Sayreville girls soccer hosts Ovarian Cancer Night to raise awareness

With red clouds signaling the calm before the storm, it seemed as if Bettylou Nagy smiled down on the Sayreville High School girls soccer squad on Sept. 29 for its annual Ovarian Cancer Night.

Erin Wimmer scored a first-half goal for the Bombers, and the defense left little room for error from opposing North Brunswick. As the clock ticked down each minute and the night faded away, it was clear that Sayreville would pull through to capture a meaningful victory for coach Jillian McGarry.

“There is a lot of emotion that goes into this night,” captain Kaitlin Esposito said. “Sometimes it can be a distraction with the crowd, but we used it to our benefit tonight. We fed off of their energy and wanted to win for the night and the cause we are doing.”

Nagy, McGarry’s mother, died Oct. 3, 2005, after a long battle with ovarian cancer. Nagy was a monumental part of McGarry’s life, and she wanted a way to continue her memory.

“My mom battled cancer my entire life, since I was 1,” McGarry said. “She had breast cancer and ovarian cancer, so this hits close to home. When I was the middle school coach, the head varsity coach started ovarian cancer night. When I took it over, I made it my own tradition.

“We want to make people aware of cancer. It’s important to me. Any dollar counts towards raising awareness.”

Ovarian Cancer Night originally began small but has taken off in the Sayreville community and is now a tradition. This special occasion becomes a weeklong event in the Sayreville hallways.

The girls go around selling T-shirts and balloons, with all of the profits going toward fighting cancer. This year the team sold around 700 balloons. The team arrives at the field at 2:30 p.m. on the day of the game to decorate the stadium. The players tie all of the sold balloons along the fence and set up fundraising stands, with the notable item being their tricky trays.

Once all is done, the group of players make sure to send a letter home to McGarry’s father to make him aware of the total they raised for that year.

For one night of the year the Bombers don’t display their usual blue and white colors, but instead the stadium becomes a sea of teal, including the girls’ jerseys on the field.

Sayreville has become a close-knit group after a slow start to the season. The Bombers began the 2015 campaign with a 1-3 record, but a drastic change to the chemistry in the locker room began when Sandra Mercadi began a daily ritual to help boost the team’s morale.

Mercadi began a movement called “positive vibes” where she slips positive messages under McGarry’s door every morning. The team followed in her footsteps, and it has become a motto to live and play by.

“Our motto for the season is ‘positive vibes,’ ” Esposito said. “This record is kind of tough because we were fighting with each other a little bit, it was getting frustrating. A win like tonight shows that we can play as a team. It was great to have everybody play for each other and not for themselves.”

Sayreville showed up as a family against North Brunswick. The girls showed up to the field early and stayed late. When the opening whistle went off, the Bombers had endless communication and battled until the end for their coach.

“These kids are my life. I just got married in June, so these are like my children,” McGarry said. “For them to come out and maintain their positive vibe constantly, over and over again, and maintain their aggressive play is important. They love the whole atmosphere and setting up before the game. For them to get this win and not get distracted is huge.”

The Bombers circle this date on their calendar once the schedule is released. The importance of this day has gone much deeper than coach McGarry, as her team now stands behind her.

The Bombers finish off the day by taking the balloons and sending them off to heaven. The memory of Bettylou Nagy survives in every one of those balloons and the efforts made by the program.

“Knowing that her mom is behind this, we want to push through and win,” Wimmer said. “It’s more important to win on this kind of night because there are a lot of people watching and waiting for us to come through.”

Staff Writer Steven Macri: smacri@gannettnj.com