SCT Round 1 #19 Lacey at #14 Central Regional

 -A matchup that we deserved to see in the quarterfinals or even the semifinals, #19 Lacey and #14 Central Regional met in round 1 last night and it was everything as expected. Two good teams, one who controlled the offense and another who could do no wrong on defense and got excellent goal keeping. 

Lacey was able to battle to a 1-0 victory with some of the best defensive play I have seen all season and a remarkable performance by freshman goalie Ava Schmidt.  Schmidt, who started the season as a back up to junior Lorynn Leporino when she went down early in the season to an ankle injury, stepped up in the biggest game of the season and played like a seasoned upperclassman. 

"She has just stepped in and owned the field, you can not tell she is a freshman," Lacey coach Jack Mahar said about Schmidt. "No one would know that if they came to watch her that she is stepping in for our starting goalie."

Schmidt made a couple of amazing saves, but no bigger one when Central Regional junior Samantha Versnel was taking a corner as the clock was ticking down below 10 seconds. The corner was sent into the middle of the box and Schmidt came off the line, punched it out and then the ball was played back in as both teams scrapped for the ball until time expired. On the play Schmidt got hurt and was down for about 10 minutes after the game, but was able to get up and walk off on her own power.

Even though Central Regional had more chances than Lacey throughout the game, Lacey had the best chance seven minutes in when sophomore Natalie McGovern had a wide open net and sent the ball wide. After that the Eagles took over and attacked the rest of the half, but were unable to put it in the net. Everytime Central Regional had a good chance another Lions defender came in to clear the ball out. 

"We wanted it more then they did," senior Riley Giordano said about her defensive back line. "That is what it came down to. Hard work and its the chemistry playing the last three years together. We had to play as hard as we could because we knew they were a tough team and we had to come out strong and play to the end."

Lacey was able to break the tie when sophomore Avery Johnson was able to volley in a goal in the 54th minute off a cross from sophomore Marissa Flores. The play all started when sophomore Reece Paget sent a through ball to senior Beth Stephens who then fed Flores a short pass. 

Central Regional's strong attack was led by Versnal and junior Arianna Chidiac. They were able to create shots with their fast runs and ball movement. Lacey's defense did a great job on senior Hannah Lewis, the Eagles leading scorer. Junior Marley Besser and the rest of the Lions defense were able to shut her down all game and did not let her get any good looks at goal.

"We actually thought about switching to a four back and this afternoon I said let's stick to what got us here," said Mahar. "They came at us, we were on our heels in the first half. They are a really good team and really fast in the midfield. The defense reads the game really well. One might play left back and the other right back but they will fly across the field to clear the ball."

With the win, Lacey moves on to play #3 Manalapan in a rematch of last year's overtime quarterfinal game.

Players of the Game : I am cheating ... Marley Besser, Sofia Reid and Riley Giordano. The defense stepped up when it meant the most.

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