SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1
| TUESDAY’S SCORES | FRIDAY’S QUARTERFINALS |
| Haddon Twp. 7, Glassboro 0 | Pitman at Haddon Twp. |
| Pitman 2, Palmyra 1 | |
| Audubon 2, Pennsville 0 | Audubon at Schalick |
| Schalick 7, Riverside 0 | |
| Gateway 5, Woodbury 1 | Woodstown at Gateway |
| Woodstown 6, Maple Shade 0 | |
| Collingswood 5, Clayton 0 | Collingswood at Wildwood |
| Wildwood 4, Cape May Tech 0 |
PITTSGROVE – Nicolette Bloomer had just scored her 20th goal of the season, her second of the game and Schalick’s third of the first half. The goals were coming at such a fast and furious pace the button for the scoreboard ran past the ‘3.’ The only way to reset it to the correct number was to go all the way around.
Suddenly, numbers like 24, 36, 48, 64, 78 were showing up under the home side’s score at a pace you might see from the Gashouse Gorillas in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
Of course, no one would hit those kinds of numbers even with their most prolific scorers, but the way the Cougars were attacking the goal in Tuesday’s first round game in the South Jersey Group 1 girls soccer playoffs, it was something to think about.
They scored two minutes into the match, opened a 4-0 halftime lead and eventually turned away Riverside 7-0. Their 12th shutout of the season sends them to play Audubon at home in the quarterfinals Friday. The Green Wave blanked Pennsville 2-0.
Bloomer ended up with her first career hat trick (and 21 goals on the season), Kyleigh Cutler scored twice, Ava Mayne had a goal and two assists, and Olivia Vanacker had a goal and an assist.
And the fourth-seeded Cougars (13-4-2) would have scored a lot more if not for Riverside goalie Alissa Stillwaggon and close to a dozen offsides calls. They fired 28 shots at the Rams senior keeper.
“The girls understand what the first match is always about, setting the tone for the rest of the tournament schedule,” Schalick coach Will Kemp said. “They were very active right from the start, very competitive. I think they were pretty straightforward in the way they wanted to win this match and they were determined.
“It seems like everything is linking back up again. We had a little bit of a dip over the last few weeks, now it’s looking like we’re Like the told the girls it’s pretty much back inside week four right now out of our six weeks, so it’s good.”
Cutler, known more for her skill in helping her teammates score, started and ended the scoring. She opened the scoring on a breakaway with 1:53 gone in the game and got the final goal with 29:54 left in the second half. Bloomer scored two goals in the first half and completed her hat trick with a long-range goal with 30:22 to play. Vanacker converted a pass from Bloomer with 6:37 left in the first half and Mayne knocked in the rebound of a Cutler shot with 32:06 left.
“To get through the first round of the tournament the key thing is to come out hard and strong and let them see who you are as a team,” Bloomer said. “We came out strong with a seven-goal win. Our offense came out really strong today. They were really, really sharp up top. Even when getting caught offsides we recovered and just kept going more and more.”
It’s the second game in a row the Cougars have broken on top early. Mayne scored their first goal in the regular-season finale against Pennsville first four minutes of the match.
“We’ve been working on offense the past practices so be able to attack that fast it felt pretty good, like our practices were paying off,” Cutler said. “Our biggest problem at the beginning of the season was we were too slow on the attack and now that we’re moving faster and being able to score goals right off the bat I think that’s definitely going to help us out.”
Bloomer has scored four goals in her last two games after going scoreless in her previous four games. She also was stoned by Stillwaggon point blank and hit the post all in the final six minutes of the first half.
“Her continuing on her tear and getting back in form, especially at this time, is crucial,” Kemp said. “When you have our most dynamic player, which has been Cutler, being able to fire helps the entire team to be able to move forward. When those two are working together and along with Vanacker it’s a very, very hard attacking three to guard and defend against.”
AUDUBON 2, PENNSVILLE 0: Freshman Vivian Colona and Sophia Homa scored goals for the Green Wave (10-11). For Colona it was her first career goal.