2007 Women's Soccer results

The Summit Varsity Lady Hilltoppers stepped onto Upper Memorial Field today on a picture perfect day with high expectations after an undefeated pre-season. On the other side of the mid field line stood Mendham, a team that a quick glance at the archives revealed hadn’t lost to Summit in women’s soccer since at least 1998. Everyone on the packed sideline rooting for Summit knew what a tough challenge the Lady Hilltoppers had in front of them, and how important this first game was.

Summit had the better of play in the opening minutes as the first game jitters seemed to affect both teams, but some nice runs into the Mendham side by Emma Nitzberg and Liz Curtin generated good pressure. Shots by Katelyn Allocco from the right side and Rachel Cohen on the left were just off the mark, and then Mendham started to put their own push on. Mendham’s has historically relied on a short passing game to move the ball, and it was on display as always. But the Lady Hilltoppers are strong all over the field, and the center of the defense led by Emily Steffen, Deanna Nelson and Sarah Boak looked to be a step quicker and a little more aggressive in stopping the short passes before they could result in a through ball. Boak in particular was impressive, stealing balls and then carrying through space to distribute to the wings.

Because her bench is so deep, Coach substitutes freely to keep the girls fresh, and some quick substitutions seemed to bring the momentum back to Summit, who generated a corner kick from the left side. Steffen, Summit’s most experienced corner kicker, lofted a perfect ball to the feet of Sarah Boak, who touched it out to the 18 yard line to left wing Alex Reid. Taking dead aim, Reid found a small opening in the upper right corner of the goal and drilled a ball just past the hands of Mendham’s excellent goaltender at the 18 minute mark of the first half. The crowd went wild as Summit trotted back to the mid field line. The remaining 22 minutes was fought between the 18’s as Mendham could not seem to get anything past the back line of Suzanne Bell, Jamie Osmulski and sweeper Hannah Stuckey. Stuckey was all over the field, running from corner to corner, driving the girls up the field on clearing passes, and even heading a cross out of harms way inside the goal box.

Near the end of the half, a terrific run by Summit down the left side resulted in a perfect centering pass that rolled in front of the goal mouth to the feet of a streaking Reid coming in from the right, but, in what was one of the best saves you will ever see, the Mendham goalie dived to block the point blank smash. As the whistle blew ending the first half, everyone on the sidelines knew it would be war for 40 more minutes.

Mendham certainly raised their level right from the start, and seemed two steps faster than they were in the first half. Coach countered by sending in fresh legs, and some nice work in the middle of the field by Colleen Laughlin and Nora McGuire, on the wings by Allison Snyder, and by Ariel Lefkowitz up front, kept the ball in the Mendham end. But the defense showed some signs of fatigue as the right and left defenders were marking their player all over the field. This was the time that Summit needed to step up, and they were led by goalie Rebecca Velez, who became more aggressive coming out for balls and helping the defenders to rest. Velez’s booming punts also helped to keep the ball in Mendham’s half, as the fleet Nitzberg and the impossible to stop Curtin kept pushing the ball up the field. Mendham’s last thrust started with 5 minutes to go, but Stuckey, Osmulski, Bell, Nelson and Boak dug deep and cleared any chances away. Some good balls to the far corners killed a lot of clock, and every 5 seconds fans on the sidelines were screaming “how much more time?”!!! When the whistle sounded they knew as an exhausted Summit team lifted their hands up in what everyone who was there knew was a huge win for this team and this program.

After arguably posting the program’s biggest victory in years only two days before, the Lady Hilltoppers traveled to West Essex for their match under the lights of a rare 7:00 start. Having suffered two significant setbacks last year at the hands of West Essex, the squad seemed quite determined from the opening play to deliver a different outcome. The Summit women dominated the first twenty minutes and created several scoring opportunities with intense play by midfielders Deanna Nelson and Emily Steffen. Wings Alex Reid and Rachel Cohen used their speed and sent several beautiful balls to the pressing forwards Emma Nitzberg and Liz Curtin. The scoreless tie was broken in the twenty first minute when Jamie Osmulski lofted a perfect throw in to Curtin, who turned and blasted the ball from the 20 to the far upper corner of the goal. The Lady Hilltoppers continued their offensive charges but were denied by several key saves by the W.E. goalie. Summit headed to intermission with the goal advantage and had out shot their opponent 8-1 in the half.

The second half resumed with an overcast sky finally giving way to a steady downpour of rain. The change in weather did little to alter the mindset of the Lady Hilltoppers as they opened the half with the same intensity and pressure as they exhibited in the first half. A smothering defense, led by Hannah Stuckey, Sarah Boak, Jamie Osmulski and Suzanne Bell immobilized any W.E. offensive threat as Summit goalkeeper Rebecca Velez was seldom challenged. The Lady Hilltoppers narrowly missed a second goal as Nora Maguire drilled a ball from the 30 which ricocheted off the post. As time expired, the rain soaked Summit squad improved to 2-0 and tallied their second impressive shut-out of the exciting young season. Go Lady Hilltoppers!!! (Reporting by John Reid)

(Won 1-0) Maybe it was the fact that every team is gunning for the Lady Hilltoppers as their secret is out. Maybe it was a field where the grass was so long that cows could have been comfortable grazing there through the winter. Maybe it was the fact that the women were playing their third game in 101 hours. What ever the reason, the undefeated women seemed a step slower and a tad off their usual game today at a very slow Parsippany field. But great teams rise to the occasion when things don’t always go their way, and that can describe the Summit Lady Hilltoppers methodical 1-0 victory against a game rival in Parsippany.

Summit had the better of play at the start, and a few quick breaks resulted in shots by Rachel Cohen, Liz Curtin and Emma Nitzberg that just missed their mark. Summit’s best chance came soon thereafter on a nice play started by Sarah Boak, who is increasingly becoming a terrific play starter in addition to her smothering defense. Boak hit Nitzberg in stride and she crossed to a streaking Colleen Laughlin who arrived at the cross just as the ball and the goaltender from Parsippany did. The resulting collision unfortunately resulted in Laughlin hurting her ankle and she was done for the day. Parsippany began to lengthen their attack, which had the result of putting the ball on the foot of Summit’s talented sweeper, Hannah Stuckey. Stuckey has been a rock on defense in the first two games and her consistent play has been stellar. She sent a long clear right to the foot of Nora McGuire who one touched a through ball to a very fast Emma Nitzberg right on stride. First fending off the Parsippany sweeper and then creating space, Nitzberg drew the goalie to her on her breakaway and calmly buried a shot in the left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Summit had another 6 opportunities in the first half, with wings Rachel Cohen, Katelyn Allocco, Alex Reid and Allison Snyder making runs down the sidelines and crossing into the middle, but no shots found their mark. The best opportunities came from Ariel Lefkowitz and Emily Steffen who just missed. When the whistle blew ending the first half Summit knew that they had let a few good chances get away.

And when Parsippany came out in the second half with a renewed energy, many thought they might get the equalizer. But Coach put in Shannon Murphy at this critical time at defender, and the junior responded with her best game of her varsity career. Murphy took everything Parsippany threw at her, from long balls over her head to fast attempts to push the ball down the sideline, and let no one through. It was a great performance and gave Coach another weapon in an already stifling defense. Suzanne Bell, Deanna Nelson and Jamie Osmulski all worked hard on defense, with Osmulski covering the entire field and even getting in a shot on goal during the game! The second half proved frustrating for the lady Hilltoppers’ offense, as shot after shot after shot either was smothered by the Parsippany goaltender or missed its mark. But every attempt at a comeback by Parsippany was thwarted by another great performance by goalie Rebecca Velez. In the final ten minutes Parsippany sent everyone to the net in a desperate attempt to score off a corner kick. But Velez miraculously threaded her way through all the opposing players to knock the ball out to Reid, who sent a clearing ball to Curtin, and Parsippany’s last hope was dashed. (Reporting by John Reid)

(Lost 0-1) The Summit Varsity Hilltoppers traveled to the turf at Chatham on a perfect day for soccer. Having spent the past 5 days waiting for this game, the women were ready to play. And Summit played what some at the field said was their best game of the year, out-shooting Chatham by a huge margin and controlling the play for most of the game. The harsh reality of soccer though says the score was 0-1 with Summit on the short end, which left the squad wondering what else they could have done to win this game.

Summit carried the play early and generated a corner kick in the 5^th minute, one of at least six the team had today, most taken by Emily Steffen, who time and time again sent a hard cross into the Chatham goal area. Chatham cleared and got off a pretty good shot that was curving hard away from keeper Rebecca Velez who made a good save. Thirty seconds later Summit got another corner kick which resulted in a shot by Sarah Boak. It was that kind of game, with the action frantic and the pace amazingly quick. The ball was flying on the turf, and Summit had to adjust their trapping to the speed of the ball.

Unlike other games, Summit pushed the ball hard down the sidelines with some spectacular runs by Rachel Cohen, who played a gutsy game, Alex Reid and Katelyn Allocco. Hard shots by Liz Curtin and Cohen were right at the sure handed Chatham goalie, but her deep punts were sent back to the offensive end by Boak, Deanna Nelson, Jamie Osmulski and Suzanne Bell. With three minutes left in the half Chatham finally pushed a ball deep down the left side of the field and their middie was able to get the ball to the goal line. Her penetration drew the aggressive Summit defense towards her, and she sent a solid cross back across the field to the penalty kick line, where a Chatham player blasted the shot by Velez who had no chance.

