You can rest assure that if No. 2 Chatham High School (N.J.) Girl’s soccer is scoring, junior Lucy Arps has something to do with it.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Arps proved that by ringing up four goals and two assists in the Cougars’ 6-0 mercy victory over third-seeded Montville Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Morris County Tournament (MCT) at Montville High School.
Chatham held the ball a majority of the contest, and was on the offensive attack often, with Arps at the forefront. It was the linchpin to the Cougars’ excellent defensive effort, according to Arps.
“I think so, and in a huge game,” Arps responded when asked if this was the first time she scored four goals in a game. “I’m feeling good. I feel like all of us just played. We came into this game, at first, it was a little rocky, and then we got possession, we were all good. Seriously, I feel like when we have the ball, that’s the best defense.”
Arps, a UPenn commit, scored her first goal of the match on a penalty lock that sailed over the outstretched arms of Mustangs’ goalkeeper sophomore Juliana Benecki with 26:45 to go in the first half.
Just a few minutes later, however, Benecki came out the net and denied a Chatham player a marker to keep it a one-goal game.
But Arps would give the Cougars a two-score lead with 8:28 left in the first half.
Then, Arps got free in open space and blasted a long attempt by Benecki for a 3-0 advantage with 2:43 remaining in the half.
This time, while lying in wait, Arps sniped a shot into the back of the net for a 4-0 lead midway through the second half.
Not to be left out, senior Sophie D’Egido added a goal of her own, assisted by Arps, for a 5-0 advantage with 25:18 to go in the match.
Sophomore Junna Sho ended the Mustangs’ afternoon after her tally evoked the mercy rule with 11:48 remaining on the contest, advancing Chatham to the MCT finals against West Morris Central next Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Roxbury. Of course, Arps recorded the helper, completing her spectacular performance.
Though head coach Anthony Correale coached his girls up on certain aspects of the game, he gave them full credit for the terrific way they carried it out the game plan.
“It’s all them. They’re up for it,” Correale said of the team’s collective spirit and performance. “We worked on few things; we talked about a few things. It was up to them to go out and execute them, and they did that. They really did. We worked a lot off the ball over the last couple of days. We worked with the ball, too, because we want to play the way we want to play. Working on it is one thing but having them do it themselves on the field makes me extremely proud.”
The Cougars travel to West Morris Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
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