Andrew Constant – Sports Writer

Carteret’s Ciara Alston (left) battles for the ball with Metuchen’s Tracy Michalski during the first half of Wednesday’s game. Photo by: Mark R. Sullivan

METUCHEN — For the majority of the first half Wednesday afternoon, the field was tilted in Carteret’s favor, with the Ramblers coming away with the game’s better scoring chances. But, the Metuchen High School girls soccer team regrouped at halftime and came out with a more assertive second stanza, emerging with a 3-0 win thanks to a pair of goals from Katharine Chura.

At intermission, Metuchen head coach Val Gazda spoke to her team about getting back to what had worked for them coming into the game, and about how they had managed to win their first seven games by a combined score of 36-3.

“I actually played the role of the sports psychologist, tried to get them regrouped as to what has gotten them to the record that they’re at and talked them through good positive things and positive outcomes,” Gazda said. “And I think it helped because they put together 40 minutes of good solid soccer in the second half.”

Chura got the Bulldogs on the board five minutes into the second half, pounding home a header off a corner kick from her sister Melissa. From there, Metuchen controlled the ball better than they did in the first half, consistently working their way deep into Carteret territory and forcing the Ramblers’ defenders to work hard for the ball.

Only 11 minutes after the goal that got Metuchen going, Emily Costello made a great move down the right wing, eventually crossing a pass to Katharine Chura, who settled the ball to her feet and beat Carteret goalkeeper Aisha Chauhan to make it 2-0.

“Having kids that have a nose to the goal is a pleasure, because then you have more options and I like it,” Gazda said. “The shortest kid on the field launches a header into the net from her sister and it’s not too bad to see that.”

Metuchen would add a third goal with just minutes remaining in the contest when Savannah Wolfe worked the ball down the wing and centered it to Allie Chalker at the top of the box. Chalker played it down to her right foot and blasted a shot over Chauhan’s outstretched arms for the match’s final tally.

Even after dominating the first half, Carteret couldn’t get a goal past Emily Buchanan, who made four saves in the contest. The dynamic scoring duo of Ciara Alston and Fiorella Doglio for the Ramblers’ was held in check, but Gazda noted that she wasn’t sure if that would be the case coming in.

“Carteret handed it to us in the first 20 minutes and pretty much the whole first half and once we saw what they tried to do against us, it took time to adjust and tried to really find out what we had afforded to us,” she said. “I would take those two girls on our team in a heartbeat.”

The contest got a bit choppy in the second half, with multiple fouls leaving players on the ground and looking for assistance to get to the sideline. But, the top two teams in the Blue Division battled each other hard in the first of two meetings this season. They’ll meet again in Carteret on Oct. 14 and if the Bulldogs are to sweep the season series, Gazda knows they need to play a full 80 minutes of solid soccer.

“The first thing out of my mouth was that we were lucky to get out of here with a 3-0 victory, because Carteret wanted it more,” Gazda said. “But I’m proud of how we played in the second half.”

DUNELLEN — Just two days after scoring a hat trick, junior Olivia Draper found the back of the net twice more on Wednesday, helping the Highland Park High School girls soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Dunellen at Columbia Park.

Draper connected on goals in the 4th and 40th minutes of the first half, bookending a solid all-around effort by the Owls. Jessica Dresch also clicked in the opening 40 minutes for Highland Park, which scored a 6-1 win over South Amboy Monday.

Even though the Owls took a two-goal lead into intermission, coach Chris Ruckdeschel saw areas that his squad needs to improve if they’re going to be serious contenders in the Greater Middlesex Conference this season.

“At halftime, I honestly was not happy,” he said. “I thought that we should have had better possession and I thought that we should have moved the ball more; I saw way too much dribbling and then just to shut me up, in the second half we had much better possession and created more opportunities, but we didn’t finish.”

The opportunities that were finished came in the opening stanza, when Draper took advantage of a misplayed ball deep in the Dunellen end of the pitch and tapped in her fourth goal of the week.