Coach lit a fire under the Summit girls in the second half, who pushed the ball from the opening whistle for a shot and then got a corner kick just 45 seconds into the half. Steffen sent it right in front by Summit couldn’t convert. Summit began to try hitting long through balls but Chatham’s sweeper is their best player and she had a good game. The crowd began to sense that despite the pressure Summit was applying on Chatham that this may not be their day. As the game became more frantic, Chatham became more physical. Summit lost three players to injuries, including two who got roughed up as they attacked the aggressive Chatham goalie. Nelson responded with a great individual effort to push the ball down field that resulted in a long throw in by Allocco for another shot. At the 20 minute mark Cohen got taken down on a run down the left side resulting in corner kick #6 by Steffen which was headed towards the net by Curtin. From this vantage point it looked like it cleared the goalie and was sent back at the last instant by a defender standing on the goal line. Summit’s offensive thrusts were started frequently by Sweeper Hannah Stuckey, who sent through balls and chip shots over Chatham’s trapping defense, stopped any long balls from getting to Summit’s net, and played from sideline to sideline at great speed all game in a masterful exhibition. Summit’s best opportunity came at the 11 minute mark as a number of good penetrating passes found Emily Steffen in the middle of the field and bearing down on goal. With a defender puling on her jersey from behind and the goalie crashing out, the thunderous collision forced the ball in the air where it was headed out by Chatham, and Steffen hobbled off. Another shot at the 8 minute mark by Emma Nitzberg who was making run after run all second half missed its mark. Chatham knew it was only a matter of time with this pressure so they smartly began substituting at every opportunity and sending balls into the corners, using up precious clock. And time ran out on the Lady Hilltoppers today, who left the field feeling that they deserved a better outcome. (Reporting by John Reid)

(Won 3-0) Needing a resounding victory after a tough loss in their previous game, the Summit Varsity Lady Hilltoppers took to Memorial Field and made a statement in the first three minutes. Stealing the opening kickoff, Summit pounded the ball downfield where they were awarded one of many corner kicks they would get during the game. Senior Emily Steffen sent a ball in that was not one of her best, as she was still nursing a sore ankle from Monday’s game. But a minute later, when a free ball squirted in front of the Hanover Park goal, 4 girls charged after it. The one who got there first was Emily Steffen, who calmly blasted a ball into the corner of the net. Steffen may be the teams’ most effective shooter from inside the 18, and once again she delivered.

Summit continued to pressure HP, resulting in many shots that just missed their mark. Rachel Cohen fed Emma Nitzberg for a beautiful left foot blast that just missed high, and then Liz Curtin fed Cohen for a similar blast. A great chance occurred at the ten minute mark when Nitzberg turned on her jets and drove the ball down the left side only to center it to Curtin in front who shot but the HP goalie was there to stop it. This continued into the 23^rd minute, when HP finally got off their first shot! Defensively the steady Hilltoppers have relied on Jamie Osmulski, Suzanne Bell, Sarah Boak, Deanna Nelson and Hannah Stuckey and they have proven to be virtually airtight turning back all attacks. This was in full display today, as HP sent many balls to their speedy wings only to find the ball quickly returning to the HP end. Nelson, Boak and Osmulski also see double duty on offense as each can bring the ball downfield and take shots, which Osmulski did three times today from her defender position, one on corner kick number 7. But somehow the whistle sounded and the lead had remained 1-0, and Summit’s coach was probably scratching her head trying to figure out how to get more balls into the net.

The answer came 30 seconds into the second half, when after Nitzberg and Curtin kicked off, they found Steffen 20 yards from the goal, and she drilled a low shot into the left corner where the stunned goalie had no chance. Summit’s Steffen again found herself in the middle of the scoring area 2 minutes later, and this time she deftly found Katelyn Allocco on her right, and the senior wing drilled a low shot that glanced off an HP player and into the goal. Just like that the Lady Hilltoppers had gotten their third goal! HP answered with their first break of the game, but Stuckey swooped in from her sweeper position and turned the threat away. Stuckey and keeper Rebecca Velez, both seniors, have anchored the defense and shouted out instructions to their teammates all season, communicating who is free and who to mark and when to push up. According to the archives no Summit team has allowed only one goal in their first five games since at least 1998 and it’s probably longer. HP’s next thrust had the same result, as defender Suzanne Bell stopped the charging HP forward cold at the 4 minute mark.

The remaining 36 minutes were a clinic on ball control and offensive firepower by the Summit women. Corner kick #8 had Steffen send a high ball to Liz Curtin who out leaped her defender and headed a shot past the goalie only to find a defender at the post to knock it out. Curtin recovered the clear and drilled another shot that the goalie was able to save. Summit’s passing game was in full effect, and numerous opportunities were set up on some nice pass plays by Nora McGuire, Allison Snyder, Nitzberg and Boak. Corner kick #9 looked like a sure goal, as Jamie Osmulski got a knee on the cross and past the goaltender only to have another defender knock it out. At the 30 minute mark defender Allison McGuire got into the act by drilling a shot from outside the 30 that was right on goal. The last five minutes may have been the most fun to watch, as Sue Bell just missed a header goal, then Nitzberg fed Alex Reid streaking down the right side perfectly and the junior hit a cannon that the goalie was just able to knock over the bar at the last second. Nora McGuire hit a hard shot that the goalie saved, Liz Curtin knocked one over the bar, and Reid made a nice move to the left in front and just missed as the shot sailed over the bar. But the day belonged to Steffen, who with two goals and one assist on a bad ankle had the best game of her four year career. (Reporting by John Reid)

(Won 2-0) It seems the Lady Hilltoppers do not like 5 day layoffs. For the second time this year they took the field after five days without a game and their first half effort was not their best. This is not to say that Summit did not dominate Par Hills at every facet of the game, but the usual crispness of their passes and the smart field game they have displayed brilliantly at times this year was absent on the slow field of Par Hills. Summit took the ball down the field early, and a nice pass from Rachel Cohen resulted in a shot by Alex Reid that glanced off a defender for a corner kick. Summit today took 9 corner kicks to their opponents 0 today. Reid got a shot off on goal on a nice kick by Emily Steffen. Steffen would take 5 corner kicks in the first 14 minutes as time after time Emma Nitzberg, Liz Curtin, and even Jamie Osmulski created scoring opportunities and shots at the Par Hills goal. By the time the first half ended, Steffen had taken her 6^th corner kick but not one attempt found the back of the net. Keeper Rebecca Velez handled any ball that drifted into her area flawlessly.

At halftime Coach must have reminded the girls what they are capable of doing on the field because Summit came out with renewed energy to start the half, and got corner kicks #7 and #8 in the first minutes of the half. But an outmanned Par Hills hung in there and kept pushing back Summit’s offense. It was then that senior Deanna Nelson, displaying her usual fire, willed the team to step up the pressure and pace. She was all over the middle of the field, heading balls in, running through (and over sometimes) opponents to keep the ball moving toward the Par Hills net. Nelson took a 40 yard shot that missed going in the top of the net when the goalie leaped to just get her hands on the ball. After another stop by Nelson, she got the ball to Liz Curtin in the middle who immediately whirled and fired a long ball down the right side where she knew instinctively her other striker, Emma Nitzberg, would be. Nitzberg took the ball in stride and the only play the Par Hills defender had was to take her down. The senior captain calmly stepped up to the penalty kick line and blasted a low ball into the right corner for a 1-0 lead. Summit kept attacking, and again started their offense from the middle of the field, where Nora McGuire sent a nice through ball onto the left side of Emily Steffen, who was motoring towards the goal. With a defender on her right, Steffen sent a low hard ball with her left foot along the ground and into the right corner for a killer goal. While the offense spent the remaining 22 minutes pounding the goal, the defense put on a clinic of ball control after each attempt to clear by Par Hills. Defenders Suzanne Bell, Jamie Osmulski and Allison McGuire pushed back any attempt to send the ball downfield, and seniors Hannah Stuckey and Sarah Boak, who have played together for 7 years, completely controlled the middle. Boak has been somewhat overlooked this year, but she is playing fabulous soccer for the Hilltoppers. She is stopping attempts to bring the ball up the middle, she is controlling long goal kicks, she is distributing pinpoint passes to her forwards and wings, and she even takes a few shots from long range. She is a complete player. By the time corner kick #9 occurred, an exhausted Steffen was resting after another great game. But junior Allison Snyder hit a beautiful ball right into the mouth of the goal on a great kick that Summit just missed converting. On one of the nicest plays of the game, Ariel Lefkowitz delivered a nice ball to Curtin who slid a ball to the right to a fast charging Katelyn Allocco who sent a ball hard at the goal where the goalie made a nice save. Summit was playing their game now, and the whistle sounding was the only thing that prevented Summit from running up the score. (Reporting by John Reid)

(Won 2-0) On a very hot, dry, dusty, hard field with not a speck of shade around it, the Summit Varsity Lady Hilltoppers traveled to Dover and continued their winning ways with a 2-0 triumph. As with many of their games, the women controlled almost all of the action, with Keeper Rebecca Velez recording her 6^th shutout this season, while limiting Dover to just two weak shot attempts towards the goal. But Summit also continued their trend of shooting often but not accurately, and the Dover goaltender was unbelievably busy on a day that saw her handle upwards of 40 balls! Summit’s first scoring play was started when senior Ariel Lefkowitz blasted a ball that was too hot for the goalie to handle cleanly. Displaying her usual hustle, Emily Steffen swooped in to kick in the rebound, only to be stopped by a great save by the goalie. But Steffen stayed with the play and when her own shot caromed right back to her, she calmly blasted the third shot in 10 seconds past the goalie for a 1-0 lead at the 27 minute mark.

The second half saw Summit control the action even more, and probably would have scored 6 goals if it weren’t for a heckuva game played by Dover’s sweeper who never got tired and cleared almost everything that came her way. But on a nice pass from Rachel Cohen, Steffen again found the mark for her 5^th goal of the season on a high ball under the cross bar for a 2-0 lead. Summit’s passing got much better in the second half, highlighted by a great long pass over the defenders by Allison McGuire that found three summit players racing towards the goal, and Nora McGuire got there first only to have her shot just go over the cross bar. It was that kind of day for Summit, who was looking forward to a big game on the high school turf Friday at 4 . (Reporting by John Reid)

(Won 3-0) What a great day for a game! The Varsity Lady Hilltoppers played their inaugural game on the high school turf today in front of a packed house lining the sidelines. Bouncing back from a lackluster game on Wednesday, the Hilltoppers delivered a crushing 3-0 defeat to a highly regarded Union squad. The tone of this game was set early, by Emma Nitzberg on offense and Suzanne Bell on defense. Nitzberg brought another gear to her already swift game and constantly attacked the Union goal, generating numerous opportunities for her teammates to score. And Bell, covering the fastest strikers she has had to play all year, was flawless. Union’s attack is centered around clearing the ball to their left side, where Bell sets up as Summit’s right defender. Almost like clockwork, every time Union got the ball, they seemed to try to take it down Bell’s side. And every time they were turned away in a masterful performance. Bell showed flashes of speed and incredible grit as she battled Union and made some great clearing kicks.

