Steinert spoils Hopewell’s bid for perfect CVC season

HAMILTON >> As much as Mike Hastings’ comment didn’t make sense, it did.

“We told them before the game, as much as this game doesn’t mean anything, it does,” said Hastings after his Steinert girls soccer team took a 3-0 victory over Hopewell Valley on Monday.

It surely meant a lot to the Spartans (11-4-1), who entered the match having lost two of their last three and desperately needed to regain some mojo prior to the start of Thursday’s Mercer County Tournament. Not to mention, they prevented the Bulldogs (13-41) from going a perfect 13-0 in Colonial Valley Conference play.

“It was amazing, it was a very big game for us,” said senior back Sophia Laico, who scored the game’s first goal. “This was exactly what we needed right before the counties. It gets us in a good mood and hopefully we can go through and win them all.”

Whereas a loss might have had a different effect.

“You come out here and you lay an egg, now you’re going into the first round of the county tournament kind of not feeling too confident about yourself,” Hastings said. “Hopefully our confidence builds off this going into the county tournament. It’s always nice to beat a quality program. I know John (McGinley) is always going to have them prepared.”

With former Steinert All-Stater Gianna Pittaro on break from Yale and in attendance, the Spartans put on a performance to make her proud. Steinert had most of the play in the first half and finally finished with 53 seconds left. Emma Nini sent a long cross from the right flank to the left side of the goal, where Laico ran on to the ball and tucked it in the short side.

“I actually thought she saved it at first,” Laico said. “I was very surprised when I saw it go in. I think that helped us a lot going into the second half.”

Hopewell had the first scoring chance after intermission when Mea Allex’s high direct kick took a hard bounce over goalie Gemma Goldenbaum’s head. But Goldenbaum leaped at the last second to tip it over the goal.

Each team traded shots over the next 20 minutes, with Steinert’s Margarita Ivanova hitting the post at one point. And while she didn’t get a goal, Ivanova set up the next one when her centering pass was converted by Maddie Klein with 11:40 remaining. Aine DelleGrotti ended any suspense by scoring with under five minutes left.

It capped one of the Spartans better performances in recent weeks.

“I think our effort is what ultimately made us win today,” Laico said. “We were winning every 50-50 ball, making runs when we were supposed to, shooting when we were supposed to. I just think overall everyone on the team played great.”

Steinert enters the counties as the No. 4 seed and will play Hun at Veterans Park, while top-seeded Hopewell hosts Ewing.

“We came out with a good win against a very good opponent,” Hastings said. “Hopefully this can kind of bounce us into the tournament.”

“Our confidence is a lot higher going in now,” Laico said. “Especially beating the number one seed.”

Hopewell entered the game having won four of the last five against Steinert, so if the two meet in the quarterfinals, at least the Spartans know they can compete. The Bulldogs have lost three of their last five, but are battled tested as the combined record of the four teams they lost to is 40-15-2.

“John is going to get that team going,” Hastings said. “As much as I want to play them again, I don’t.”

Makes perfect sense.

Hopewell (13-4-1) Steinert (11-3-1) 0 0 — 0 1 2 — 3

Goals: Laico, Klein, DelleGrotti (S); Assists: Nini 2, Ivanova (S); Shots: 5 (HV), 6 (S); Saves: Fleming 3 (HV). Goldenbaum 3. Calle 2 (S).

Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores