Cook’s goal lifts Red Raiders
PENNINGTON — Three minutes away from their first loss of the season the newcomers on the Pennington School girls soccer team didn’t know anything about the late magic that has often kept them the class of Mercer County soccer.
Their coach, Pat Murphy, knew all about it, and with a couple of strategic moves it produced a dramatic 2-1 golden goal win over Freehold Township last night under the lights at Tom Liwosz Field.
After junior Allison Vickers booted in the tying goal with 2:44 to play, junior defender Alana Cook drove in a 30-yard free kick with 5:27 left in the first extra period to send 8-0-0 Pennington to its sixth one-goal win of the season.
The match was the first of two straight for the state’s No. 1 ranked prep school as it takes on public school state powers. Freehold Township (6-2-2) came in No. 4 ranked in Monmouth County.
Next up is 10-1-0 Montclair, the No.4 ranked team in the state which lost for the first time yesterday to Livingston, 2-0.
Pennington looked headed for its first loss after Sam Lotti put a 15-yard shot across the goalmouth that got past the reach of Red Raiders’ keeper Tara Hessenthaler and just inside the far post.
“After they scored we brought Alana forward,” said Murphy, who was directing the team along with his older brother Kevin, a Merce County Hall of Famer, while longtime Pennington coach Bill Hawkey is in Asia on a school-related trip.
“Amanda Dafonte was playing unbelievable defense on their top player. With Amanda playing like that I thought we could take a chance moving Alana forward and get the tying goal,” said Murphy. “I just kept trying different things, first moving Alana up, then Laura Ensminger because she was playing so well.”
It did generate a lot more offense by Pennington, which in the next 15 minutes after Lotti score put a half dozen well-placed shots on Patriots ‘keeper Hayley Pascool. She had to dive twice to her left and once right to push shots past the post, and twice leaped to catch balls that looked ready to dip under the crossbar.
Pennington equalized with just under three minutes left in regulation time when freshman Andrea Amaro and soph Morgan Pinedo kept loose balls alive in the corner, finally centering it into the 18-yard box where Vickers blasted in the tying tally with an accurate shot past Pascool’s dive.
Able to keep the ball in their half of the pitch despite the Patriots putting nine girls on defense at times, Pennington got the ball inside its end, finally resulting in the free kick Cook took.
“All I saw was the right corner open,” said Cook. “There was the wall in front of me, “I don’t usually take free kicks, but that one felt good.
“We had to win it for the fans. We never felt we were going to lose it,” said Cook, who hails from Far Hills. “Once we got that tying goal it gave us the momentum to keep pushing for the winner.”