South Brunswick girls soccer squeaks past Monroe

After taking an early first half lead, the South Brunswick High School girls soccer team had to hold off an unrelenting Monroe offensive attack to walk away with a big division victory on Tuesday afternoon.

With Monroe pulling the deficit to 2-1 in the second half and knocking on the door of an equalizer, the Vikings defense dug in and kept the Falcons from finding the back of the net as senior forward Kate Mastro scored in the final two minutes to help South Brunswick (2-1) escape with a 3-1 victory.

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Defenders Samia Baig, Alex Zubarev and Samantha Rivera along with goalkeeper Sydney Schneider were brilliant down the stretch, fighting off a constant barrage from Monroe.

“Our defense as a whole played really well, we’re talking about 12 to 15 minutes where we were constantly defending,” South Brunswick coach Beth Barrio said. “They really stepped up and gave our offense another chance by continuing to try to send balls forward. I think they stood their ground which gave us a few more opportunities up front.”

Looking like a completely different team, Monroe took more shots on goal in the second half. They were able to pull within one when junior midfielder Olivia Haas scored off a corner kick from senior midfielder Stephanie Stojanovski with under 23 minutes to play.

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The Falcons came out of the gates red-hot whereas the Vikings were caught a bit flatfooted.

“We talked at halftime about not being complacent and not underestimating them,” Barrio said. “I think once they scored, the girls realized (Monroe) was in it to play for 80 minutes, they weren’t done at halftime.”

Monroe head coach Peter Ruckdeschel put another player up top in an attempt to get more numbers forward in the second half. His Falcons certainly tested the Vikings' defense, but they were unable to come up with an equalizer.

“It was nice to see the girls really come together and work with each other,” Ruckdeschel said. “This was our best showing in terms of team effort. They pulled together and played for a full 80 minutes, it was really nice.”

The Vikings scored first when midfielder Francesca Dimitrakis passed a through ball to a streaking Adrianna Mouzakis, who smashed the ball into the net as South Brunswick took a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the game. With just over two minutes left in the first, Mouzakis dribbled the length of the field and scored again to take a 2-0 halftime lead.

“We knew they were going to come out hungry, and we wanted to match that,” Barrio said. “I think we came out ready to play in the first half.”

With this loss, Monroe falls to 0-3, with all three losses against division opponents. As is the case with the Red Division, the Falcons have yet another tough game on deck as they take on East Brunswick on Thursday

“I’m not worried at all,” Ruckdeschel said. “I think we have a great squad, and I know we can come through."

Staff Writer Daniel LoGiudice can be reached at dlogiudice@gannettnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @danny_logiudice.