HOPEWELL TWP. — One thing you can always count on with the Hopewell Valley girls soccer side is that even when it’s having a rare down season by its lofty standards it would be a big mistake to think the Valley Girls might be easy pickings.
A big part of this is the pride associated with being part of a program that has enjoyed tremendous success over the years. Along with the pride are the expectations effort will never be an issue and the players will put in the hard work to achieve improvement.
Competing in the first round of the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament onThursday night, No. 7 seed Hopewell Valley posted a 2-0 victory over No. 10 Robbinsville to advance into a game on Saturday at No. 2 seeded Allentown.
The victory over Robbinsville elevated Hopewell’s Valley’s record on the year to a mediocre 9-10, but this is the tournament time and the opposition would be well served not to sleep on John McGinley’s team that has a long pedigree of playing well in the knock-out portion of the season.
“I thought we did a really good job tonight of possessing the ball and knocking the ball around,”’ said McGinley. “Even though we didn’t score as many as we would have liked to, I was happy in the second half with the way we served the ball (Into the box). We’ve had some kids in and out of the lineup. We’ve had some changes. We’ve had some new players. I think we are still developing some kind of chemistry with the new players, but I feel like tonight our possession was much better.”
Hopewell Valley did, indeed, dominate most of the play with the majority of action in Robbinsville’s side of the field. Following a relatively slow first 30 or so minutes, Hopewell Valley broke through with 5:47 remaining in the first half when sophomore Megan Kurian adroitly dribbled to set up her right foot and unleashed a low shot into the far of the corner net. It was the seventh goal of the year for Kurian, who has the second highest total on the team behind Delainey Ross’ eight.
Although Robbinsville (4-12-1) never really looked like it was about to tie the game, the young Valley Girls (three senior starters for most of the year) were unable to breathe easy until the insurance goal came with 17:32 remaining in the game. The unassisted goal was on a corner by freshman Mackenzie Paul, that bounced off the hands of the Robbinsville keeper and dribbled across the goal line.
Hopewell Valley has a log of history of being productive on corners, although usually it scores when the ball is first passed to somebody in the box.
Whatever, Hopewell Valley nearly scored again when a rocket smashed off the a crossbar as the clock wound down and Robbinsville also got off a couple of potentially dangerous shots right near the end. Still, Hopewell Valley outshot the Ravens, 12-3, and Hopewell Valley keeper Eva Giambanco got her clean sheet with three saves.
With Robbinsville out of the way, if was time to look ahead to the quarterfinal round CVC Tournament game Allentown. Followers of CVC soccer well know these teams have had some epic battles over the years.
Allentown won the regular-season game over Hopewell Valley, 1-0, on a second half goal, but McGinley thought his team wasn’t necessarily dominated by the Redbirds.
“I thought we played well (against Allentown),” said McGinley. “In the first half they put us under some pressure. In the second half we were better, but they scored on a counter We had some chances, but when you don’t take advantage against a good team like Allentown that (a loss) is what’s going to happen.”
Robbinsville (4-12-1) 0 0 — 0
Hopewell Valley (9-10) 1 1 — 2
Goals: Kurian, Paul (HV). Shots: R-3, HV 8. Saves: R-Amato 4, HV-Giambanco 3.
