St.Thomas Aquinas/Bishop Ahr HS Girls’ Soccer

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: Memory 2013:
Unranked Bishop Ahr knocks out No. 4 Immaculate Heart, 1-0, for first Non-Public A title

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

By Rich Barton
EWING – When Bishop Ahr upset Pingry to win the Non-Public South A section title, it appeared on the surface that Immaculate Heart Academy’s path to a state title was cleared significantly. IHA was hungry, playing its best soccer and going against Bishop Ahr, a school that had never played in a state final before Wednesday night. But state championship matches often bring out the best in teams that have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Such was the case for Bishop Ahr. In a game in which both defenses put out dominant performances, there was no margin for error and someone was going to have to make a fantastic play to find the back of the net.
One swing of Jillian Vassallo’s right leg ended up being the difference between one team making history and another walking off the field with a disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic season.
Vassallo’s goal in the 47th minute gave Bishop Ahr the lead. Led by goalie Brianna Foster and marking back Claire Dundon, that lead held up the rest of the way as IHA’s valiant comeback attempt fell short with Bishop Ahr pulling off a second straight upset to win the school’s first-ever state title in any sport with a 1-0 win over IHA night in the Non-Public A State final at The College of New Jersey in Ewing.
“This is crazy, to win the past two games the way we have is incredible,” said Vassallo.
IHA came in as the favorite and played like a team that was determined to take an early lead. The Blue Eagles dominated the first 20 minutes of the game, but had no shots on goal to show for it.
Bishop Ahr had the first real scoring chance of the game with IHA’s Taylor Lupi saving a header. Then on a long through ball from Sophia Gulati, IHA’s Grace Jarrett and Foster collided with Foster pouncing on the loose ball as the teams went to halftime 0-0.
Less than seven minutes into the half, a cross deflected off an IHA defender and landed on the foot of Vassallo 25 yards from net. With her back to the goal and a defender on her hip, her only way to create space for a shot was to take a dribble to her right. She instinctively did that, then hit a perfect shot that bent over the outstretched hands of Lupi and into the upper left-hand corner to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead.
“I was just thinking to get it on net because you’re not going to get too many opportunities against a team like (IHA),” said Vassallo. “It felt and looked pretty good when I hit it. I knew it was a good shot, but once it hits the back of the net it’s a totally different feeling. To hear it hit the back of the net was a shock, it felt amazing. I felt like I was constantly looking at the clock after that though. They’re such a good team and there was a lot of time left that anything could have happened.”
IHA pushed forward for the remainder of the game, but the Trojan defense hung tough and only let them get close to Foster on a handful of occasions. Alex Mesropyan skipped a long shot off the crossbar and another blast from Camille Didio went wide.
“We had to hang on at the end but I had all the confidence in the world in our defense to get the job done,” said Bishop Ahr head coach Jim Tavormina. “We bent a few times, but we never broke and that’s hard to do against a team like IHA. We let them possess the ball and then shut down the passing lanes in our third of the field.”
With just minutes to play the Blue Eagles ramped up the pressure and got one last opportunity on the left wing off of a long cross towards the back post from Jackie St. John. Foster (five saves) was up to the task all night and made one final play, leaping to haul it in as Bishop Ahr won its first state title and IHA (19-2-1) saw its hope for a triple crown season come to a close.
Although for the seniors it was a heartbreaking end to the season, IHA head coach Brandon Silva feels that there is a lesson to be learned that the Class of 2014 can take with it to college and for the underclassmen, who now have the fuel to get back to TCNJ next year and come away with a state title.
“We never really settled in and play our brand of soccer,” said Silva. “It is difficult to score when the opposing team plays good defense, has a good keeper and plays with a lot of players behind the ball. Soccer teaches you lessons both on and off the field. It happened to us against Ridgewood and it happened again tonight. Soccer teaches you to face adversity and deal with it win or lose. We’re very upset that we lost this game. But the sun will still come up tomorrow and these kids have a lot more to look forward to in their lives.”

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FROM 2013: Video - BGA WINS FIRST SECTIONAL TITLE IN PROGRAM'S HISTORY - After seeing a number of scoring opportunities throughout the game just miss, and the game still scoreless with the time in regulation slowly diminishing, the Bishop Ahr High School girls soccer team finally saw a ball go its way.
Jillian Vassallo finished inside the 18-yard box, tapping in a long-ranging free kick from Dana Desantis in the 75th minute for the game-winning score to lift the top-seeded Trojans to a 1-0 victory over second-seeded Holy Cross in the NJSIAA Non-Public South A final on Thursday, the first sectional title in the program’s history.
Bishop Ahr will face the Non-Public North A champion Immaculate Heart, which defeated Pope John on Thursday night, for the Non-Public A title on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at The College of New Jersey.
“It was such an amazing feeling, such a rush after I scored,” Vassallo said. “We’d been knocking on the door the whole time, the whole game we didn’t let up and finally we knew we were going to get one, we just couldn’t let up and finally one went in and it felt great.”
The Trojans captured the win in front of a raucous student fan base of approximately 100 who made the 140-mile round trip from the Edison school to Eastern High School, as they paid their own way to get two buses to make the trip.
“It was pretty hectic during the week trying to get these fan buses to come and as soon as we got permission to do it, everyone wanted to come and it was just great support from the school,” Vassallo said. “Our fans really love us and we love them back and it was a great feeling to show they really love and support us.”
Bishop Ahr (18-2) controlled the play throughout for the most part, outshooting Holy Cross (19-3-2) 17-3 and saw a number of close chances miss, including two first half shots that hit off the crossbar.
“We had our chances,” Bishop Ahr coach Jim Tavormina said. “We just told them one was going to go, just keep the pressure up, keep shooting, and we finally got one.”
After barely surviving the previous two rounds in penalty kicks, the Trojans were relieved to be able to win this one without any extra time need, as goalie Brianna Foster only needed to make three saves.
“Thank god it wasn’t in PKs again,” Vassallo said. “It was great just to win this one in regulation, we really needed it, and we really worked hard to get here and we deserve it.”
“After we lost in the semifinals of GMC’s, we really wanted to go all the way through states and now we’re here and we really need to bring it next time, we can’t hold anything back,” Vassallo said.

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FROM 2013 (yes, it's been that long ago already): THE RUN BEGINS - Bishop Ahr 1, St. John Vianney 1 (6-5 in sudden-death shootout): Claire Dundon knocked home the game-winner in the seventh round of the penalty kick shootout to lift top-seeded Bishop Ahr (17-2). The first five shooters from each side converted their penalty kicks before Brianna Foster stoned St. John Vianney’s sixth shooter with a diving save to her right. After a miss by each side, Dundon calmly stepped up and scored the winner. Alexa Povelaitis converted a goal from Dana DeSantis in regulation and Foster made six saves for the Trojans, who will face fourth-seeded and defending champ Pingry on Monday.