CARNEYS POINT – Mano Massari’s Penns Grove soccer team was coming off an inspiring season-opening win looking forward to getting off to a good start. Then he looked at the schedule.
There was Schalick on the next line. The Red Devils’ coach knew what that meant, but the task was going to be even more challenging than usual. This was a Schalick team coming off a loss. He’d seen this movie before.
The Cougars are a tough out under normal conditions, but don’t get them when they’re mad.
In three of the previous four regular-season meetings between the teams Schalick came into the game reeling from a loss or a tie and took it out on the Red Devils. It happened again Thursday, 7-0.
Last year the Cougars came to Penns Grove off a loss to rival Woodstown — and back-to-back losses at that — and won 7-1. In the return game, they were coming off a scoreless tie with the Wolverines and won 4-0. The year before they beat them 5-0 coming off a loss to Cinnaminson. They have now won eight in a row in the series.
“Schalick is Schalick,” Massari said. “I think there’s a big gap between us right now. I think there has been for a few years. They’re a talented group. You can tell they’re very well coached. They listen, they’re very disciplined and they execute. They finish their opportunities; that’s something we need to be better at. We had little to no opportunities today.
“They proved they’re still a top dog. They’re the measuring stick for us right now. We knew it was going to be tough. I think the last couple times we’ve played them they’ve come in off of a loss. I don’t know if they have extra motivation because they’re coming off of a loss, but they really have been our Kryptonite for the last few years.”
Schalick coach Joe Mannella called it purely coincidental Penns Grove has fallen as the next team on the schedule so many times after a rare Schalick loss, but the Cougars were very much in need of a win to get their season started. They were coming off a season-opening 3-0 loss to Delran, the first time since 2022 they lost a season opener and the first time since 2018 they were blanked in one. You have to go back before 2010 to find the last time they started a season 0-2.
“We finally scored,” Manella said. “We had a bunch of scrimmages and the Delran game we weren’t scoring goals. Scoring goals and winning games cures a lot of ailments and we started to question our confidence, question ourselves and wonder how good are we. This helps. We’ve still got a lot to do, but this certainly is what we needed.
“To most competitors your pride gets bruised (in a loss) and you want to get out there and prove yourself. We certainly made a point that we wanted to get the taste of that loss Tuesday out of our mouth and start feeling good about ourselves. We don’t want to hit a losing streak or anything like that so you definitely dig down a little bit, try a little harder, and don’t give them anything.”
The Cougars went right at their hosts. Sophomore Josh Stecher scored their first goal of the season and the first of his two in the game when he buried a shot from the right side of the box into the far left corner two minutes into the match. He was credited with the game’s second score 17 minutes later when his crossing pass caromed home off a Penns Grove defender into the goal. Connor McQuade and Nolan O’Toole made it 4-0 with two quick goals in the 23rd minute.
Marco Spinnato scored two goals a minute part in the second half and Jake Sepers scored on a penalty kick. Stecher scored the Cougars’ first two and Spinnato scored their last two.
“We knew we could win this game by a lot and we just wanted to smash this team because of what happened to us last year,” Stecher said. “Every time we play this team we play very well. I don’t know why we play really well against this team, but we always play pretty good.”
The Cougars could’ve had a lot more. Penns Grove freshman keeper Ruben Torres Saenz stoned Luke Price and Spinnato three times one-on-one between Stecher’s two goals and the Cougars hit the post three times in the game. The goalie was credited with 30 saves on the reporting form.
“I’m very happy with how my keeper performed today,” Massari said. “I think a lot of their goals were second opportunities. I think he made really good saves and my defense was caught lacking. I think as a freshman going against that team and showing what he showed today, he showed a lot guts. I think he shows he can play with these guys.
“He’s a calm kid every day and I don’t think he gets rattled very much. He knew we were playing a very good team. I don’t think he realized how good, but I think he stepped up and showed us something. Dwayne (Guzman) left a big hole for us and last year I didn’t know what we were going to do. I had nobody and now we have this kid, who, quite frankly, looked better as a freshman his first game than Dwayne did. It’s the first game of the season, but it’s promising. That was the one bright spot for us today.”
CLAYTON 3, PENNSVILLE 0: Jonathan Rehm scored all three goals in the battle of TCC Classic Division contenders. Rehm scored early in the first half and then converted a pair of King Mosley passes in the second. Justin Delaney made 10 saves in recording the shutout.
OVERBROOK 2, WOODSTOWN 1: Brian Reyes broke a 1-1 tie with a goal eight minutes before halftime and the teams slugged it out in a scoreless second half. Don Milhomme scored Woodstown’s game-tying goal in the 18th minute. Woodstown peppered the goal with 24 shots, but couldn’t get the equalizer.