With all the momentum, Summit struck on one of the sweetest plays of the year on a nice through ball low to the left side by Colleen Laughlin, who found Emma Nitzberg running at full speed. Nitzberg carried the ball almost to the goal line before sliding a pass just past the goalie onto the foot of a hustling Liz Curtin, and the senior striker easily found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead at the 8 minute mark. Nitzberg was relentless, and her 25 foot shot at the 12 minute mark was just barely pulled out of the air by Union’s goalie. Union struck back at the 14 minute mark and actually got three shots off in the direction of keeper Rebecca Velez, who was unflappable in goal. And at the 20 minute mark Velez turned back a point blank shot on Summit’s goal with her foot, lying on the ground, saving a goal. The crowd was going wild as Union received a corner kick, the first one Summit had given up since the Chatham game. Summit’s vaunted defense, led by Hannah Stuckey and Sarah Boak, and ably enforced by Deanna Nelson and Jaime Osmulski, cleared the attempt, and Summit was back downfield. Summit did a great job all game in sending balls out to the wings, and Nelson found a streaking Rachel Cohen on the right side and the junior midfielder hit a hard shot into the far corner for a 2-0 lead. The combination of Cohen, Nitzberg, Alison Snyder, Alex Reid and Curtin put tremendous pressure on Union all game.

The opening of the second half found a nice push by Union, who was obviously desperate to get on the board, when a hard shot scooted out of Velez’s reach, Rachel Cohen was right there to clear the ball away form the attacking Union offense, and then the game became a showcase of Summit’s talents. Passing unselfishly, Summit set up shots by Ariel Lefkowitz, Emily Steffen, Allison Snyder, Nora McGuire and even defender Jamie Osmulski, who does a great job combining tough defense with spirited runs into the offensive end. With passes from Steffen and Nitzberg, Cohen found herself alone on the right side again, and from a tough angle hit a perfect curving ball into the far corner for her second goal of the game.

Near the end of the game, Katelyn Allocco added to the highlight reel with one of her longest throw-ins ever, which went directly into the middle of the box, an amazing toss. Allocco also found time to get off a hard shot on goal that just barely was corralled by Union’s goalie. With Summit pushing forward at every turn, the only thing that could stop them from scoring again was divine intervention, and that is just what happened! The skies opened up and lightning flashed with 14 minutes to go, and the teams hurried off the field knowing who had the most powerful team on this day.

(Won 3-0) Methodical is a word that comes to mind in describing the Summit Varsity Lady Hilltoppers today. At every 50/50 ball, at every long pass, at every attempt to shoot by Morris Hills, there was a Summit player to get in the way and drive the ball back into the MH end. How frustrating it must have been today to be a Morris Hills player! MH found the only formula that has worked against Summit this year, which was to try and score in the first 30 seconds of each half. And MH did try at the opening whistle, kicking the ball downfield and actually getting a corner kick at the 35 second mark. That was all for Morris Hills that half.

Summit got the first of their 8 corner kicks at the 2 minute mark and generated a shot by Jaime Osmulski, one of 20 shots today. The offense of Emma Nitzberg and Liz Curtin, ably supported on nice feeds from Katelyn Allocco, Rachel Cohen and Alex Reid from the wings, was generating a shot a minute for a while at the beleaguered MH Goaltender. At the 15 minute mark Coach made an almost psychic substitution when she put Allison Snyder into a striker position. Literally 10 seconds after stepping on the field, Snyder stepped in front of a Morris Hills defender and sent a shot with her right foot past the goalie on a terrific centering feed from Emma Nitzberg. That 1-0 lead was all Summit could generate in the first half despite 6 corners and 12 shots on goal, and numerous shots that missed their intended mark. As the half was winding down, Summit generated a free kick off a foul against Alex Reid. Sweeper Hannah Stuckey calmly placed the ball some 45 yards from the goal and sent a towering ball that began hooking towards the far post. As Summit and MH girls all ran towards the perfectly struck ball, Summit just missed knocking the kick in for their second score.

MH took the opening kickoff and again put some pressure on Summit’s defense, and sent a hard line drive into the middle of the goal area. This kind of ball is always trouble, but stopper Sarah Boak made a beautiful play, knocking the ball clear with the outside of her right foot, and jump starting the Summit offense. Emily Steffen’s perfect corner kick found the head of Liz Curtin, and the senior striker just missed as her ball got past the goalie only to be knocked out by a defender. Then Rachel Cohen, playing on the left side, found an opening and took a hard shot that the MH goalie could not corral, and Nitzberg was there to knock in the rebound. Summit kept pressing and some nice midfield play by Nora McGuire and Colleen Laughlin helped to generate a lot of shots as they stopped any ball from clearing and sent it back towards goal. At the 8 minute mark Summit got off three clean shots in a span of 10 seconds, only to be turned away again. Senior Ariel Lefkowitz got into the act, sending 3 balls on goal in the second half.

Defensively, Suzanne Bell and Allison McGuire kept balls from reaching sweeper Stuckey, and when they did the senior calmly sent balls down the field to the foot of a Summit player or calmly passed to Boak who then started the offense. Boak had a terrific game, playing all over the field and even getting a few offensive shots off, including a powerful direct kick from the 40 that just sailed over the bar. Another patented long throw in by Katelyn Allocco found a streaking Nitzberg down the right side that almost generated a goal at the 20 minute mark Morris Hills got off their first and only shot on goal at the 28 minute mark; a 35 yard blast that keeper Rebecca Velez handled easily. Velez recorded her 8th shutout and now has a remarkable .11 goals per game average this year. Summit kept the pressure on, and Nitzberg just missed on a nice feed from Nora McGuire and then Laughlin just missed on a nice feed from Deanna Nelson, who had her usual aggressive game patrolling the middle of the field. Summit’s final tally was started by defender Jaime Osmulski, who has made a remarkable transition this year from striker to defender. Osmulski is the newest and last piece of the puzzle defensively for Summit and a main reason for Summit’s defensive success. But it’s hard to take the striker out of the girl, and Osmulski has made a number of terrific carries into the offense end of the field. Her drive of some 50 yards down the field, eluding defenders all the while, resulted in a terrific centering pass to leading scorer Emily Steffen, who banged a shot that the MH goalie was able to get a piece of. But she couldn’t control the rebound, and the veteran Steffen was right there to knock in the rebound for Summit’s last goal

(Won 4-3 OT) The Summit Varsity Lady Hilltoppers took to the hostile fields of Mendham today to face a tough opponent on an unusually warm October day. The game started and immediately the Hilltoppers were out of sync. It looked as if they were tense as this was a huge game for them in the Iron Hills Conference. Plus, it’s Mendham, a perennial nemesis of all summit teams, and just like clockwork, Mendham started to play smart aggressive soccer, and before they knew it, the Hilltoppers were down 2-0. Summit's vaunted defense was having trouble with Mendham’s attack and getting way more pressure than they have been used to. And when the second half started another error resulted in a 3-0 Mendham lead and all seemed lost.

Mendham played smart defensive soccer to try and ride out the game, and it worked for 27 minutes of the second half. But you can't sit back all day against the Lady Hilltoppers and Allison Snyder got the girls their first score in a scramble in front of the goal after Ariel Lefkowitz applied a lot of pressure. With some renewed hope, the Summit fans who had traveled to Mendham got into the game and the team responded to them. After Emma Nitzberg, who was all over the field in the second half, pressured the goalie, Rachel Cohen pounced on a defensive mistake and scored to make it 3-2. But time was running out and the fans were frantic! With a minute left Emily Steffen took a corner kick and Mendham made a nice desperation header to clear the ball. But it found the foot of defenseman Jaime Osmulski who hit a cannon over the defense and the goalie right into the net. Summit had tied the score!!

The fans were delirious but settled down as everyone wondered if Summit had anything left in the tank. Most of the players had played the entire second half to come back and now they were facing the most pressure packed period of their season. But Summit is a veteran club with only juniors and seniors on the squad, and they have played together a lot. Summit started playing their kind of soccer, and its game usually starts with Hannah Stuckey, the sweeper, finding the open man. This time it was Alex Reid on the right wing, who made a nice trap and sent it back to stopper Sarah Boak. Boak sent a nice ball to Emma Nitzberg, who drew three defenders. Nitzberg somehow slid the ball to Liz Curtin, who had the remaining Mendham defender on her. Curtin made a nice move to evade her opponent and found herself all alone in front of the Mendham goalie. The senior striker froze the goaltender and fired a shot low to the right for the winning goal. The Mendham fans were stunned, but it was all jubilation on the Summit side of the field as the Lady Hilltoppers scored an improbable come from behind victory. This comeback was a total team effort and a testament to the teams guts and determination. (reporting by Adrienne Reid)

(Won 4-1) Summit took the turf for their second game in front of the high school fans on a beautiful fall day, with great anticipation after an amazing win at Mendham. Perhaps they were looking too far ahead against an excellent squad from West Essex, and within 30 seconds West Essex’s talented Stopper had launched a bullet to goaltender Rebecca Velez, who scooped up the shot nicely. This woke up Summit quickly, and they dominated the next 25 minutes, exhibiting some of the best soccer of the year. Midfielders and forwards were receiving hard balls and trapping them and turning downfield, passing to the wings. Wings were centering balls all day. Summit generated their first two corner kicks, and on the second Sarah Boak struck a thunderous blast that missed by an inch of going in.

Sweeper Hannah Stuckey was feeding the forwards all day, and Liz Curtin had a particularly good day turning the ball and creating enormous pressure on the WE defense. Curtin made a nice run and a quick entering pass to the head of Emma Nitzberg who just missed a header goal. Summit was moving the ball around quickly, and Velez hit a ball to Nitzberg who hit Emily Steffen in stride who shot and generated corner kick number 5. If you weren’t watching the play you would have missed it as the Hilltoppers were flying. But WE cleared the kick and started a rush of their own, and Beuhning their Stopper was taken down just outside the penalty area. With the sun directly in her eyes and a wall of girls in front of her, Velez dove to her left and got a piece of the blast but it glanced off her hands and into the net. Just like that a game they were dominating was a 0-1 deficit.

Summit’s fans were in the game now, and immediately the pressure was back on WE, as Alex Reid took a pass down the left side and centered it to Allison Snyder who blasted a ball off the post. Summit’s shots were coming in bunches, and WE fouled to give Summit a direct kick. The ball sailed into the goal crease, and Emily Steffen hit a ball off the goalie that found the right outside foot of Sarah Boak, who smashed in a high hard one into the left corner to tie the score at the thirty minute mark. WE came right back and their stopper took a 40 yard blast that Velez picked up and punted back. Rachel Cohen hit a nice ball to Curtin for a shot at the 35 minute mark, Curtin again shot at the 38 minute mark and hit the post, and shot again and just missed. The half ended with Summit leading in shots 14-2 and in CK’s 5-0, but all that mattered was the scoreboard saying the game was tied.

