Irish stand alone atop CVC Colonial Division
LAWRENCE — Amy Hoyer and her Notre Dame High girls soccer team haven’t been looking at their upcoming schedule, so they won’t focus on Thursday’s big Colonial Valley Conference showdown with Steinert until today.
“Honestly all we do is take it day by day,” Hoyer said. “Today’s game was all we thought about. We just have to keep playing the way we’re playing.”
With sophomore Julia Panko scoring a goal in each half to give her 12 for the season, 10-2-0 ND improved its CVC record to 8-1-0 with a 3-0 win over Hightstown at Msgr. Walter Nolan Stadium.
When Nottingham scored a late goal to tie Steinert, 1-1, it left the Irish atop the CVC Colonial Division race at 8-1-0. Steinert, which had shared first with ND, is now second at 7-1-1.
With only four matches left on the CVC schedule this is no time to make mistakes, and the Irish didn’t have any as they outshot the Rams, 20-11, with goalie Tori Fantozzi stopping 10 shots for her second straight ‘ clean sheet’ and fifth of the season.
Panko’s hustle produced her first goal - coming in the final minute of the first half when she controlled a cross into the box from right wing and fired a shot that hit goalie Haley Brennan. Panko beat the ‘keeper to the loose ball and drove it in on the rebound.
Vanessa Romulus made it 2-0 a minute past the break by converting a Christal Ramharack pass into the box into her 10th goal of the season, before Panko scored 15 minutes later for her third multigoal game.
“Julia has very good vision and really sees the field well,” said Hoyer. “Her first goal was big because we needed to score after getting so many shots. We’re improving every day with the passing and the combinations we’re putting together.”
“I like to score, and I get great passes from teammates in the very good position,” said Panko. “That first goal was big because we just needed some way to get on top.”
Hightstown, playing without its top sorer Dakota Mills who was sitting out with an ankle injury suffered on Friday against Hopewell Valley, twice put shots off the crossbar. As the game wore on it couldn’t string enough balls together to put anything dangerous at Fantozzi.
“Even without having a full team for two weeks I thought we played well,” said Rams coach Don Hess. “We’ve given everybody a good game. We’ve had so many injuries we just can’t get goals. We’ve played well all year, but can’t get any luck. I think Panko’s the best in the league.”
No one on the ND side will deny that.