Chargers Stunned on Late Goals

It wasn't supposed to end this way.

The Timber Creek Regional High School girls' soccer team was loaded with talented seniors who had been keys cogs of a championship team as underclassmen. They finished regular-season action with a 12-4-1 record and headed into the 2011 South Jersey Group III playoffs as the top seed.

The Chargers were supposed to win a second consecutive South Jersey title.

They were not supposed to lose in the sectional semifinals.

On Monday, that's exactly what happened, as the Chargers dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 4 Lower Cape May Regional on two late Tigers' goals, including the game-winner with just two minutes left in the game.

"We just didn't put the ball in the back of the net. We had our opportunities," Timber Creek head coach Shawn McHugh said.

Sophomore Brianna Magana did put the ball in back of the net for the Chargers. She put host Timber Creek on top when she drilled in the game's first goal with 22 minutes to go in the second half.

The Chargers, who controlled the action for much of the game, looked to be in a good position to win the game and advance to Thursday's South Jersey Group III championship game after Magana's goal.

But they couldn't quite put away their Cape-Atlantic League opponent with a second goal.

Unlike with last Thursday's thrilling shootout win over No. 8 Seneca in a quarterfinals matchup, the Chargers played with fire and got burned.

"They played hard. They didn't stop the whole 80 minutes," McHugh said of Lower Cape May. "They're pretty well-coached defensively. As we got into the offensive third, closer to the 18, they really packed it in and made it hard for us."

A Lower Cape May freshman made sure that strong defensive effort was not wasted.

Madie Gibson tied the game with 13 minutes to go, blasting a shot past Chargers goalkeeper Kate DeCaro into the goal's right corner.

The Chargers responded with a ferocious attack with the score tied 1-1, but Lower Cape May's defenders and goalkeeper Gabrielle Adams, who kept the underdog Tigers in the game with a gritty effort, managed to keep the ball out of the net.

The Chargers' best chance to regain the lead came when St. Joseph's University-bound senior Olivia McEachern controlled the ball down to the end line, just to the right of the Lower Cape May goal. None of McEachern's teammates was able to control the cross pass, however, and Tigers defenders managed to clear it out of harm's way.

Gibson, the skilled freshman, put the Tigers ahead for good with her second goal of the game on a tight shot from the top, left side of the box, sending the Lower Cape May faithful who had made the long trip to Gloucester Township into a frenzy.

"Timber Creek is a heck of a team. They did an excellent job," Lower Cape May head coach Brett Matthews said. "I mean, they pounded us the entire game. They got a lot of opportunities. I just felt like the girls just kept fighting, and, you know, the ball bounced their way."

Matthews credited Adams, a senior, with keeping the game close enough for the Tigers to pull it out in the end.

"She made some big-time saves to keep us in that game, and she's done it for us all year long. She really has," he said.

McHugh, who was in his first year as Timber Creek girls' soccer head coach, recognized his seniors for putting the program "on the map," but also expressed his disappointment they did not finish.

"Our biggest thing all season was, 'We're our own worst enemy. We beat ourselves,'" he said. "There were times where we think our athleticism or soccer talent is going to take over instead of working that whole 80 minutes. Like today, it kind of bit us in the butt a bit. Last game, we didn't finish and wound up going to PKs. Today, I don't know how many shots we had on goal, but we just didn't put the ball in the back of the net. We had our opportunities. ... With our seniors, they've just got to do the job there."