St. John Vianney girls enjoy season of firsts

The St. John Vianney High School girls soccer team completed its season of firsts by capturing the NJSIAA Parochial A Championship.

The gritty Lancers parlayed a second-half goal by Deana Contri, her third of the year, and a solid defensive effort into a 1-0 victory over Immaculate Heart Academy to win the crown and end the Academy’s 56-game winning streak.

"Our girls played a great game," first-year Lancers Coach Mike Alosco said. "They had the attitude that there was no way they were going to lose. In fact, they were upset that we weren’t ahead after the first half."

It’s precisely that attitude that has served the Holmdel school so well this season. In the Shore Conference Tournament, Alosco’s team made its way to the finals against a powerful Red Bank Catholic team that always seemed to find a way to defeat the Lancers. Not this time.

St. John’s was nursing a 1-0 lead, thanks to Dana Lewis’ goal with time winding down in the first half.

The Caseys pressed for the tying marker in the second half, and finally broke through with about eight minutes remaining. With momentum seemingly swinging to RBC, co-captain Tami Coyle, the Lancers’ senior scoring machine, put her team back in the lead just one minute later, and St. John’s won 2-1 to earn its first conference championship.

"That was an important win for us," Alosco said. "We hadn’t beaten RBC before, and there was a kind of psychological barrier there. For the first time this season, our girls weren’t very confident going into that game. But they came up big and getting over that hump gave us the confidence we needed heading into the state tournament."

In Parochial A competition, the Lancers rolled past Holy Spirit in the South Jersey Parochial A sectional semifinals 4-0. Alison Regler, Meg McDermott, Coyle and Lewis scored, while freshman Briana Gilmartin posted a pair of assists.

In the sectional final, Vianney won again, 4-0, as Coyle went for the hat trick and Christina Andaya added another goal to set up the meeting with Immaculate Heart for the overall Parochial A title.

Throughout the campaign, the Lancers went about the business of winning like a well-oiled machine. The St. John girls scored 104 times and allowed just eight goals as junior netminder Cheri Wittlieb posted 15 shutouts. Coyle led the attack with 22 goals and nine assists, followed by Regler with 14 goals and 14 assists. Andaya ended the season with 14 goals and seven assists; Gilmartin had 13 goals and nine assists; and Jaime Komar contributed two goals and 18 assists.

Defensively, the Lancers were solid. Co-captain Deana Contri anchored the D, which included junior sweeper Jackie Buckler, Regler, sophomore Deidre Murray and freshman Melanie Ondrejik. In the middle, Lewis, a junior, and Komar, a sophomore, were steady throughout the campaign.

With a youthful lineup, the Lancers should be strong again next fall as they will lose only Coyle, Contri and Andaya to graduation.

"This is a very hard-working team," Alosco said. "They never got ahead of themselves or took anything for granted. They played it one game at a time. This team could always play good defense; this year they proved that they can score, too. They deserve what they’ve accomplished."

—Warren Rappleyea