UC Girls Soccer Team Scores in Overtime for Win Against S. Plainfield

For a young squad that graduated a lot of talented players, getting off to a 3-0 start is important and reason to be proud.

That’s what the Union Catholic girls’ soccer team has managed to achieve one week into the 2009 season, and it’s a good thing. With games scheduled this week at Governor Livingston, New Providence and Cranford, the schedule becomes much more challenging.

On a beautiful Saturday morning in Middlesex County, the Vikings took on host South Plainfield and fired shot after shot on Tiger freshman goalkeeper Jacqueline Dvorak.

Unfortunately for Union Catholic, none of those shots went in during the first and second halves.

However, the Vikings were finally able to capitalize in the first 10-minute, sudden death overtime period to post their second straight OT victory.

Seven minutes into overtime, Union Catholic sophomore forward Abby Calixto placed a perfect corner kick into the middle of the penalty box that found junior forward Aly Guzman, who leaped a bit and headed a shot into the goal to give the Vikings a 1-0 triumph and their 3-0 beginning.

“It was a little harder to kick it here because the corner was on a hill, but you’ve just got to concentrate really hard and you’ll get it to the middle, hopefully,” Calixto said.

In Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime win at Rahway, Calixto fed Guzman with a corner kick pass that Guzman headed in for her first goal of the year. Now the tandem has accomplished the feat in consecutive games.

Guzman’s goal was Union Catholic’s first in the Rahway game, with Calixto scoring the overtime game-winning goal inside the penalty box with her left foot—she’s right-footed—off an assist from senior Cate Munkittrick.

“It was a beautiful pass from Cate,” Calixto said.

Union Catholic dominated South Plainfield for the most part, although the home team Tigers did have their moments. The Vikings had a big edge in shots at 24-7, but it was one of those games where Union Catholic couldn’t capitalize until overtime.

After Guzman was taken down by a South Plainfield defender in the penalty box at the 10:26 mark of the first half, sophomore forward Victoria Lopes—who has the makings of a big-time finisher—stepped up to take the penalty kick.

Lopes, who did not get off a particularly strong shot, chose to kick the ball to the left of the goal. Dvorak guessed right, dove right, and smothered the shot for the save, keeping the game scoreless.

Just four minutes later, Lopes took a shot from inside the penalty box that banked off the crossbar.

In the second half, Guzman took a shot from inside the penalty box that Dvorak managed to tip over the crossbar for a fine save.

“The last two games we were tied 0-0 at the half and then we finally just came back in the end or in overtime,” Calixto said. “We have a lot of passion and we want to win the game. We lost 10 seniors, but we’re really up and we’re really hoping that we can do our best.”

Guzman was, naturally, all smiles when she came off the field after her goal decided the outcome.

“I’ve always wanted to score with my head,” Guzman said. “Last year I didn’t use my head a lot, but this year I’m more determined to score with my head on a corner kick. We practice that a lot.”

There’s no doubt that Union Catholic has a team that should be competitive with the tougher squads it will go up against in Union County. The Vikings have to be more consistent with their movement of the ball and have to learn to finish their chances.

"We try really hard and we have a lot of potential,” Guzman said.

Many times in soccer the team that dominates in shots on goal often loses 1-0 on a counter attack or something of that nature. Fortunately for Union Catholic, that did not happen Saturday morning and the Vikings still found a way to get the victory in overtime.

“We’re very young and sometimes when they’re that young they don’t appreciate the whole dynamic of the game,” said longtime Union Catholic head coach Jim Revel, who is in his second stint at the helm of the Vikings. “Today, it wasn’t new to them because we did the same thing against Rahway. “We went into overtime against Rahway and we scored midway through the (OT) period, similar to when we scored today. Because they are so young, they just play.

 “The good thing is that they’re gaining experience and sometimes you forget how young they are,” he continued. “The key now is to let them see varsity experience and, hopefully, they will improve every game. So far it’s a work in progress and, hopefully, we’ll get better as the season goes on. So far, so good, and I’m a realist, I know that this week will be very, very difficult, so we’ll see what happens.”

This year’s captains are senior defender Colleen Mulkern and senior midfielder Cate Munkrittick, both two-year varsity starters.

Union Catholic junior goalie Samantha Pauls made only two saves and was not as busy as her South Plainfield counterpart, but she was steady in net and never lost her concentration.

Pauls, a two-year varsity starter, has yielded just one goal in more than three games now, which was a penalty kick Rahway netted.

“She’s getting good support and has not seen a whole lot of shots,” Revel said. “She has her work cut out for her this week.”

From important corner kicks, Abby (Calixto) to Aly (Guzman) so far has produced two header goals in consecutive one-goal Viking victories.

