Allentown leads way with four first team standouts
Alex Searing knew her season was over the moment she crumpled to the ground.
The Allentown High girls soccer team’s most important player suffered an ACL injury just as the Redbirds were gearing up for a run at a first Mercer County Tournament title and second straight Group III state championship.
“I was running and I stepped really hard and there was no give to the turf,” said Searing, who sustained the injury in the second half of the MCT semifinals. “It just went. There was nothing I could have done about it. I did it and I knew it was either ACL or something else that’s going to keep me from playing the rest of the season.”
Without Searing, Allentown was upset in the quarterfinals of the Central Jersey Group III playoffs.
“It was so hard to just sit there and not be able to do anything,” Searing said. “I thought we were going to be able to do it. We all had it in us, but I guess we fell apart that last game. We worked so hard that game. It wasn’t like we played bad, it just happened. The last four minutes ...”
Once the heartbreak subsided, Searing and her teammates were able to reflect on an incredible two-year run in which they posted a 39-3 overall record, a 26-0 mark in the Colonial Valley Conference and won the 2017 Group III state title.
“It was amazing,” Searing said. “I couldn’t have Allentown’s Alex Searing, center, celebrates with teammates Kayla Denney, left, and Lauren Coiante, right, after scoring against Hopewell Valley during a semifinal MCT game.
asked for anything better than what happened in high school. Everything that I ever wanted happened.”
Searing had a lot to do with the Redbirds’ success. She had eight goals and six assists this season, although her contributions are measured better in a box-to-box role where she buzzes around the field.
“Alex has been kind of my go-to since she was a freshman,” coach Kim Maurer said. “She came in and I made her an outside back and I slowly moved her up the field. For the past two seasons, she’s definitely been the heart and soul in the middle of the field. Her work ethic is kind of what set her apart from the rest.”
Searing is set to attend Loyola University of Maryland next year on a soccer
scholarship. She had her surgery the same day she signed her National Letter of Intent, but she’s hopes to return to action sometime in August and play a role for the Greyhounds during her freshman season.
Searing is one of four Allentown players on the All-CVC First Team, joining senior classmates Emma Pascarella, Lauren Coiante and Alssia DeFelice. That group went 67-15 over the past four seasons.
“I went into high school not really knowing what was going to happen and how good we were going to be,” Searing said. “It was crazy that we won a state championship.”
Here’s the All-CVC First Team:
GIA GIRMAN, SO., NOTTINGHAM >> The sophomore earned Player of the Year after a breakout campaign
in which she scored a league and county-best 36 goals. Girman also added nine assists and established herself as one of the state’s rising stars. EMMA PASCARELLA, SR., ALLENTOWN >> The Rutgersbound senior once again spearheaded the attack for a Redbirds side that went 13-0 in the CVC for a second straight season. Pascarella broke the program scoring record with a goal in a 2-1 win over Bridgewater-Raritan and finished her career with 46 goals and 51 assists. NICOLA MOSIONEK, FR., HOPEWELL VALLEY >> Mosionek put up a great freshman season, finishing with a team-leading 15 goals and adding nine assists. She settled in as a playmaker by the end of a campaign in which the Bulldogs reached the Central Group III final. JILLIAN PELOSI, SR., WWPN>> Pelosi saved her best for last by scoring 20 goals in her senior season, which ranked second behind Girman in the CVC. She completed her career with 38 goals.
ALEX SEARING, SR., ALLENTOWN >> There wasn’t a player more important to her team than the Loyola Maryland-bound Searing. She’s truly a box-to-box player who has a knack for scoring big goals. The senior had eight goals and six assists this season and finished her career with 25 goals and 18 assists. IVONNE VASQUEZ, SR., NOTTINGHAM >> The TCNJbound senior began turning heads during the summer and backed that up by scoring seven goals and assisting on 15 others to help push the Northstars to 13 wins, including a playoff victory. Vasquez and Girman proved to be the best 1-2 punch in the CVC.
ABBEY BARCLESS, SR., NOTRE DAME >> Multiple coaches called Barcless the best defender in the CVC and she proved them right by helping the Irish keep eight cleansheets. The Wilkes Universitybound Barcless also chipped in a pair of goals. LAUREN COIANTE, SR., ALLENTOWN >> The Redbirds couldn’t have asked for anything more from their right back. Coiante established herself as a threat on set pieces and scored 10 goals, an amazing number for a player at her position. Coiante is a three-sport standout, who averaged 10.6 points on the basketball court and batted .424 in softball as a junior. ALISSA DEFELICE, SR., ALLENTOWN >> The senior centerback was the unsung hero of Allentown’s 39-3 record over the last two seasons, rarely putting a foot wrong and emerging as one of the league’s best defenders. CHLOE ZOLDI, SR., STEINERT >> Zoldi did a little bit of everything in her senior season. She played right back, left back, manmarked and even moved forward when the Spartans were in need of an attacking spark. Very much a utility player, she ended up with four goals and three assists.
BRAYLEE WALTERS, SO., HOPEWELL VALLEY >> Walters kept a league-high 14 cleansheets and played her best soccer during the Bulldogs’ run to the Central Group III final. The sophomore made 119 saves, including 10 in a terrific performance in a playoff win over Burlington Twp.
CHRISTIE FINK, NOTTINGHAM >> Fink earns CVC Coach of the Year after guiding the Northstars to a 13-5 record, which was the program’s highest win total in 14 years. Allentown’s Kim Maurer and Hopewell Valley’s John McGinley also had excellent seasons on the bench.