H.S. girls' soccer: Haddonfield's seniors spark, finish dramatic comeback

WEST DEPTFORD – Juliet Walls didn’t have to look far to find the person she was looking for.

After she delivered the golden goal that sent the Haddonfield Memorial High School girls’ soccer team into the sectional final, the senior bear-hugged her best friend, Sara Smith, and the pair fell to the ground as the Dawg pile commenced.

The Bulldawgs rallied from a two-goal deficit to earn a thrilling 3-2 win in double overtime, beating their fiercest rival West Deptford on the Eagles' home grass in the South Jersey Group 2 semifinal round on Tuesday.

“We didn’t think we were going to get a chance to play together again, but we did and it’s an incredible feeling,” Walls said. “We’re best friends, we’ve known each other forever and this was just an amazing feeling. She’s the first person I went to (to celebrate the goal) and we fell to the ground. It couldn’t have happened any better.”

There were plenty of factors that led to one of the most dramatic comebacks in the history of the Haddonfield program, but head coach Lori Quintavalle said one stood out above the rest.

“Senior leadership, period,” Quintavalle said. “Sara Smith has been out all season and she along with Juliet at halftime basically said, ‘It’s not over.’ You could see the look in their eyes, the whole team bought into that.

“The two senior captains led the way. Sara came out and finished off the first one. … And for Juliet to get the game winner is just the ice on the cake.”

Both Walls and Smith said their halftime words weren't the fire-up variety, but a more comforting tone of getting the team back on track.

“We just told them it could be our last game and we have to play for each other,” Walls said. “We’re always trying to build each other up. It there’s a bad kick, it’s not ‘Oh, no,’ it’s ‘You got the next one.’ We never let our heads go down.”

Smith added, “We knew we could play better, that’s what we told them at halftime and we showed it in the second half.”

Much like her thousand-watt smile can light up a room, Smith’s play has pumped new energy into the Haddonfield squad.

Smith wasn’t supposed to play at all this season. The speedster suffered a torn meniscus in her knee during the spring and tried to play through it in the preseason, but shut things down.

However, the doctors recently gave her clearance to play and she took the field for the first time on her birthday as Haddonfield knocked off Haddon Heights 1-0 on Nov. 5.

Smith said conditioning has been the toughest thing about her return. She was limited to just a few minutes in her first game and playing time increased a little bit more against West Deptford.

“We’re limiting when she’s out there and she can just run free and knows that she can come out,” Quintavalle said. “Her body is just getting used to moving again. You can see that she makes such a difference with her speed, her vision and there’s no give up with that girl.”

Smith had several great scoring chances throughout the game and she put the Haddonfield comeback in motion with her first goal of the season with 25 minutes left in regulation.

“Scoring a goal here is just a surreal feeling,” Smith said. “I really had no intent to come back, but then things changed. It’s been very hard, the first game I was winded after the first five minutes. I played more minutes in this game and I felt better. It’s coming along.”

Allison Tighe, who missed Haddonfield’s first two postseason games when she was attending the Peruvian National U-17 team camp last week, rejoined the club and delivered the equalizer less than six minutes later. It was her team-high 16th of the season.

While Smith and Tighe had several scoring chances in the extra periods, it was Walls who knocked in the game winner, finishing off a flick pass from Lilah Jacovini for the golden goal.

Smith said she wasn’t surprised that her best friend came through in the clutch situation.

“That’s what she does, she’s always shows up when we need her the most,” Smith said.

Haddonfield (13-7-1) is playing its best soccer when it matters the most. The third-seeded Haddons, winners in eight of their last nine games, will now go for a three-peat of sectional titles when it hosts Cinnaminson in Friday’s sectional final.

“I think we’ve just been gaining our confidence and being more comfortable in our positions,” Quintavalle said about the strong home stretch. “We really had a hard beginning of the season. We were away a lot against really tough teams and on grass a lot, but we got our confidence in each other. …. If we didn’t have those hard games away, … we wouldn’t be ready for this.”

Walls said she’s looking forward to playing the title game on Haddonfield's fast artificial surface, where the Bulldawgs are 9-1 this season.

“We love our turf,” she said. “We’re excited to go back home.”

West Deptford (17-5-1), which had its seven-game win streak snapped, took a 2-0 lead into intermission with goals from Remi Newcomb and Lexy Yeager.

In the other South Jersey Group 2 game:

Cinnaminson 3, Sterling 2 (OT): After watching a two-goal lead disappear, the Pirates checked into the sectional final with a double-overtime win over the top-seeded Silver Knights. Emma Fuegel had two goals and set up a third score by Katie Ambos.

Kailey Sheehan scored the equalizer for Sterling after Faith Dickson had cut the deficit to 2-1 earlier in the second half.

South Jersey Group 1

Schalick 2, Haddon Twp. 0: In a rematch of last season's sectional final, the Cougars got revenge with two-second half goals by Kerri Jackson and Molly Wood to earn a trip to the championship game.

Maresa Savarese and Isabella DeVoe recorded helpers while Carly Hayman made seven saves for the clean sheet.

Pennsville 1, Pitman 0 (PKs): The fifth-seeded Eagles eliminated the top-seeded Panthers, advancing in penalty kicks.

After 100 minutes of soccer failed to produce a winner, Pennsville prevailed in the tiebreaker, winning 4-3.

Central Jersey Group 1

Point Pleasant Boro 4, Palmyra 3: The top-seeded Panthers saw their season come to a close with a penalty-kick tiebreaker loss to the fourth seed. Palmyra finishes at 17-5.

Shore 4, Maple Shade 0: The third-seeded Wildcats couldn't keep pace with the home squad in the semifinal loss. Maple Shade finished its season at 11-6-1.

South Jersey Group 3

Mainland 2, Ocean City 1 (PK): The fifth-seeded Mustangs eliminated the defending state Group 3 champ and top-ranked Raiders, prevailing in penalty kicks.

The two teams traded goals in regulation with scores from Ocean City's Summer Reimet and Mainland's Julia Kaes.

Reimet closes her incredible career with 131 goals, including 62 this season.

Lacey Twp. 3, Clearview 2: The second-seeded Pioneers' season came to a heart-wrenching end as the team squandered a two-goal lead in the second half and fell to the third-seed.

Adriana Careless and Ava Costello delivered goals in the opening half for Clearview, which finished its season at 14-6-1.

South Jersey Group 4

Toms River North 3, Kingsway 0: The fifth-seeded Dragons surrendered three second-half goals and were bounced from the tournament by the top-seeded Mariners.

Kingsway finished its season at 12-6-2 while Toms River North will host 11th-seeded Gloucester County Tech in Friday's championship game.

More: Riley, Gloucester Tech thrive on doing things the hard way

Central Jersey Group 4

Rancocas Valley 4, East Brunswick 1: Kennedy Garcia accounted for all of the Red Devils' production during the win that vaulted the team into the title game.

Garcia scored two goals in each half, raising her season total to 21.

Leah Howe, Erin Lally and Nicole Everard each had a helper for Rancocas Valley, which will travel to top-seeded Freehold Township for Friday's championship.

South Non-Public B

Bishop Eustace 2, Holy Cross 1 (PKs): The Crusaders advanced thanks to a 4-2 triumph in penalty kicks.

The two teams played to a 1-1 tie through regulation.

Bishop Eustace will play second-seeded Rutgers Prep in Friday's sectional final.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: H.S. girls' soccer: Haddonfield's seniors spark, finish dramatic comeback