And after the half started, WE got shot #3 off at Velez, who was playing her best game. Summit got corners 6&7 and Liz Curtin got her head on Steffen’s kick only to have a defender knock it out. Corner kick 8 and 9 followed, and Cohen’s header just went wide of the left post. When were the Lady Hilltoppers going to score???! The answer came quickly, as the midfield, which was controlled by Deanna Nelson and Colleen Laughlin and Boak all game, found Nitzberg on the left wing. Finding her counterpart on the right, she got a ball to Curtin, whose game has really stepped up a notch in October. Even with three defenders on her, Curtin controlled the ball, moved right and found Nitzberg on a nice give and go, and the senior captain did not miss. Nitzberg’s strike gave Summit its first lead.

Now the action was at both ends, as Velez fielded her 4^th shot from West Essex’s stopper, got the ball to Alex Reid, who made a nice pass to Emily Steffen in front of the goal that just missed on Summits 18^th shot. Laughlin hit a nice shot to goal, followed by Ariel Lefkowitz who was around the goal mouth all game. Finally, at minute 20, Coach decided to rest her two senior strikers, and Nitzberg and Curtin came off the field. It was time for the juniors to step up. And within a minute, Nora McGuire did. Fielding a ball with her back to the goal, she was able to raise the ball off the turf, tap it over her left shoulder, spin around her defender, and blast a ball into the back of the net….what a goal!

The game started to become more defensive as the Hilltoppers had a 3-1 lead, and Suzanne Bell and Jaime Osmulski took over the defense, stepping up to stop any balls coming their way. They cleared to Katelyn Allocco and Cohen on the wings, who sent balls into the corners to kill clock. But suddenly Summit hit another gear, and the offense was rolling again. Stuckey cleared a tough ball out with three opponents charging her, and this gave Summit one last shot. Steffen moved the ball to space in the middle and slid the ball left to wing Alex Reid. Reid took the ball deep into the left corner and quickly launched a high centering pass towards the short post. With the goalie settling under it, this could have been another save, but flying towards the post was Liz Curtin, who timed her run and her header perfectly for the final goal on a real sweet play. With West Essex sending everyone, they generated two corner kicks in the last two minutes, but a nice clearing head ball by Deanna Nelson floated to midfield and the game was over.

(Won 3-0) “Rally day” was really Rally Night as over 300 fans came out to cheer on the 10-1 Lady Hilltoppers as they took to a windy and chilly field in search of win number 11. In front of their most important fans, the young ladies who play for the Summit Soccer club, the Summit Varsity women, virtually all who had come up through the ranks of the SSC, had a lot to prove. Summit began from the opening whistle to play at a pace that was clearly faster than what Parsippany was used to, and after a shot by Emma Nitzberg on a feed from Hannah Stuckey just missed, the barrage started. Nitzberg made a perfect through pass to Liz Curtin who found herself alone in front of the goal with 20 yards of open field ahead of her, and only a nice save prevented her from scoring. Curtin has found October to her liking, as she seems able to work longer and harder on the field at striker. She has been unstoppable this month. She took her second shot at the 5 minute mark on a feed from Alex Reid, and her4th shot of the half came as a result of a monstrous direct kick from Stuckey on the right side. The senior boomed a ball to the left side where Curtin caught the defenders on their heels. Making a perfect touch, she pushed the ball back to the right and blasted the first goal of the game!

The next ten minutes saw an array of Hilltoppers shooting, and Rachel Cohen, Nora McGuire and Allison Snyder all had shots on goal. Their tenth shot was special. Emily Steffen, playing on a tender ankle, made a nice pass from the right side to Nitzberg who was at the center of the field on the 25 yard line. In a flash she boomed a kick with her left foot just under the reach of Parsippany’s tall goalie, and suddenly it was 2-0. More shots followed in the last 15 minutes of the half; Reid, Cohen, Sarah Boak on a nice cross from Deanna Nelson, Curtin, Nelson herself, Reid again on a great feed from Jaime Osmulski, and then finally Boak again on the teams 20^th shot of the half!!!!!

Rebecca Velez had only one shot to field as the defense again was impenetrable. The defense benefited from the return to action of stopper Shannon Murphy, who was able to spell Boak, Osmulski and Suzanne Bell at times and adds another dimension to the Hilltoppers defense. Most of the second half was played on Parsippany’s end, as the talented midfield of Nora McGuire, Colleen Laughlin, Katelyn Allocco, Steffen and Nelson did not let many balls by them, and continued to feed strikers Ariel Lefkowitz, Nitzberg, Curtin, Cohen and Snyder, as coach moved players all over the field. When balls did get by, Bell and Osmulski were there to stop a rush and carry the ball downfield. And if Parsippany tried to clear long, Stuckey was there to capture the ball, survey the field, and start the offense by finding the open man. A terrific long throw-in by Allocco helped push the ball into Parsippany’s end, and a nice feed from Reid to Nitzberg just missed the mark. The pressure was building and when the right defender from Parsippany fouled Osmulski, another opportunity to score was presented. Usually Stuckey takes these direct kicks, but Osmulski stepped up and made an amazing left foot strike into the goal area only to find Curtin on the right side. Curtin aggressively shook off her defenders and blew a shot right by the stunned Parsippany goalie, who recorded 20 saves against the newly potent Summit offense. As the fans cheered, the young players of the SSC got a glimpse of what they would be doing 3 or 4 years from now, and they have a high bar to reach for, as the Lady Hilltoppers improved to 11-1 with their 3-0 win, Velez’s 9th shutout of the year.

(Won 7-0) The number 1 seeded Summit Lady Hilltoppers ran onto the high school turf to play the 16th seeded Brearley Bears in a first round UCT contest. Any expectation of an upset the Brearley fans had was over in the first 11 minutes. Summit’s offense has been in another gear lately, and from the start they attacked Brearleys’ right side defense. Left middie Alex Reid fed striker Emma Nitzberg on two balls, one just wide and one just over the cross bar. Nitzberg returned the favor and Reid stuck a solid left foot ball into the short side for a quick 1-0 lead at the 4 minute mark. Summit was at it again 7 minutes later when Nitzberg drew the defense to her on the 18 and then slid a pass down to Alex Reid who carried deep towards the goal line and let fly from a sharp angle. The junior again connected with her left foot as the ball barely slid into the upper far corner. And when right outside mid Rachel Cohen banged in an Emily Steffen corner kick at the 17 minute mark to make it 3-0, the outcome was not in doubt. Coach immediately began experimenting with different line ups and moving players into different positions. Summit’s offensive pressure can be relentless, mostly because outside defenders Suzanne Bell and Jaime Osmulski have incredible quickness to the ball and rarely miss a 50/50 ball. They either send the ball in themselves or look to seniors Hannah Stuckey at sweeper or Sarah Boak at stopper to do it for them. After Nora McGuire just missed on a blast from the 18, Alex Reid snared the ensuing goal kick in mid air and, gaining control, got a pass off to Liz Curtin in the middle. Curtin deftly slid the ball to the right where McGuire was standing and this time the junior midfielder did not miss, driving a high ball into the upper left hand corner for a 4-0 lead. Katelyn Allocco made some amazingly long throw ins today, some that reached the far post, and her throw in to Deanna Nelson as the time was winding down almost produced a goal, as Nelson hit the post with her shot.

The second half began quietly with coach inserting sweeper Hannah Stuckey into the striker slot. Stuckey is flawless at the back of the defense, so let’s just say she found the front of the offense a little less comfortable in her ten minutes as a forward. The crowd was pretty quiet until the booming left foot of junior Colleen Laughlin woke them up. Laughlin hit a blast over the left crossbar off a throw in by Reid that was so hard the sound reverberated across the turf. Allocco was at it again moments later, earning a throw in and sending it deep into the box where she found Laughlin for goal number 5, a solid shot low into the left side. With junior Shannon Murphy and seniors Allison McGuire and Adele Molina patrolling the middle of the field, and senior Ariel Lefkowitz attacking the goal on every shot, the Brearley team was reeling. Allison Snyder got into the act with a hard shot on goal and then on a corner kick senior Deanna Nelson charged into the crease and got her head on the ball, only to again hit the post! But at the 30 minute mark Reid got a nice feed off to Nelson in the middle, and after a swift cut to the left the senior was alone in front, and this time no post was in the way as Nelson blasted her first goal of the year into the net! The last score was off a direct kick by Nelson that sailed high towards the left post, where stopper Sarah Boak rose high in the air and headed it in the back of the net. Summits next game looks to be a rematch against a talented Union squad next Saturday the 20th.

(Lost 1-0) The Summit Varsity Lady Hilltoppers seemed to have everything going their way today as they walked onto the high school turf to take on arch rival Chatham; the weather was perfect, the crowd was amazing for a mid-week, mid-day game, and the Hilltoppers had a 9-game win streak, all of which bode well for Summit. But soccer is a funny game, where bad bounces, referee whistles and injuries can all have an affect on the outcome. And that is what happened today, when the Lady Hilltoppers tried in vain to defeat Chatham but came up short, 1-0. Frustration does not aptly describe the look on the faces of the ladies, especially the seniors, who have played so many intense Chatham games in their four years on the squad.

Chatham played a solid, mistake free game, especially at keeper, and made their few shots count, as Summits star keeper, Rebecca Velez, was called on to make a number of tough saves today. A clear sign that things were not going to go Summit’s way occurred at the 6 minute mark, when a perfect corner by Emily Steffen was heading for the head of Liz Curtin, only to find the hand of the Chatham keeper get in the way at the last possible minute to knock it out. Suzanne Bell’s follow was high and Chatham had made the first of many escapes they would have during the day. Corner kicks 2 and 3, and Summit’s first direct kick, were also cleanly handled by their keeper, and it was clear this was going to b e a tight contest. Chatham continues to be one of the best teams in the state using an off sides trap, and the Hilltoppers, though ready for it, were caught a number of times on some very tight whistles. And when Chatham’s center middie sent a perfect ball out wide to their left middie, who knocked in a ball on a sharp angle, Summit found itself down 1-0 after 13 minutes. Shortly thereafter Katelyn Allocco tried to get Summit tied with a terrific individual effort but just came up short. Summit’s next best opportunity came at the 26 minute mark when middie Alex Reid hit a nice head ball to her feet and sent a pass to Colleen Laughlin, who made a perfect touch pass to Emma Nitzberg. The senior striker’s shot was heading into the upper part of the net when the Chatham keeper tipped the ball over the bar at the last minute. Summit had two point blank opportunities, both set up by Jaime Osmulski, but the first shot was wide and the second the goalie saved.

