Clearview Cruises Past Highland Girls' Soccer

MULLICA HILL—Before Tuesday night's girls' soccer game between Clearview and Highland, the Clearview seniors were honored at midfield as part of Senior Night.

They were all presented a bunch of roses from head coach Dan Matozzo.

The seniors responded by giving their team a bunch of goals.

Four different seniors from the Pioneers scored during the match as Clearview (3-1) cruised to a an easy 6-0 victory over (3-2).

“You're all excited,” Matozzo said. “It meant a lot to have their parents our here. They looked forward to playing at night. I think getting in and scoring early definitely took some pressure off right away.”

The Pioneers came out fast and scored 1:27 into the game when senior Lyndsay Hall got a perfect crossing pass from fellow senior Lauren Rothstein and put it into the net for a 1-0 lead.

The second Clearview goal was really deflating for the Tartans, however. Clearview's Jackie Trafton threw the ball deep into Highland's box. It was headed by a Tartans defender back towards goalkeeper Courtney Scharinger. The ball would end up taking a strange bounce, caroming away from Scharinger, off the right goalpost and into the net. The own goal was critical as it gave Clearview a comfortable 2-0 lead.

“I think it was an error. She didn't mean to score on herself, (but) those things happen,” said Matozzo. “I told the girls at halftime that that one was an accident, (and) you need to go and earn the rest. They did that in the second half.”

“It is a little discouraging defensively and for our goalie just to have that bounce around,” said Highland head coach Tiffany Strauss. “But I think our team as a whole communicates very well. So I think that we can recover pretty well from something like that.”

What the Tartans couldn't recover from, however, was an offensive onslaught by Clearview that saw them score three goals in a span of four minutes in the second half. Coming into the second half already up 3-0, the Pioneers got a quick goal by Jessica Richardson off a long free kick that opened their lead up to 4-0.

At this point in the game, the Tartans looked frustrated and worn out. Scharinger, who had collided twice in the game with two different players, was tired at this point as well, having faced more than 20 shots by that point.

“When they kicked the fourth goal in the net, that was probably the one thing that helped make it unravel for us,” said Strauss.

Highland's frustration gave Clearview an opening to pour on two more quick goals. Another senior, Marrissa Tarintino, scored the Pioneers' fifth goal on a header off of a free kick by Richardson. Two minutes later, it was freshman Gianna Bowe who got loose from the Tartans defense and beat Scharinger on a breakaway to cap the score off at 6-0.

Tuesday night's match was a game that Clearview's seniors will remember for quite a long time, while it was one that Highland is looking to forget heading into its next game against Kingsway on Thursday.

“This is a talented team,” said Strauss about Clearview. “It's one of the two in our conference that we knew would be difficult. We have a lot of young talent on our team, but they have a lot of older talent. We know that we have to go forward.”