After Jackie Von Itter tied the score for the Destroyers in the 16th minute, Dresch, who had entered as a substitute, was in the right place at the right time. Once again, the Dunellen defense broke down and Dresch lofted a shot that eluded freshman goalkeeper Casey Olsommer’s hands to put the Owls on top for good.

Draper’s second goal of the game came in the final seconds of the first half when she took a perfectly placed crossing pass from Sophie Gillerman near the top of the box and struck home her fifth goal of the season.

“Olivia is one of the smartest players we have,” Ruckdeschel said. “She knows exactly where to be and she’s a born finisher. When the ball gets on her foot, every goalie should be aware that it’s going on net.”

Draper said that she’s been working on using her weaker foot, her left, more to become harder to stop on offense and the scary thought for opponents for the rest of the season is that she thinks she’s just scratching the surface of what she can do with the ball.

“I’ve been working on crashing the net a lot because in past years, I’ve tended to run through the ball but just kind of let up,” Draper said. “Working on my left side is allowing me to have stronger kicks and I’m able to get the ball on net from further away.”

Highland Park had the better chances on net in the second half, and even though they weren’t able to add to their lead, Ruckdeschel knows that his young squad is still learning to play with one another.

“This game is about knowing when to move forwards and when to move backwards and it’ll come with time. We’re a young team, with only four seniors, but the leadership has been tremendous up to this point,” he said.

Old Bridge’s Melanie Santurro collides with Bishop Ahr goalkeeper Brianna Foster in the first half. Photo by: Doug Hood

OLD BRIDGE — With the temperature sitting in the mid 80’s all afternoon, the girls soccer teams from Old Bridge and Bishop Ahr were feeling the heat

And after a scoreless first half that saw neither team come away with a real quality scoring chance, Old Bridge got the game’s lone goal just after the break for a 1-0 victory in their season opener.

In the 46th minute, Old Bridge pushed forward and eventually won the ball down the right wing, with Lauren Coletti coming away with the ball. The senior got the ball on her right foot and crossed it into the box, where Gianna Taranto settled it down and struck it into the upper right corner of the net for the game’s lone marker.

“When the time came and kids were in the right spots defensively and offensively, we stuck in the goal when we had a chance and it was a good opportunity for us,” Old Bridge head coach Rob Lozzi said.

Bishop Ahr, who had played on Monday and defeated Edison 2-0, couldn’t muster a threatening look at the goal until deep into the second half, and when they did, Knights’ goalkeeper Alley Mauer was there to deny them. Mauer finished with 11 saves to pitch the shutout.

“A really, really solid effort from Alley today,” Lozzi said.

Mauer came up with three dynamite saves after the Knights had taken the lead, one coming on a free kick from about 30 yards away. But the best of the day came in the 75th minute, with Bishop Ahr pushing everyone forward, when Mauer made a diving stop to her right that preserved the victory.

“My heart was racing at the end of this one. I think all of our hearts were,” Mauer said. “We just stuck it out and a save that I make is one we all make. We were all in it together.”

Both teams needed to be on top of their games in the heat of the early season, as both coaches substituted often to keep players fresh.

“I think the heat was huge for both teams,” Lozzi said. “The kids on both teams were really affected by the weather.”

But it wasn’t just the heat that held back the two sides, as throughout the contest, passes went awry and the rhythm of the contest slowed down.

“Our first touch was not there today. I’ll give Bishop Ahr a lot of credit; they had their first touch and moved the ball around really well,” Lozzi said. “We really did a lot to undermine ourselves today, but I think Bishop Ahr had some real nice opportunities and Alley came up with a few nice saves in the second half to preserve it for us.”

Alexa Poveliaitis had Bishop Ahr’s best opportunities in the second half, but couldn’t solve the puzzle that was Mauer on this day.

“Bishop Ahr is a very good team and I think down the line they’ll be a team that we’ll see at the end of the season,” Lozzi said.