Ojo, Big Red blank Ravens
For the most part, the Lawrenceville School girls’ soccer players read about Colonial Valley Conference teams, just as the CVC players read about the Big Red.
But with Lawrenceville back in the Mercer County Tournament for the first time since 2016, worlds are colliding.
“It’s very exciting, we’re so excited to play against some of the top teams in the area,” said Marcia Ojo after scoring both goals in 9th-seeded Lawrenceville’s 2-0 first-round win over 8th-seeded Robbinsville. “We definitely want to show what Big Red’s about. They haven’t seen a lot of what we can do. So getting out here, playing new teams, showing them what we bring to the table is great, and we’re getting good competition as well.”
What the Big Red is about lately is winning. They have taken four straight and will get a big second-round test against top-seeded Hopewell Valley. Robbinsville (7-7-1), which has dropped four straight, gave a strong effort as it was a typical eight-nine game.
“It was good match-up,” Ravens coach Caitlyn Curran said. “We just couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities we had. We had six corner kicks dropped perfectly where they needed to be by Julia Sabol and we just could not find the end of it. So that’s something we’ll be working on moving forward when we get to the state tournament.”
Playing into the teeth of a fierce wind, Lawrenceville got off to a strong start and made it 1-0 when Ojo was in front of the goal and converted a cross from Syd Cornell.
“It was really great to score that opening goal in the first 10 minutes,” Big Red coach Jess Magnuson said. “That was a huge boost for us.”
Lawrenceville had a few more opportunities but could not capitalize and, utilizing the wind, the Ravens began to attack. Robbinsville held most of the advantage in the final 20 minutes of the half, but goalie Jas Barco made the saves or short-circuited corner kicks when necessary.
With the breeze changing to a cross wind in the second half, Lawrenceville had most of the play and finally got the insurance goal it needed on an Ojo direct kick from around 40 yards out.
It was her 10th goal of the season, and a surprise goal at that.
“Definitely not,” the Rahway resident said when asked if she thought it was going in. “I really thought it was going over the bar, but it just snuck in, so it was good.”
“She’s capable of doing that,” Magnuson said. “It doesn’t happen all the time, but it was a perfect time to happen. She’s been great for us, very versatile. She plays defense for her club and offense for us and we can really put her anywhere on the field and she’s gonna make a difference. “Lawrenceville (5-4-1) 1 1 -2 Robbinsville (7-7-1) 00–0 Goals: Ojo 2 (L). Assists: Cornell (L). Shots: 12 (L), 8 (R). Saves: Barco 6 (L), Hopkins 7 (R)
ALLENTOWN 2, HIGHTSTOWN 1 ALLENTOWN >> Olivia Ricci and Olivia Denney both scored second-half goals and the fifth-seeded Redbirds (13-4) moved into the quarterfinals edging the 12th-seeded Rams (6-8-1), who got a second-half tally from Kendra Power. Allentown meets fourth-seeded Steinert in the next round.
STEINERT 4, HUN 0 HAMILTON >> Margarita Ivanova and Kailey Conner both scored twice as the fourth-seeded Spartans (12-4-1) had no problems dispatching the 13th-seeded Raiders (3-8). Steinert faces fifthseeded Allentown in the quarterfinals. PRINCETON DAY 5, WW-PN 0 PRINCETON >> The second-seeded Panthers (12-2-1) cruised past the 15thseeded Knights (5-10-1) and into a quartefrinal game against seventh-seeded Princeton. Kelly Beal notched a hat trick for the hosts, who also got goals from Jules Romano and Ava Mattson. HOPEWELL VALLEY 2,
EWING 0
HOPEWELL TWP. >> The top-seeded Bulldogs (14-4-1) needed second-half goals from Charlotte Hare and Nicole Mosionek to put away the 16th-seeded Blue Devils (2-14) and set up a quarterfinal against ninth-seeded Lawrenceville. PENNINGTON 4, WW-PS 0 PENNINGTON >> The third-seeded Red Raiders (8-3-2) blanked the 14th-seeded Pirates (5-9-2) to set up a quarterfinal game against sixth-seeded Notre Dame.