Quakers back to their usual selves

November 10, 2011|By Marc Narducci, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

This was a championship that wasn't exactly predicted when the girls' soccer season had begun.

Moorestown, a perennial top-10 team, entered the season with a lower-than-usual profile after a 5-9-2 record in 2010.

Never mind that seven of the losses were by 1-0 scores. Moorestown had won 12 consecutive division titles entering 2010, and the Quakers weren't accustomed to finishing a season with no hardware for the school trophy case.

Now, things are back to where the Quakers expected, after Thursday's 3-0 win over No. 4 seed Lower Cape May in the South Jersey Group 3 title game.

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That was the second championship of the year for Moorestown, which also captured the Burlington County Liberty Division title.

The second-seeded Quakers (15-3-2) will meet Matawan in next week's state Group 3 semifinals, most likely on Tuesday at a time and site to be determined.

"This is great for us and we never expected it, especially after last year," said senior midfielder Stephanie Toy, who scored the first goal, heading in a Marie McCool corner kick.

Toy is a Notre Dame recruit for lacrosse, but had soccer been her chosen sport, there likely would have been plenty of recruiting interest.

She is among the top midfielders in the area, with the ability to find open teammates and not hold onto the ball too long.

Moorestown, as a team, didn't hold onto last season, either. After the season concluded, it was time to prepare for a revival.

The Quakers were in virtually every game last year, but were hindered by their inability to finish.

Of course, Moorestown wasn't the first team to have a scoring drought, but it appeared more pronounced because of the previous success.

So anybody writing off Moorestown after one season below its high standards was awfully premature.

"Last year wasn't what Moorestown soccer is all about," Toy said. "We worked hard but just weren't able to score, and this year, it's great to be back winning."

And at this point, still playing.

The Quakers, who also received goals from Megan Kelly and Nicole Varela, need two more wins for a state title.

They picked an opportune time to put together what could arguably be construed as their most complete performance of the season.

This was against a Lower Cape May team that finished 13-4-4 and upset top seed Timber Creek, 2-1, in the semifinals.

"What impressed me about Moorestown was that they were very balanced all over the field," Lower Cape May coach Brett Matthews said.

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