Summit opened the second half reinvigorated, and it took all of 11 seconds for Alex Reid to take a rocket from the left side on a feed from Nitzberg that went inches wide of the far post. Nitzberg took shot 2 of the half a minute later, and it seemed like at any moment the Hilltoppers would score. But nothing seemed to work. A great pass from Hannah Stuckey to Nitzberg gave her a good look but the goalie made a save. Allison Snyder struck a high hard shot that the goalie corralled. Ariel Lefkowitz got off a shot that just missed. Liz Curtin got in all alone in front but the goalie guessed right. Rachel Cohen sent a nice ball down the right side to Emma Nitzberg who got close but the goalie snuffed the ball. With only 5 minutes left, Katelyn Allocco got a great long ball to Liz Curtin who split the defenders, dribbled on goal and scored into the lower left side. But with the crowd noise so deafening, no one heard the back judge blow his whistle for a foul, and the goal was waived off. Nothing deterred the Lady Hilltoppers, who kept working hard and had more chances… Colleen Laughlin and Curtin both got off shots in the last minutes. The defense totally shut down Chatham after the first goal, with Jaime Osmulski, Shannon Murphy, Deanna Nelson, Sarah Boak, Suzanne Bell and Hannah Stuckey all playing great soccer. But today it was not meant to be.

(Won 2-1) Summit arrived at the hard, dusty field of Hanover Park on a muggy day and it looked as they warmed up that they really didn’t want to be there. And right from the kick off Hanover Park made sure that feeling became a reality. HP was one step quicker to the ball, one step faster moving downfield, and at the 4 minute mark they had two shots on Keeper Rebecca Velez to none for Summit. Summit got some nice crosses from Alex Reid at the 9 minute mark and Emma Nitzberg at the 12 minute mark, but there was no one to finish. Finally at the 23 minute mark Nitzberg got a shot off on a feed from Reid which was by far the longest drought of the season for Summit. But it was really HP that was pressuring Summit’s defense, and they got two corner kicks at minute 33 and 34, which they did not convert. The half ended at 0-0 and Summit was out shot for the half. The Summit fans in attendance were hoping that the coach could breathe some fire into the bellies of the players, and Allison Snyder seemed to get things started with a shot on goal off a feed from Nitzberg at the 2 minute mark, and off the ensuing goal kick Reid got off a nice drive that just cleared the bar. Things seemed to be moving Summit’s way now, and a really nice play developed on a ball that Nitzberg sent to Sarah Boak who gave it back to Nitzberg who hit Boak in stride resulting in a Boak shot that was just wide. Hannah Stuckey fed Emily Steffen for a shot, and then Liz Curtin hit Reid for another shot, but nothing would go in. Deanna Nelson and Nora McGuire were sending all clearing attempts by HP back into their end, and it seemed that Summit would score in any minute. A nice corner kick by Steffen put the ball on Curtin’s foot but she hit the post. The defense of HP was breathing hard, and they started sending long balls downfield to give them some time to recover. HP has some speedy forwards, but this strategy has never worked against Summit as defenders Jaime Osmulski, Suzanne Bell and Stuckey have been terrific all season and have communicated well. But communication between the defense and keeper broke down on one long ball, and the HP striker had a free shot into the net at the 28 minute mark. Suddenly a game Summit was supposed to win looked bleak. Summit players looked stunned, but senior striker Liz Curtin seemed to rally all the players as she stepped up her game to another level. Curtin, who was double teamed most of the game, got a ball to Steffen for a solid shot, and after HP knocked the ball out, Katelyn Allocco made a spectacular throw into the box. HP made a slight mistake, letting the ball bounce, and Curtin made them pay, taking the bounce on her head and knocking it over the hands of the charging HP keeper to knot the score. Summit continued the pressure, and Rachel Cohen hit Curtin in the middle who got the ball to Emma Nitzberg for a shot that just missed wide. Shannon Murphy made a nice clearing ball to Cohen who took a long shot that just missed, and Velez made one more great save to preserve the tie as the game went into overtime. HP kicked off, and the two HP forwards seemed confused as to who would kick it. Nitzberg, sensing an opportunity, swooped into the circle and knocked the ball out to Rachel Cohen who sent a short pass to Curtin at the 25 yard line. Curtin spun quickly and split the defenders and found the path to the goal open at the 20. Two steps later she drilled a hard low shot into the left corner at the 15 second mark of OT and Summit had completed a miraculous comeback. Great teams win when they don’t play well, and Summit has a lot better games left in their future

(Won 4-1) Unlike the game two days earlier, the Varsity Lady Hilltoppers were a different team on their home turf at the high school today. Facing a team that they had just faced three weeks ago, Summit let it be known that they came to play just 11 seconds into the game, when a high ball at kick off found Emma Nitzberg and the Union goalie on a collision course. Nitzberg got there first, and her header just rolled wide by inches. Summit was passing better, and a nice from Emily Steffen to Katelyn Allocco resulted in one shot and a pass from Allocco to Liz Curtin on stride at the right corner resulted in another shot. Keeper Rebecca Velez then made a nice save on a direct kick from Union. Liz Curtin, picking up where she left off Thursday, was creating all sorts of opportunities, and when Emily Steffen hit a perfect corner kick to Curtin’s head, it seemed Summit had a 1-0 lead, but Union’s goalie made a miraculous save to keep the game scoreless. But Curtin, who had a large cheering section for her on the sidelines, played with amazing fire today. She made a nice cross that got called back as a Summit player was offsides, and then helped cause corner kick #4 for Summit. This time Steffen’s perfect corner was headed in by Curtin for a 1-0 lead. Union, which has a very dangerous offense, came right back, causing keeper Velez to make a good save off a corner kick that eventually was cleared by Rachel Cohen. At the 21 minute mark a direct kick by Hannah Stuckey almost found the mark, and the ball was cleared to the Summit end. Jaime Osmulski, who has great offensive instincts, saw Emma Nitzberg at midfield and immediately sent a through ball that Nitzberg caught up to at the 45. Rarely do you see this much space in high school, but nobody was going to catch Nitzberg. The savvy senior brought the goalie out, deked her as she pushed the ball to the right, leapt over the goalie, and drilled a shot into the open net for a 2 goal lead. Summit attacked the rest of the half, with Steffen almost converting on a deflection, and Nitzberg getting free again only to be smothered this time by Union’s goalie. At the 37 minute mark left middie Alex Reid got a ball and sent it downfield to Curtin, who got the ball to Nitzberg who again was attacked by the goalie. But this time the ball squirted free. Curtin, showing the poise of a senior, feinted left and used her left foot to find the back of the empty net for a 3-0 lead at halftime. The first half was dominated by Summit offensively, and by the work of Jamie Osmulski and Suzanne Bell, who blanketed the Union strikers and never allowed them to utilize their speed.

The second half was played mainly in the midfield, and Deanna Nelson, Nora McGuire, Colleen Laughlin and Allison Snyder took over the game there, playing keep away from Union and sending balls downfield. Union did get one break at the 5 minute mark, but Sarah Boak, playing sweeper, managed to just push the ball away from behind, and keeper Velez was able to smother the charging Union player. At the 6:30 mark wing Katelyn Allocco made a nice cross that striker Ariel Lefkowitz took in mid air. With her back to the goal she struck a ball over her left shoulder that almost went by the goalie…a miraculous shot! Then Alex Reid, playing on the left, sent a ball bouncing into the middle where she found a charging Emily Steffen. Taking dead aim and keeping her head down, Steffen hit as hard a ball as was struck all year. The ball rose from about a foot off the turf in a laser that was still rising as it went into the net. The goalie had no chance on the hardest shot of the year, and it was 4-0. Coach was moving a lot of players in and out, and defenders Shannon Murphy and Allison McGuire got a lot of work today, covering Union’s strikers. At the 31 minute mark, Union’s senior striker, last years leading scorer in Union County, finally got an opening and drilled a ball past keeper Velez, her only score in 240 minutes of playing against the Summit defense the past two years. The final score was 4-1, and Summit is off to the semi finals of the Union county tournament.

