A’town sneaks past Northern Burlington in quarterfinals

ALLENTOWN >> It’s uncertain where the tournament trail will take Allentown, but Kennedy Munster knows this entire season has been a great ride.

Munster is one of the seniors and coupled with a talented group of underclassmen, the Redbirds look ready for any challenge.

Holding off a good sixthseeded Northern Burlington team, No. 3 Allentown captured a 1-0 win in the quarterfinals of the Central Jersey Group III state tournament Thursday in Allentown.

The Redbirds (10-7) got the lone goal just over five minutes into the game off the stick of Morgan Vaccaro with Gabby Leach providing the assist.

Players like Katie Roth and Carleigh Delaney anchored the Allentown defense and goalie Grace Leard came up big when capped upon as she turned away nine Greyhound (6-13) attempts.

The win sends Allentown to No. 2 Burlington Twp. (15-3-1) as the Falcons edged Pennsauken, 2-1, to advance. It will be a rematch of the sectional final of 2017 when Township took a 1-0 win.

“This is our last year and we are all really want to win this,’’ said Munster, one of nine seniors on Redbirds and their leading scorer with 15 goals. “We want to give it everything we got. Getting that goal by Morgan (Vaccaro) was great and it allowed us to keep the momentum up.’’

Leach sent a crossing pass in and Vaccaro was able to get it up over the goalie’s pads. It was the eighth goal for Vaccaro, a junior, on the season and she has a team-high 11 assists.

“We had a lot of seniors graduate and we worked very hard and we are definitely clicking,’’ said Vaccaro. “We are excited for how far we can go in the tournament.’’

Being so young there were more questions than answers in the steamy preseason days of August, but now in the chilly days of October it’s a settled group of Redbirds.

“We are still a young team and we are growing,’’ said Allentown coach Mary Ellen McCarthy. “We have vastly improved.’’

Allentown kept the pressure on the Northern cage and time after time it was Aida Ingram, the Greyhounds’ goalie, that came up big in the moment. She finished with 18 saves.

Being a senior, Munster has come up big in the leadership role for the Redbirds.

“All the young players on the team have really stepped it up and I’m very proud of them,’’ said Munster. “It’s excited to be one of the leaders and it’s a great opportunity to help the younger players.’’

And now Munster, Vaccaro and the rest of the Redbirds are continuing to improve and impress.

“We are ready for the next round,’’ said McCarthy.

No. Burlington (6-13) 0 0 – 0 Allentown (10-7) 1 0 – 1 Goals: A: Vaccaro. Assists: A: Leard Shots: NBC: 9, A: 19. Saves: NBC: Ingram 18, A: Leard 9.