Girls Soccer Team Preps For Successful Season

The legacy of a winning soccer team isn’t limited to the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School boys.

The girls' team, winner of four straight Union County Tournament titles, looks like it's set to maintain the dominance it has built in Kevin Ewing’s seven years as head coach.

The girls recently started practice in pursuit of another memorable season. The Raiders went 19-5-1 last season, breaking their own record for wins. Ewing also enjoyed his 100th career win. The Raiders also won their second North 2 Group III title in three years.

So, what does this year promise?

“We’re going to be competitive in the county and the sectionals, let’s see how it works out,’’ said Ewing, who has a 108-26-11 record in his tenure at SP-F. “We’ll keep on plugging and see what happens.’’

The Raiders return some outstanding players, including senior center back Delia McGee, senior outside back Devon Bailey, senior outside Sara Canfield and senior outside middie Ally Prestridge. Prestridge, McGee and Canfield are the team’s tri captains.

The team returns 15 players who had experience on the varsity level last year. Ten Raiders graduated with five being starters.

“Our strength is going to be our defense,’’ Ewing said. “It’s not just the kids in the back. It’s about them being all-around players. We have great speed. This is one of the fastest teams we have had. I think the only weakness we have is that maybe we won’t be as deep a team.’’

Junior center mid Emily Nagourney will work the transition game with senior forward Morgan Burke and junior forward Avika Shah. Shah had 12 goals and seven assists last year.

Balance was the Raiders' key last season. Twelve different players scored in the four county tournament games won by the scores of 8-0, 3-1, 2-0 and 3-0. The team will miss the graduated center midfielder Raychel Kruper, who scored nine goals and 12 assists. She had six goals and five assists in eight county and state tournament games. The team will also miss graduated goalie Jackie Law, who had 14 shutouts last season and 32 for her career.

But a strong program is able to shake off the losses of talented players and maintain success.

“The keeper spot is still up in the air,’’ said the coach, who grew up in Fanwood and graduated from Bishop Ahr High in Edison. “Laura Minns was a goalie for four years and was a regional All America. Jackie Law was an All America. That is one big hit, the kids could rely on them. The kids we have coming up are very capable. They’re just not All Americans.’’

The team will play in the new Union County Conference, which is made up of all county schools.

“I like it,’’ Ewing said. “”The only big competition we lost was Kearny and that was a 45 minute drive to get that competition. We have other competition we can get out of the conference. I like it because it’s all Union County.’’