(Won 5-0) Summit’s Varsity Lady Hilltoppers took their soccer act on the road today, visiting a Morris Hills squad determined to upset the conference leading Hilltoppers. MH’s strategy was apparent from the start…they were trying to out-muscle Summit to the ball and trying to tire the ladies out. This strategy is pretty risky, as the Lady Hilltoppers are a physically imposing team. And Summit withstood an early rush by MH, and got off a few shots in the first 5 minutes, by Nora McGuire, Emma Nitzberg and Hannah Stuckey on a direct kick. But after Emily Steffen made a nice cross that rolled slowly in front of the MH goal that Hilltopper Rachel Cohen just missed, it began to look like MH’s strategy was working. They began beating Summit to the ball and controlled the action from the 10 minute to the 16 minute mark. Summits’ midfield and strikers forgot about their passing angles and sending it wide and passing it to someone and communication, as MH seemed to be disrupting their offense. Fortunately, Summit’s defense was in top form in the first half, and the passing and communication between Sarah Boak in the middle, Suzanne Bell and Jamie Osmulski on the flats, and Stuckey in the back was really fun to watch and kept MH away from Summit’s goal. It was Emily Steffen who shook Summit out of its doldrums by stepping up her game and becoming really aggressive in the offensive end. Steffen’s offensive thrusts rely on her fellow midfielder, Deanna Nelson, protecting Summit’s midfield, and the seniors are masters at this by now. First Steffen collided with the MH goalie trying to get to the ball before she did. Then she got off Summit’s 4^th shot off a throw in, and then was awarded a corner kick. Steffen sent her ball directly to the foot of Liz Curtin, who one-touched the ball over the goalie’s head for a 1-0 lead at the 26 minute mark. There were more shots for Summit in the remaining 14 minutes, one on a nice play by Ariel Lefkowitz right on goal, but no more scoring in the period. Summit came out of their halftime huddle quietly, but inside the coach’s halftime speech must have been burning in their heads. Summit got the ball at kick off, sent a ball down the left side to Alex Reid, who while driving down field was tripped up and awarded a direct kick. Hannah Stuckey trotted downfield from her sweeper position, took dead aim from 40 yards out, and lofted a ball perfectly to the far post and Liz Curtin’s head, for an easy score at the 47 second mark. Summit’s score was swift and startling, as it took Stuckey 20 of those seconds just to run down to kick the ball! And after another thrust down the left side by Reid resulted in a throw in, she found Emily Steffen in full stride heading towards goal and hit her perfectly. Steffen buried her shot in the far corner for a 3-0 lead at the 2 minute 25 second mark, and the game was effectively over. With the defense, aided by Colleen Laughlin in the middle and Shannon Murphy on the outside, dominating MH, it was really a time for Summit to work on their game as they have huge games coming up this week. Reid made a nice header attempt off a beautiful feed form Nitzberg to the post that just went wide, and Jamie Osmulski took a hard shot form outside the 18 that almost went in. Katelyn Allocco lofted one of her many throws today that resulted in a nice shot by Allison Snyder, and Steffen struck two more corner kicks as the offensive pressure from Summit was relentless. Steffen and Boak collaborated on a terrific give and go play down the midfield that Boak almost scored on, and Reid and Osmulski did the same thing 2 minutes later that got off a nice shot by Osmulski. The game was winding down, and when Deanna Nelson hit a 40 yard shot on goal, the 40 minute mark was hit. But there was injury time left, and it doesn’t take long for Summit to score. Allocco’s final throw of the day was a perfect one to Curtin who almost ran through the goal as the senior completed her hat trick. And on a long pass from Steffen on a perfectly timed through ball, Emma Nitzberg streaked through the defense of MH and scored the final goal for a 5-0 final score. This was keeper Rebecca Velez’s 11^th shutout in a masterful performance, as she fought off the sun, made some nice plays coming out to clear balls before the MH strikers could get there, and sending booming punts downfield to start the offense.

(Won 6-1) Summit’s Varsity Lady Hilltoppers traveled three blocks to another new home field, this one at Upper Tatlock, to take on the Parsippany Hills Vikings on a cold wet dark day…perfect for soccer on the turf! Unlike Summit’s first encounter with Par Hills which was won 2-0, this one took on a completely different tone from the opening kick in the first four minutes Summit’s leading scorers, Liz Curtin and Emily Steffen, both got off shots, and on Steffen’s second corner kick, Alex Reid, Curtin and Steffen coming in from the sideline, all got their heads on the ball trying to put it in. Finally on a nice set up from Curtin and Emma Nitzberg, who got the ball out to the left wing, Reid took a shot that bounced off the defender. The junior middie was not deterred, and hit the rebound hard that the goalie could not stop for a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later, thinking that this strategy was working well, sweeper Hannah Stuckey decided to try the right wing, where Rachel Cohen was positioned. She took the long kick, made a quick move downfield, and then pulled up from 35 yards out. The Summit fans saw the junior loft a powerful kick that bent from the right post when launched all the way to the left post for a beautiful goal. And 6 minutes later, on a nice throw in from Katelyn Allocco, striker Ariel Lefkowitz snapped a quick kick over the goalie’s head and into the corner, for a 3-0 halftime lead. The half was dominated by Summit’s forwards, who constantly pushed the ball upfield. The forward line was joined this game by Allison McGuire, who usually plays defender. But the versatile senior, who possesses one of the strongest right legs on the team, adapted to the change in the field nicely and helped keep the ball in PH’s end. On the opposite end of the line up, sweeper Stuckey was getting a lot of work. Summit’s first line of defense, led by Sarah Boak, Jamie Osmulski and Suzanne Bell, who were joined this day by Shannon Murphy at right defender, kept stopping runs or kicks by Par Hills, sending the ball back to Stuckey, who had time to pick her spots and send the ball to the offense. She was all over the field today in a great performance. The half ended on a great play, where Osmulski, faking that she was going to clear the ball, made not one, not two, but three moves to take the ball 60 yards downfield on her own before striking a left foot shot on goal!

The second half began quickly with midfielder Deanna Nelson hitting a perfect ball that freed Emily Steffen for a break that just missed. But on the next possession a cross from midfield found Rachel Cohen on the left side of the goal and she calmly deposited a nice left foot kick into the net for a 4-0 lead! Par Hills was reeling, and when Nitzberg, who was three steps faster than anyone on the field today, got free on a break for a 5-0 lead, it seemed that they would give up. But to their credit, the young team pushed the ball into the right corner where the defense had a rare miscommunication. All of the defenders ended up in the corner, and when the lone PH’s player was able to center the ball, keeper Rebecca Velez was left alone with a striker ten yards in front of her. Velez dived to her left but just missed the stop. It was disappointing for Summit as they were trying to preserve the shut out. In the second half there was more rough play in the midfield, where Colleen Laughlin, Nora McGuire, and Allison Snyder were patrolling. The spent a lot of tough minutes fighting for 50/50 balls, and trying to feed the forwards. Finally Deanna Nelson stepped in and got the ball, feinted and dribbled to her right, and saw Alex Reid streaking on a run down the right side. Nelson hit her perfectly, and Reid one touched a ball past the defender and buried a hard ball into the upper right corner for a 6-1 margin. The Lady Hilltoppers are on a mission, and the first result comes Friday at 4 against Dover in the final regular season game.

(Won 7-0) The final game of the regular season arrived at Upper Tatlock field on a rainy, dark afternoon, but nothing could dampen the emotions felt by the many fans who braved the elements to demonstrate their support and admiration to the 11 Lady Hilltopper Senior players who have put together a remarkable season. Each of the 11 players was introduced to a standing ovation before the game began, but then, as always, it was down to business for the 16-2 women. Business as usual, despite the horrendous weather, meant that at the 90 second mark, Ariel Lefkowitz made a nice pass to Liz Curtin, who dribbled around the entire defense of Dover to the goal line and threaded a nice pass to Emma Nitzberg alone in front. The senior striker banged the ball into the back of an open net for a 1-0 lead. And when senior midfielder Deanna Nelson hit a nice through ball past the defenders, it was Curtin who was racing to the ball in full stride and then deftly chipped the ball over the goalie, who had come out, and it was 2-0 after only 3 minutes. Everyone seemed to be getting into the offense for Summit, with sweeper Hannah Stuckey sending a beautiful pass over everyone to Ariel Lefkowitz for a shot, then Nitzberg to Sarah Boak off their first corner kick for a shot, and then Suzanne Bell hitting a nice drive off corner kick #2, for their 6th shot in 7 minutes! With all the pressure put on Dover their keeper picked the ball up outside the goal area, which gave Liz Curtin a direct kick, and she easily deposited the ball into the back of the net for a 3-0 lead at the 8 minute mark. Dover tried to put some pressure on the defense, and actually was awarded a direct kick from the 25 yard line. With their best player taking the shot and the rain soaked slick ball, this spelled trouble. But keeper Rebecca Velez rose up to snare the hard drive in mid air and that was the last save she would make all game! The defense of Jaime Osmulski, Allison McGuire, Suzanne Bell, Shannon Murphy, Sarah Boak and Hannah Stuckey would not yield a shot again for the whole game! But Summit’s shots were flying at the goal, as the seniors were all trying to add to their impressive goal total. Lefkowitz and Katelyn Allocco executed a beautiful give and go for a shot that was just wide, and then Lefkowitz hit Nitzberg in front again for a 4-0 advantage. Shots from Curtin, Nitzberg, and Curtin again all pummeled the beleaguered Dover keeper, and finally, like a championship bout, the coach stopped the fight and called the seniors off the field. Unfortunately all that did was put fresh legs on the field, and the juniors didn’t miss a beat, with shots from Colleen Laughlin off a nice feed from Rachel Cohen, Nora McGuire and Alex Reid all tested the goalie. The 18^th and last shot of the half was a beauty, as Emily Steffen found Allison Snyder alone on the left side and the junior boomed a long left foot blast that the goalie just was able to save. What a half!

The second half was more of the same, and when Emma Nitzberg found Liz Curtin at the 30 second mark for a nice goal, it was 5-0. More shots followed, some on breakaways that the Dover goalie made a nice play on, and others, from Katelyn Allocco, Deanna Nelson, and Sarah Boak on a nice pass from Allie McGuire, all recorded shots on goal. At the 12 minute mark Allocco drove a hard shot past the goalie on a feed from Emma Nitzberg, and it was 6-0. Incredibly more shots followed, and they were coming so often this writer couldn’t keep up! At the 32 minute mark, on a play that has scored often for the Hilltoppers, Allocco launched a huge throw that Liz Curtin one touched into the net for her fourth goal of the game!!!! Her fourth goal tied a record that has stood untouched since 2001 when Karen Jann also had 4 in one game. But most importantly, the decisive win clinched the Iron Hills Conference Hills Division Championship for the Lady Hilltoppers, who finished with a 14-2 record in league play, including a remarkable 44-8 goals scored advantage in the league. The girls took their game ending run to the fans side of the field, where their families presented them with an engraved hat, and then they donned their championship tee shirt. No darkness or rain could dampen their joy and a sense of a job well done as the Lady Hilltoppers had their team picture taken as 2007 Champs.

(Lost 0-1) Summit’s Lady Hilltoppers ventured to the other side of the county to meet Scotch Plains on the cold, windy neutral field at Johnson Regional under the lights tonight. This was a battle pitting the #1 ranked Hilltoppers against the #4 seed but the hottest team in the county and arguable one of the hottest teams in the state in Scotch Plains, who, along with Westfield, were defending UCT champs. Summit is a force to be reckoned with, and gave that message right from the opening kickoff with some nice penetration by the offense with passes from Emily Steffen to Liz Curtin. There was a lot of play at midfield as both teams were feeling each other out. Scotch Plains was trying to establish their ball control shorter passing game, and the Hilltoppers were trying to establish their longer passing, through ball game. The first good opportunity came at the 9 minute mark on a drive from Katelyn Allocco that the SP goalie got one hand on to knock it over the bar. Steffen’s corner kick got to Rachel Cohen but the junior’s header was wide. Scotch Plains came right back and split the defense on some nice passing, but the striker’s blast was smothered by keeper Rebecca Velez, who made a miraculous stop. She got her second save on a drive a moment later. Clearly the goalies were in top form and a mistake was the only way a score would occur. Summit got a shot off, then SP hit the post high, then Curtin hit a smash just wide of the short post. It was that kind of slugfest! At the 24^th minute the first mistake of the game cost the Lady Hilltoppers. After a foul awarded a direct kick to Scotch Plains, the resulting chip shot found the SP strikers breaking the plane with no one on them, and they were alone on Velez with no way to stop them for the first goal. Summit came right back, but every long shot they took was handled easily by the SP keeper, and her subsequent 60 yard punts after each ignited the SP offense, putting maximum pressure on the Summit defense of Hannah Stuckey, Jaime Osmulski, Suzanne Bell and Sarah Boak. When Stuckey took a long direct kick that was just cleared by Scotch Plains, the half was over. Both sides felt that they had played 80 minutes already as the action was that intense.