“In practice, Abby is the one that takes the (corner) kicks and our forwards and people have specific responsibilities of where they are going,” Revel said. “It just seems that Abby’s kicks have winded up where Aly is.”

Revel can see Lopes coming on as well.

“Just the change in her in the last two weeks has been very positive,” Revel said. “She was very shy with the ball and always looking to pass first. I sat her down and explained to her that she is probably our best offensive player and if she doesn’t shoot, we’re never going to score. She’s coming along and doing much better.”

NOTES: Revel’s first stint as the head coach at Union Catholic was from 1981-1988. A mathematics teacher at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, Revel’s second stint began in 1994, with this being his 16th season at the helm since then.

In between his two coaching tenures at Union Catholic, Revel was the head coach at Johnson in Clark for four years.

Revel coached Portuguese national player and professional player Lissette Brandao, who is in her second year as the head coach at Johnson, where she also teaches. Last year Brandao earned Union County Coach of the Year honors from The Star-Ledger after guiding the Crusaders to the Union County Tournament championship game for the first time since 1994, and then a final record of 14-3-2 that included Johnson making it to the Central Jersey, Group 2 semifinals.

 
NON-CONFERENCE GIRLS’ SOCCER MATCH

AT SOUTH PLAINFIELD – GRASS FIELD

UNION CATHOLIC (3-0)                                  0        0     1 - 1

SOUTH PLAINFIELD (1-3)                               0        0       0 - 0

FIRST OVERTIME:

UNION CATHOLIC – Goal: Aly Guzman. Assist: Abby Calixto.

Time of goal: 87:00.

SHOTS: Union Catholic 24 (13 in first half, 10 in second, 1 in OT).

South Plainfield 7 (5 in first half, 2 in second half, 0 in OT).

GOALIE SAVES: Samantha Pauls, Union Catholic, 2.

Jacqueline Dvorak, South Plainfield, 15.
 

UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS

2009 ROSTER:

1-Courtney McGovern, freshman, from Westfield

4-Sarah Cunha, junior, from Hillside

5-Dara McGuire, freshman, from Scotch Plains

6-Jayce Paolicelli, sophomore, from Edison

7-Demie Teixeira, sophomore, from Union

8-Erin Farley, junior, from Scotch Plains

9-Alyssa Villa, junior, from South Plainfield

10-Emily Cimilluca, freshman, from Colonia

11-Aly Guzman, junior, from Hillside

12-Michele Arrojado, sophomore, from Port Reading

13-Cate Munkittrick, senior, from Westfield

14-Victoria Lopes, sophomore, from Union

16-Abby Calixto, sophomore, from Rahway

17-Angelica Valderrama, sophomore, from Union

19-Colleen Mulkern, senior, from Rahway

23-Karla Rodriguez, junior, from North Plainfield

Goalie-Samantha Pauls, junior, from South Plainfield

Goalie-Molly O’Halloran, junior, from Colonia

Captains: Cate Munkittrick, Colleen Mulhern

STARTING 11 vs. SOUTH PLAINFIELD:

Goalkeeper - Samantha Pauls

Defense - Alyssa Villa, Colleen Mulkern

Midfield - Karla Rodriguez, Demie Teixeira,

Sarah Cunha, Cate Munkittrick

Forwards - Courtney McGovern, Victoria Lopes,

Aly Guzman, Abby Calixto

Head coach: Jim Revel

Assistant coach: Ed Ryan

2009 UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS

SCHEDULE/results (3-0):

Sept. 12 (H) Union Catholic 6, St. Dominic Academy (J.C.) 0

It was a home match for UC and played at Mount St. Mary in Watchung.

Sept. 15 (A) Union Catholic 2, Rahway 1 (OT)

Sept. 19 (A) Union Catholic 1, South Plainfield 0 (OT)

Sept. 22 at Governor Livingston, 4 p.m.

Sept. 24 at New Providence, 4 p.m.

Sept. 25 at Cranford, 4 p.m.

Sept. 29 Hillside, 4 p.m.

This Sept. 29 game could be the first one Union Catholic

plays on its brand new FieldTurf surface.

Oct. 2 Scotch Plains, 4 p.m.

Oct. 6 at Johnson, 4 p.m.

Oct. 8 Brearley, 4 p.m.

Oct. 12 at Linden, 4 p.m.

Oct. 15 at Summit, 4 p.m.

Oct. 20 Roselle Park, 4 p.m.

Oct. 21 J.P. Stevens, 4 p.m.

Oct. 23 Roselle Catholic, 4 p.m.

Oct. 27 at Benedictine Academy, 4 p.m.

Oct. 28 at Union, 4 p.m.