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Girls Soccer: Meixner’s OT goal leads Middlesex past Mother Seton

Steven Macri
@StevenMacri

When the going gets tough, the Middlesex High School girls soccer team gets tougher and the Blue Jays are quickly developing a defining trademark as fighters.

Middlesex didn’t shy away from its competition on Monday afternoon against Mother Seton. The game was knotted up at 1-1 heading into overtime, but luckily for the Blue Jays, they have Mackenzie Meixner. After a ball was deflected off a defender in front of the net, Meixner came soaring to the rescue and slammed home the game winning goal just 2:10 into overtime for the 2-1 victory.

“I was following up and the ball was crossed,” Meixner said. “The two defenders in front of me had miscommunication and I just went for it.”

The heroic moment came a weekend after a game against Wardlaw-Hartridge the junior would like to forget. With Wardlaw-Hartridge in the lead 3-1, Meixner had two chances to begin a comeback, but was unable to convert.

“It feels really good to get the game-winner today because I made two terrible mistakes on Friday,” Meixner said. “I was dribbling with a breakaway and I bombed that.”

Middlesex was once again playing from behind on Monday. Shannon Wieszczek was able to sneak a shot past the goal keeper to put Mother Seton on the board early and the Blue Jays went into halftime looking for answers.

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In a game where opportunities were scarce, Middlesex had to take advantage of every open shot. The Blue Jays controlled the possession for a majority of the second half and were awarded a corner kick after charging into Mother Seton’s territory. Zakiya Beckles’ used her aggressive play on the field to help put herself in a position to succeed. She fought her way to the front of the net and hammered a header past the goalie to tie the game 1-1.

“I think we got our momentum back,” Beckles said. “We all started playing harder and didn’t give up.”

“When she scored that goal, I immediately turned to my bench and told them to relive that urgency, throwing her body at the ball, getting her head on it and doing whatever it takes to get that ball in the net,” Middlesex coach Tim Morris said. “If we can get 11 players to perform like, that we will be in good shape.”

Middlesex jumps to one game over .500 after the victory, sitting at 4-3 on the season. It has seen two close games against Metuchen and Wardlaw-Hartridge go in the opposite direction. Against Mother Seton, the Blue Jays triumphed and no one was more pleased than Morris

“It’s a big relief to come out on top,” Morris said. “The girls get that we are playing well, they are doing some good things on the field. The Metuchen game earlier in the season didn’t go our way, but we learned from that game because we battled back. We were down 3-0, but after we scored one goal, we kept chipping away. Eventually it was a game.

“We had a bunch of chances we didn’t quite put away today. The finishing wasn’t there, but I’m glad we snuck one in during the overtime period.”

Meixner left the field with a big smile on her face after drilling the game-winning shot and went home as the hero.

“She’s working for homework passes I think,” Morris jokingly said. “She’s got a deal, I think where she scores five goals, one of her teachers gives her a homework pass.

“When she’s playing that defensive center mid, when she clicks on, if she has that determination, she’s a tough player to stop. I bet she lost sleep over the weekend replaying the two goals against Wardlaw that she should’ve had. To make sure she can put it together and put it in for her team is good for her confidence.”

Staff Writer Steven Macri: smacri@gannettnj.com