The second half was nothing like the first…it was even more intense! Right from the whistle Summit’s offense was clicking, with fast runs by Emma Nitzberg into the corner resulting in dangerous crosses that Summit just missed connecting on. Summit’s 10^th shot of the game was off a corner kick by Emily Steffen to Curtin who headed it just wide. Summit was firing at the goal, but most of their shots were taken under pressure and the SP goalie ate those up. Shots by Rachel Cohen and Nitzberg were stopped, and SP countered their one time in the first 20 minutes with another great save by Velez. Summit was working so hard that they needed a lot of substitutions, and Katelyn Allocco, Allison Snyder, Alex Reid and Colleen Laughlin all came in to deliver quality minutes during that second half. Summits best opportunity came at the 20 minute mark, when Curtin, controlling the ball in the middle, waited and found Emma Nitzberg streaking alone on goal, but the side judge’s whistle blew for offsides, which was a very close call. Velez was then called upon to make another amazing save, this one diving at the left post on a hard low ball. Summit’s defense was starting to get tired, but a nice clearing ball by Deanna Nelson started the offense again. After a great rush up the right side, the ball was centered into the goal mouth, with the SP keeper knocking the ball away. But Summit hit the ball again towards the goal, and the keeper could not control the rebound, which glanced off the Summit player into the goal! But the same line judge’s flag was raised, only this time he called a hand ball, and the tying goal was nullified. This seemed to take some wind out of Summit, and the final 9 minutes were mostly in Summit’s end. Summits long clearing balls were met by SP defenders, who kept knocking balls back into the corners, which tires the defense and uses a lot of clock. Summit kept trying to push the ball up field and did, but they couldn’t muster any more quality shots on SP’s keeper, who notched her 7^th consecutive shut out. Summit left the field with their head held high. They had the better of play, they deserved their #1 seed, and they played their hearts out, but tonight they couldn’t get the one shot they needed by Scotch Plains.

(Won 1-0) The Lady Hilltoppers walked onto the field at the high school on a dreary afternoon with not a lot of things going for them despite their lofty record and #1 seed. They were coming off a really tough county game which left them all banged up. They were playing a team they had already beaten twice and the third game is never easy. They were facing their 2nd hot goaltender in a row. And little did they know that in the first minutes of the game their senior captain and striker, Emma Nitzberg, would go down with a bad ankle. Parsippany had a simple game plan; keep everyone back on defense except for their fastest player up front. If they ever get the ball, clear a long ball to her and hope that Summit makes a mistake. When the ball is nearing their goal, kick it out. To their credit, Parsippany never veered from their game plan and executed it perfectly. The tone of this game was set very early. Summit kept the ball in Parsippany’s half of the field virtually the entire game, sending shot after shot towards the goal. Parsippany’s back line defense did not let Summit penetrate, cross the ball, or take open shots. Their goalie stopped everything that got through. At the 8 minute mark on a feed from Alex Reid, Emma Nitzberg took a ball down the sideline and then made the turn on goal along the baseline. She deftly slid the ball to a charging Sarah Boak whose shot was wide of the far post. Summit was pushing the ball forwards, but not finding the open player. They generated numerous corner kicks, and on the second got a few shots towards the goal mouth that were blocked. Many of their other corners all game were taken out of mid air by their goalie. The most excitement for Summit in the first half was a great save on Parsippany’s only shot, a blast from the 35 that drifted high and keeper Rebecca Velez had to leap to make a stop on at the 13 minute mark. Summit’s shots were generated by Rachel Cohen, Katelyn Allocco, Emily Steffen and Liz Curtin, who was triple teamed all game. The ball crossed into the Summit end three times in the half, as Hannah Stuckey, Boak, Suzanne Bell, Deanna Nelson and Jaime Osmulski set up an impenetrable wall and sent virtually every ball back to Summit’s offense. Parsippany was so happy to be tied at half.

The second half saw Summit try to stretch the defense, and there were more through balls and long passes to Summit’s wings, who then tried to cross it into the middle. Summit got a nice shot from the right side from Curtin, and then Velez was called on to make save number 2. At the 18 minute mark, Curtin got free but was stopped on a nice play by the goalie. Summit’s offense was moving into high gear, and coach was searching for the right combination. Taking over at striker was Rachel Cohen, who despite her size gave Parsippany all they could handle with two people on her. This freed up more space for Curtin, and then Coach inserted Sophomore Caroline Welch in to add some speed. Welch did her job to perfection, pushing the ball into the corner and getting the ball near the goal mouth. Rebecca Velez made her last save on a strong direct kick at the 24 minute mark, and then Summit really turned it up a notch. Middies Colleen Laughlin, Ariel Lefkowitz and Allison Snyder were keeping any ball in the offensive side. Nelson and Steffen and Boak were carrying the ball in on powerful individual runs, and Curtin was drawing 4 defenders now to cover her. At the 28:30 mark, Curtin literally smashed her way through the defense and found herself staring at the goalie 10 yards away. Perhaps being too careful, she took an extra dribble and tried to slide a ball to her left that just missed by inches! She was clearly frustrated and tired, as without Nitzberg she was asked to carry a lot of the offense. But in the last ten minutes, Summit began to really play beautiful soccer. Sensing that their opponent was exhausted, Summit strung together sometimes 10 passes in a row, looking for an opening on goal. The ball was moving all over the offensive side of the field, and the middies were dropping balls to Stuckey, Bell and Osmulski for long kicks towards the corners. Parsippany was trying to get a long ball downfield, and Stuckey in particular was all over the field, playing sideline to sideline. With time running out, Stuckey’s last stop was sent to Emily Steffen who got the ball towards Rachel Cohen at the 40. Moving amazingly fast, the junior headed the ball to her feet and took a long dribble, drawing two girls towards her. The crowd was screaming! She waited till the last possible minute before threading a ball down to her left to the foot of Curtin, who took the ball at full speed and split the defense. It was only ten minutes before that Curtin faced the same challenge. But this time, she moved quickly and pushed a hard ball to her right, the goalie’s left. She caught her off guard, and she tried to dive to her left but the ball was by her. It was heading towards the right post! From every angle this was going to be close. After all the Hilltoppers had gone through this dreary day, they finally got a break. The ball rolled two inches inside the post and rolled to the back of the net. It was a very heady play by Curtin, the senior captain and leading scorer. And it marked the 13th shut out for keeper Rebecca Velez, tying the high school record, and it propelled the Summit Lady Hilltoppers into the semifinals against archrival Chatham on Monday at 2 PM in Summit

(Won 3-1) The #1 ranked and undefeated JV Lady Hilltoppers traveled to the windy and frigid Johnson Regional turf for the final round matchup against Westfield, a team that had won the last 5 JV county championships. Summit won the toss and took the wind and it had immediate benefits as the aggressive Lady Hilltoppers took the game to Westfield. Westfield’s strategy was to get the ball to the left side to their fast aggressive striker. Summit clearly wanted to push the ball down the sidelines and cross and finish. Both sides did an excellent job of following their strategy. Summit seemed to get the better of play, mostly with strong wing play from Michelle Burian, Jenna Wilson and Caroline Welch, who used their speed and agility to counter Westfield’s size. The wind made judging the ball difficult, and many through balls sent by the midfield of Summit, led by Maddie Kaplan, Torrie Hayes and Taylor Perry, just went out of reach or just over the end line, blown out by the wind. Summit started to get their bearings, and Burian and Welch made two nice crosses towards the Westfield goal. On the first, striker Emily Rojas just missed wide left. The sophomore forward was clearly frustrated, but given a second chance on a ball from Welch she was not to be denied. Coming in hard at the far post, she one touched a rocket past the goalie and into the back of the net for the first score of the game. Solid flawless goaltending by Lizzie Cassin, and strong defense by Caroline Hurkes, preserved the advantage going into the second half. Given the strength of the Hilltopper defense, many in the stands thought that this was enough for victory. But in the second half, Westfield had the wind, and immediately took advantage of it, sending a ball that was hard to judge into the corner, drawing out keeper Maggie Groves. But Westfield’s striker got there first and sent a high cross from the sideline that hooked into the net. With all the momentum going Westfield’s way, the gritty Lady Hilltoppers scored the most amazing goal of the year. Taking the kick off down the sidelines, Jenna Wilson fought and dribbled free from her defender and crossed the ball towards the Westfield goal. Striker Emily Rojas, hustling downfield all the way, arrived at the ball just as the goalie did, and she quickly knocked the ball through the goalie’s hands into the net. Summit had scored within a minute of Westfield’s tying goal! Now it was up to the defense to protect the lead. And they were flawless. Kelly Radutzky, given the job of defending Westfield’s most potent forward, completely shut her down in the second half, allowing her no shots. When Westfield tried the other side, they met a stone wall in Kylie McKenna, who allowed nothing all game. And if they tried to penetrate in the middle, they met Summit’s strongest defender, Ally ReDavid, whose booming clearing balls set the offense in motion. It was there that forwards Mary Kelly and Amanda Zalk started to wear down Westfield. With constant pressure caused by their runs, Westfield’s defense sagged. A nice push by Caroline Welch freed a ball into the middle of the field 25 yards from the goal, and onto the foot of sophomore Maddie Kaplan. Kaplan ran into the ball at full speed and , keeping her weight forward and head down, struck the perfect shot high and curving downwards, just under the cross bar. Summit had taken a 3-1 lead, and although there was 20 minutes left, most in the stands, and Coach D, knew it was over. Westfield could never solve Summit’s midfield, led by Taylor Parry, Maddie Kaplan, and Torrie Hayes, who simply outhustled Westfield to every ball and fought so hard defensively that Westfield could never muster much of an attack. And when they did get a shot off, Maggie Groves was there to snuff out their shots. As the clock wound down and the fans cheered, Summit had earned a hard fought victory and their first UCT crown since 2001. And more importantly, they completed an undefeated season!