Girls soccer
PENNSVILLE 3, CLAYTON 2: Sloan Marquette bent a corner kick around the near left post with 3:16 left in the first overtime to bring the Eagles the victory.
The Eagles fell behind 1-0, but took a 2-1 lead on a pair of goals less than two minutes apart late in the first half. Karson Cooksey tied the game with 8:19 left in the half off another Marquette corner kick. Abby Marandola made it 2-1 with 6:31 left in the half.
Clayton’s Madi Traister tied the game with her second goal with 22:18 left in regulation.
SCHALICK 8, PENNS GROVE 0: Nicolette Bloomer and Mackenzie Talarico both scored a pair of goals for the second game in a row and Kyleigh Cutler had a goal and three assists to lead the Cougars. Emily Miller, Karlie Bakley and freshman Giuliana Martin, notched Schalick’s other goals.
WOODSTOWN 5, OVERBROOK 0: Freshman Korynn Hernandez scored her second hat trick in three games. Bella Lucas and Krysten Dussault had the Wolverines’ other goals and Hailey Kucharczuk dished three assists. Mazie Mazzoni made three saves in recording her second shutout.
SALEM TECH 7, SALEM 1: Allie Wentz and Abigail Leuallen each scored a pair of goals and the Chargers tied the program record for goals in a game while winning their season opener for the first time in school history. Kapri Holmes, Olivia Blais and Peyton Pratt scored the Chargers’ only goals and Bryn McLaughlin had two assists. Lyric Hayes scored Salem’s goal in the second half.
Field hockey
PENNSVILLE 4, SALEM 1: The Eagles scored their first goal of the season and gave coach Cass Massari her first official career coaching win.
Massari guided the Eagles to three October wins during head coach Lisa Doran’s medical leave last season, but the win in Thursday’s home opener was all her own.
“It feels really good and it feels really good for the girls to have this under their belt, too,” Massari said. “They were coming off the 8-0 loss to a win; it felt very good to them. They kept their spirits up even though they were coming off that loss and they wanted it today.”
Junior Brianna Hill, one of 10 Eagles playing the sport for the first time, scored the Eagles’ first goal of the season. Massari brought defender Addy Hitt up after the goal as a reward for her impressive early-season stick work and the sophomore responded with the game’s second goal. Kendall Hoyt and Polina Wright scored their other two goals.
“We played well,” Massari said. “We have a very inexperienced team. We have 17 girls on our roster and 10 of them have never played before. We have a ton of girls who this is their first year ever picking up a stick. They’re learning, but they’re learning quick, which is good, because they want to learn. They’re all very motivated to learn the sport, learn the game, and they have positive attitudes.”
WOODSTOWN 2, SCHALICK 0: Joey Foote and Lexi Taylor both scored goals on first-half penalty corners and the Wolverines snapped a five-game winless streak in the series. Kendall Higgins made three saves in posting the shutout.
It’s starting out to be a different kind of year for the Cougars. They fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2013 and have yet to score a goal.
SALEM TECH 6, GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 0: Hazel Eachus and Hayden Crispin each scored a pair of goals to help the Chargers bounce back from a season-opening loss. Araya DiGregorio and Jessilynn Chambers scored the other goals.
Abigail Beals had a pair of assists and senior goalie Caroline Tighe made five saves in recording the shutout, with a defensive assist from Chambers. The Chargers won nine games in their inaugural season last year, eight by shutout, so the trend continues.
Girls tennis
SCHALICK 5, SALEM 0
Olivia Lunemann (SC) def. Heaven Jones-McCullough, 6-3, 6-0
Sebrina Bradford (SC) def. JaNye Hubbard, 6-1, 6-0
Jasmine Hunt (SC) def. Erica Brewer, 6-0, 6-0
Janae White-Abigail Sotela Hernandez (SC) won by forfeit
River Wojcik-Brooke Brown (SC) won by forfeit
Records: Schalick 4-1, Salem 0-3.
WOODSTOWN 4, PENNSVILLE 1
Graillyn Weber (P) def. Madison LaPalomento, 6-2, 6-1
Emma West (WO) def. Naomi Hess, 1-6, 7-5, 10-8
Angelina Lindenmuth (WO) def. Jaisley Weber, 6-2, 6-0
Elliana Norman-Emilee Kehr (WO) def. Aubrey Hall-Mariangela Rangel, 6-1, 6-1
Isabella Lindenmuth-Eleanore Lawson (WO) def. Juliana Thomas-Yasary Clemente Brito, 6-2, 6-2
Records: Woodstown 3-3, Pennsville 2-2.