Meder, Towers come up big in shootout for Colonials Win put Colonials in state final for first time

Meder, Towers come up big in shootout for Colonials
Win put Colonials in state final for first time

VERONICA YANKOWSKI Freehold Borough’s Holly Rackett (center) and Katie Polo show their disappointment following the Colonials’ 2-1 loss to Ramsey during the Group II final at The College of New Jersey on Saturday.

Jackie Meder had been down this road before. Only this time the stakes were higher — a trip to the Group II state championship game.

In the Central Jersey Group II championship game against Ridge, it was Meder who stood between defeat and the continuation of the shootout. The senior was Freehold Borough’s fifth and final shooter in the first round, and the Colonials were down 3-2. Meder would convert her penalty kick, keeping the Colonials alive and sending the shootout to the second round where Fiona Rooney’s goal, following a diving save by Colonial keeper Jen Towers, won it for Freehold , 4-3, and sent the Colonials on to the Group II semifinal Oct. 13 at Hightstown High School where the Colonials met South Jersey champion Moorestown (17-3).

Nothing was settled through regulation and overtime with the two teams playing to a 0-0 tie. It was on to another shootout for the Colonials.

Again, Towers was a towering figure in goal. She was beaten by the Quakers’ Caitlin Albidin on the first shot of the shootout. But that would be the last time the Quakers would find the net. Twice, stretching out to the fullest, she made diving saves, and twice the Quakers shot wide, trying too hard to get the ball out of her reach.

Freehold Borough wasn’t faring much better against the Quakers’ quick keeper Kelley Putnam. Brienne Campbell, shooting second for the Colonials, had tied the shootout at 1-1, but the Colonials didn’t put any other shots into the net after that.

When Meder stood 18 yards from the goal, it was still 1-1, and she was in a position to win it for the Colonials, or set up round two and sudden death.

"It’s the most pressure that has been on me than I’ve ever had before," said Meder. "I was so much more nervous than before. I knew that I had to do it."

Meder was unaffected by everyone’s else miscues on the penalty kicks. When she placed the ball down for the kick, she knew what she was going to do.

"I didn’t want to change anything," she pointed out. "I was going to do what is best for me, which is shoot the ball to the left." This is exactly what she did, sliding the ball inside the post out of the reach of the diving Putnam. Freehold Borough’s girls were headed to the state finals for the first time.

"We deserved it; we’ve played so hard this year," Meder said.

Meder said that the Colonials weren’t surprised that the game came down to a shootout.

"We had the feeling that it would come down to a shootout," she explained. "They’re a mirror image of us," which means defense and goal keeping.

Neither Putnam nor Towers got to show why they combined for 23 shutouts this year. Regulation was a stalemate with the game played primarily between the two boxes. Neither team could create any real threats.

That all changed in the first overtime when both teams raised their level of play and started attacking. The result was end-to-end action, fast and furious.

Freehold Borough almost ended it when Kathy Doran’s shot from the right wing rolled wide of the post.

The Quakers countered with the speedy Tyhira Gen. She put a shot on goal that Towers stopped but could gather in giving up the rebound, but an alert Kerry Hassel was back in the goalmouth to clear it just before a charging Diana Richardson could get her foot on the ball.

Later, Towers used her 6-1 frame to punch a corner kick away.

In the second overtime, the best chance was off the foot of the Quakers’ Aubrie McDermott, who was wide of the goal with her shot.

The two exhausted teams moved to a shootout where Towers’ presence made the Colonials a confident team.

"We know that Jen is amazing," said Meder. Coach Heshy Moses agreed. "She’s the reason we’re here and the reason we won," he pointed out.

Going back to the Ridge game in which she made saves on the last three shots by the Red Devils, Towers was only beaten once in eight penalty kicks.