Steinert Girls Varsity Soccer celebrates their MCT Title victory with a 3-0 win over Allentown. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Oct. 26: It’s a good thing Gabby DeLisa was wearing shorts, or everyone on hand at The College of New Jersey tonight would suspect she was swinging a Redwood tree trunk instead of a human leg.
DeLisa absolutely crushed two second-half free kicks into the back of the net to seal third-seeded Steinert’s 3-0 victory over top-seeded Allentown in the Mercer County Tournament girls’ soccer championship game at TCNJ.
In giving the Redbirds (17-1) their first loss, the Spartans (17-1-1) won their first MCT title since the days of Christie Fink and Jess Babice in 2006.
“I’m literally beyond speechless,” said senior midfielder Lynzie “Lou” Morgan, who may need to look up the definition of speechless as she was hardly done talking. “I’ve been looking forward to this moment, literally along with every other single person on the team, since the minute we all started in this program. (Coach Mike “Stinger”) Hastings always stressed since the beginning that we would get there, and we literally just did it. I literally have no words.”
We should all say so much with no words.
Actually, everyone’s utterances were pretty much the same on Steinert’s side.
“It’s indescribable, it’s the best feeling,” DeLisa said. “We weren’t finished last year and we finally finished it.”
“It’s awesome,” Hastings said. “I’m speechless, almost. It’s a true testament to hard work and kids digging in; playing a double overtime game against a really tough Pennington team (in the semifinals) and then coming back and doing this against a really good Allentown team. It’s a testament to the girls to what it’s all about, just coming out here and giving it everything you have.”
“I can’t even put into words what this means to us,” the Yale-bound Pittaro said. “Hard work pays off. It took four years to get here. We’re 19-3 last year and nothing to show for it. Now we have two (titles) and I want three (including states).”
It was a dream final between the top two teams in the Colonial Valley Conference who are the top two seeds in the upcoming Central Jersey Group III Tournament (Allentown is No. 1). On Sep. 13, Allentown scored two quick, early goals for a 2-0 victory that dropped Steinert’s record to 2-1.
Pittaro felt Steinert’s intensity was the difference this time around.
“We came this far and we knew what was at stake,” she said. “We knew there was no way we were losing this game without a fight.”
The Spartans have not only gone unbeaten (15-0-1) since their one loss, they have not trailed in a game during that time. The only other time they trailed was 1-0 to Princeton on opening day.
Thus, it became a big deal when Emily Gulsby created a breakaway for herself in the 35th minute. Gulsby had been stoned by goalie Abby Howell moments early, but she didn’t miss this time and Steinert had a 1-0 lead. It was a huge goal in a half that went back and forth.
“Gulsby’s hustle up top made that,” Hastings said. “We felt that was a good match-up up top for us with her speed and her size. She got us on the board. I felt once we got that first goal, we kind of settled in.”
Morgan agreed, saying, “Hastings always stresses the first goal is the most important, and once we get that, we can just relax and play our game. That was a huge, huge part of the game. Emily just put on the wheels and finished.”
What came next will go down in Steinert lore as “The Half of Thunderfoot” as DeLisa took away any hope the Redbirds had of getting back in it.
With 24:31 remaining, she took a free kick from over 20 yards away and placed it perfectly into the upper right corner. Just over nine minutes later, she took one from the other side of Federal City Road that Howell could not quite handle.
“It’s about time,” said the junior defender, who entered the game with one goal. “Every game I hope for this. I get the same amount of chances every game and it was bound to happen and thank God it happened in this big game. We have so much heart on the field and it showed.”
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DeLisa felt Gulsby’s goal was going to be the game-winner, and that her goals just brought the championship into clearer focus.
“Once we get the first goal we know we are winning the game,” she said. “The second goal we thought ‘OK, this is real.’ The third one just assured the championship.”
It also assured that rumors would start spreading about that powerful appendage DeLisa camouflages as a leg. Asked if it was human, Gabby had to think about it.
“No, I guess not,” she said, before looking down at it. “Well, it’s as human as it gets.”
DeLisa’s blasts left her teammates shaking their heads in admiration.
“It took all the way up until now, and it’s a great time for her to obviously finish on those kicks,” Pittaro said. “Hey, she has an amazing kick; the hardest shot on the team.”
Morgan took it a step further.
“She can kick the ball harder than anyone else, probably, in the CVC,” Lou said. “She’s an animal. She’s insane. I give her so much credit.”
Morgan than put a positive twist on an age-old negative cliché, noting that “She can hit a ball to save her life.”
Hastings felt it was a case of using that leg to hoist herself and her team up at the right time.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “Big players always show up for big games and she’s been big defensively for us all year and she stepped up big offensively today. The first one was just drilled from about 25 yards out. The second was just ridiculous, it was well over 40. We got a little luck of the bounce on that one, but good things happen when you’re on a roll.”
Just how big is this roll? Big enough to fit a lot of butter and jam, that’s for sure.
Steinert has won 14 straight games. It scored three goals against a team that had allowed just four and had 12 shutouts in its first 16 games.
Of course, Steinert’s defensive unit of keeper Erika Golik, DeLisa, Tatiana Dorner, Kristen Pirrocco and Ashley Navarro hasn’t been too shabby either. The Spartans have now allowed the same amount of goals (7) as Allentown this year. Tonight’s shutout was their 13th and they only allowed one goal in 340 minutes of MCT soccer. The midfielders and forwards, including Michaela Miranda and Chloe Zoldi, also help out as Steinert plays strong team defense.
And as has been the case all season, secondary scorers stepped up as Pittaro and Casey Grehan (25 combined goals) were held off the board, but to no avail. Pittaro came close near the end but could care less she didn’t get it.
“It would’ve been nice, but whatcha gonna do,” she said. “I mean, we have such an amazing team. There’s no words to describe how much of a great feeling this is.”
Actually, when something like this happens, words aren’t really necessary.
The looks on the Spartans faces spoke volumes.
