great initial attempt by Courtney Speck and save by Ava Schmidt. Freehold Twp takes a 2-0 lead on Lacey in the 59th. pic.twitter.com/OAlxnyJ6fB

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) October 23, 2024

The Patriots appeared to be in control, but Lacey climbed back in the game in the 70th minute when McGovern struck on a counter-attack for her 24th goal of the season. Freehold Township goalkeeper Ashley Moore came through with a diving save on a shot by Paget in the 78th minute to turn back Lacey’s best opportunity to equalize.

“We were nervous,” Gjonbalaj said. “We saw their record coming into the game and we didn’t have the best start to the season, but we came out, put in all of our energy and it worked.”

Natlie McGovern scores on a counter in the 70th to pull Lacey within 2-1. pic.twitter.com/X0bcvy3WoS

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) October 24, 2024

Prior to the final 10 minutes, Freehold Township’s defense kept Lacey’s dangerous trio away from Moore and mostly quiet. With senior captain Chloe Walters manning the defensive midfield, fellow seniors Kayla Sciortino and Mylie West control the middle of the back line, and juniors Christina Celano and Gianna Neron handling the outsides on defense, Freehold Township orchestrated a team-wide effort to limit Lacey to six shots, with five of them reaching Moore, who saved four of them.

Freehold Township, meanwhile, got off 16 shots and 15 of them were on target.

The Patriots are one win away from a third SCT championship in four years despite starting this season with four consecutive losses. The six losses Freehold Township has suffered this season equal the total number of losses in the past four seasons combined.

The early struggles have shaped Freehold Township into a team that does not take winning for granted, especially since the Patriots have graduated five Division I players over the past two school years — including three last season in Cassidy Corcione, Ainsley Moy and Hailey Santiago.

This year’s group has settled into its identity and with one more win, it will have successfully contributed to the championships tradition before the NJSIAA Tournament even starts.

“We lost a lot of good players last year, so we knew we all had to step up and take charge,” Gjonbalaj said. “I’m proud of us. Everyone is getting put in different positions and supporting everyone.”