Home vs. Chatham Semi-Finals of State N. Jersey Group II, Section II

(Won2-0) Redemption Day could not have come soon enough for the Varsity Lady Hilltoppers. Staring at them across the field were the Chatham Cougars, the team that had beaten Summit twice this year by identical 1-0 scores. For Summit to advance in the State playoffs, they had to get by their archrival, and for themselves, they had to prove that they were a better team. Lending their support were over 200 loyal fans that came to Upper Tatlock to root their team on. Summit opened the game flying, really aggressive on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The senior offensive leaders of the team, Emma Nitzberg, Emily Steffen and Liz Curtin, were working the ball to each other and freeing each other for shots. In the first part of the half there were some great offensive thrusts by the girls, some on feeds from Shannon Murphy, Alison Snyder and Rachel Cohen, but Chatham’s goalie knew how to play the Hilltoppers game. She was coming out very early on any pass towards the box and collecting the ball before Summit could get to it. Curtin had a great chance on an individual effort that just missed, and on a great cross to Nitzberg she barely missed the goal. At this level it’s impossible to keep the opponent from shooting, and keeper Rebecca Velez made a terrific save at the 21 minute mark on a hard ball. She also saved the subsequent corner kick, and at this point Summit knew this game would not be easy. Nitzberg turned up her speed a notch and made a spectacular run around the right defender and carried to goal, only to miss wide right on difficult shot at full speed. Cohen made a nice pass to Nitzberg who found Liz Curtin in front but her shot went over the crossbar. Steffen hit a beautiful direct kick that Sarah Boak tried to head in but was stopped. The game began to take on an eerily similar feeling to the previous games, where the Hilltoppers outplayed and outshot the Cougars but did not outscore them. With time running out in the first half, Steffen took Summit’s 4^th corner kick, and she drilled a hard line drive into the box. It looked like a few girls tried to knock it in, but when the ball reached the far post, Rachel Cohen was there to make sure she did not miss. The junior wing drove a huge ball into the upper right corner on Steffen’s blistering feed to go up 1-0, 30 seconds before halftime. What a goal!

Summit seemed to come out swinging in the second half, and Steffen barely missed a goal on a hooking drive from the right side that Chatham’s keeper got her fingertips on at the last second. And one minute later on a perfect feed from Nitzberg, Curtin blasted a ball that the keeper somehow saved. When Alison Snyder lofted a cross at the 3 minute mark to Nitzberg, who just missed, it felt like the game was well in hand. But Chatham responded, and played their best soccer in the next 20 minutes. They began winning their share of 50/50 balls and exerting themselves on offense. And with the referees calling 4 fouls on Summit resulting in direct kicks, the defense was on their heels. Only some nice goaltending by Velez kept Chatham from scoring. Chatham just missed, clanging a ball off the crossbar, but that kick seemed to revitalize the Lady Hilltoppers. The defense began beating Chatham to the ball, and both Suzanne Bell and Jamie Osmulski made some nice runs off of steals that they made. Whenever Chatham tried to clear, Deanna Nelson was there to send the ball back. And if they got a through ball, sweeper Hannah Stuckey handled every single ball cleanly today, sending almost all of them back downfield to a teammate. She even came up to take a hard shot on goal from the 40 yard line on a clearing attempt at the 24 minute mark. The crowd was screaming for Summit to score one more goal, and Emily Steffen responded. With relentless energy, she somehow got the ball into the right corner, turned, and centered a ball to the other side. When the Chatham goalie failed to corral the cross, sophomore Caroline Welch made a nice step around her defender and got her foot on the ball to bang in the goal for a 2-0 lead. A huge sigh of relief was heard from the sideline, and Summit, sensing their opponents were tiring, sent in some fresh legs to keep them at bay. Katelyn Allocco came in and kept Chatham backing up towards their own goal with some monstrous throw-ins. Nora McGuire came in to give Nitzberg some well deserved rest and played some quality minutes at right striker. With ten minutes left the Hilltoppers were in full command. Curtin made a nice give and go play to Alex Reid that Chatham just got to, and Reid, Boak and McGuire all kept gathering the ball and driving it into the right and left corners, which ate up a lot of clock. As the seconds ticked away, the fans now turned their attention to a record…could keeper Velez get the shutout? And the lady Hilltoppers responded, running down every ball with renewed energy, outhustling and outplaying a game opponent. When the whistle sounded, Velez had set the new Summit record with her 14^th save in a remarkable defensive year. And Summit had avenged their two losses and reached the finals of the groups Sectionals for the third time in 8 years.

Home vs. Rutherford 11/8/2007 Group II Sectional Finals

(Lost 4-5, after two OT’s on Penalty Kicks) The Summit Varsity Lady Hilltoppers played their hearts out today on Upper Tatlock field before close to 400 people, the largest crowd the team played in front of in the past four years. Summit couldn’t have asked for a better start to a game, although they had to dodge a Rutherford corner kick at the 1:30 mark After Summit cleared the ball downfield, Deanna Nelson was able to trap a hard ball and deftly pass it to Liz Curtin who made a move and saw her fellow striker, Emma Nitzberg, moving towards the goal on her left. With another great pass from Curtin, Nitzberg was able to blast a ball with her left foot by the goalie for a quick 1-0 lead after 3 minutes. Summit’s offense was clearly the toughest that Rutherford had seen, with wings Alison Snyder, Alex Reid and Rachel Cohen putting pressure on the outside defenders and Curtin, Nitzberg and Ariel Lefkowitz trying to finish And 5 minutes later Nitzberg got off another blast after a cross that just sailed over the crossbar. That seemed to wake up Rutherford, and their blisteringly effective attack went into overdrive, generating direct kicks, shots that were saved by keeper Rebecca Velez, and controlling the play. On a free ball at midfield, Rutherford knocked Nitzberg down but no call was made. A high ball was sent directly into the goal area where Velez made the initial save but couldn’t stop the rebound from going in for a tie score. And a few minutes later Rutherford struck again, using one of the many direct kicks they were awarded during the day as a weapon, sending it deep into the box right to the foot of their striker who put them in the lead. Summit was down for one of the few times all year, and when defender Suzanne Bell went down with a brutal knee injury, things looked bleak for Summit. But the gritty lady Hilltoppers did not quit, and defender Jaime Osmulski got things going by sending a left foot cross to the weak side where Caroline Welsh was. The sophomore quickly pushed the ball forward and got the ball to Emily Steffen. Her blast hit a defender but spun violently into the right corner of the net for the tying goal as the half ended.

The Hilltoppers have had trouble in the early second half of games, but not today. They used a signature play, with Nitzberg getting the ball at midfield and passing it wide to Welch, who got the ball into the middle where striker Liz Curtin was. The senior buried a hard left foot blast into the back of the net for a 3-2 lead at the 1:40 mark. But Rutherford kept putting pressure on Summit, and when a ball was cleared but not out, the Rutherford stopper came up from her midfield position and blasted it into the right corner of the net to tie the score. The game was taking on a feeling of a heavyweight title fight, with each team trading knockout punches. It looked like Summit would get the TKO, as on their 2^nd corner kick, Emily Steffen hit Rachel Cohen perfectly and the junior headed the ball in for a 4-3 lead at the 16:30 mark. And then the game settled into a slugfest. Summit was using the hard charging back line of Hannah Stuckey, Jaime Osmulski, Shannon Murphy and Sarah Boak to fight off the bull rushes of the Rutherford forwards who flew down the field at every opportunity. On a nice play, Nora McGuire found Nitzberg alone but her blast went just wide. Then Velez made a great save at the 23 minute mark to keep Summit one goal lead. At the 26 minute mark Curtin had a nice cross that just missed going in the far side. And then Curtin made one of her typical rushes, pushing the ball through 4 defenders and arriving at the goal mouth at the same time as the goalie and almost got it in. She also made a nice pass to Ariel Lefkowitz who took a good shot but the goalie made a nice save. Then Rutherford came back downfield with amazing quickness and got a shot off that Velez saved. Back and forth the action was but the Hilltoppers, down a defender, began to look a little tired. Rutherford put a lot of pressure from their right side and got another goal past the defense for a 4-4 tie at the 33 minute mark of the half. Summit tried to get some fresh legs in, and Katelyn Allocco and Colleen Laughlin gave them some quality minutes. As the clock wound down Steffen took a hard shot that the goalie had to save, and Rutherford took a shot at the 39^th minute that Velez had to save. The exhausted girls on the field could only sigh when the whistle blew ending regulation. Now it was sudden death overtime. And again the tough Hilltoppers came out swinging. Emma Nitzberg, using her great speed, got the ball in front of the goal but her touch just missed the far post wide at the 1 minute mark…so close! Sarah Boak got a ball to Curtin who struck it just wide. Rutherford made a number of runs that required Summit’s wings to get back to help the defense, and then the action went back into Rutherford’s side. Would anyone break? It seemed like it would be Summit, as with a minute and a half left Velez saved the game by streaking out of the goal mouth and smothering a ball that was being carried to goal by Rutherford’s striker. But as the ball rolled out of bounds, keeper Velez stayed on the ground, a nasty gash in her knee making it impossible to continue. Freshman Liz Cassin was inserted in to hold on for the final 90 seconds and did a great job. But after two overtimes in state playoffs the game comes down to a penalty kick shoot off, a very unsatisfying way to end a game. And when the Lady Hilltoppers came out on the short end of a 3-2 shootout, it was a very unsatisfying way of ending their season. But oh what a season it was. 19-4, a huge goal scoring margin, a conference title, a number one ranking in their county and section during the year, and a number of players who will be named to all conference and county teams. You couldn’t ask for a better season, with the only sadness being that these 10 seniors will not be playing together for another 4 years. Thank you, Lady Hilltoppers for giving us a season to remember.

New Summit Women's Soccer Records Set by the 2007 Lady Hilltoppers

Most shutouts in a season Rebecca Velez 14
First Iron Hills Conference Champs
Best Conference Record 16-2
Best overall record 19-4
Fewest goals given up in a season (15)
Most Goals in a single game by a player (Liz curtin 4) tied 2001 record by Karen Jann