Girls Soccer: Timothy Christian tops Highland Park

PISCATAWAY - Arguably the best player on the Timothy Christian School girls soccer team, senior Sarah Solorazano injured her knee three weeks ago and didn’t know if she would return this season. On Wednesday afternoon, Solorazano made her long-awaited return with some flair.

Solorazano lofted the ball from about 35 yards out over the head of the Highland Park goalkeeper about one minute into the second half to lead the Tigers (10-2-1) to a 1-0 victory over the Owls (9-2), the No. 1 team in the Greater Middlesex Conference Gold Division.

“As a team, we noticed she plays way off her line, so as soon as I got the ball, I knew I had to get it up in the air and put it on frame,” Solorazano said. “It was pretty special. It’s God working through me, so that was nice to see.”

Solorazano hurt her knee during a game on Sept. 14 against Mother Seton. The Tigers dropped their next two games to Dunellen and Highland Park in Solorazano’s absence, but the team has rallied around its star since then and has won  its last seven games. The second-place Tigers now sit only one game behind Highland Park in the loss column in the Gold Division standings.

“One of the things we talked about was we have a choice; we can either break down as a team or rally together and really step up, and since that moment, the team has stepped up,” Timothy Christian coach Tim Nussbaumer said. “Through that adversity, the team really grew up. That’s when we turned the corner and started winning games.”

After Solorazano’s goal, Highland Park possessed the ball in the Tigers’ side of the field for most of the second half. The Tigers wanted to protect their goalie Elizabeth Oduro and avoid giving Highland Park wide-open opportunities on goal, a mistake Timothy Christian made often in its 5-1 loss to the Owls earlier in the season.

“Our number one key for this game was to keep our defense in shape, meaning keeping numbers behind the ball and limiting one-on-ones against our goalie,” Nussbaumer said. “In our first game against Highland Park, our goalie played a heck of a game, but we put her in bad positions, often one-on-one.”

Coming off a tough 3-2 loss to a very talented Metuchen squad on Saturday, Highland Park remains in first place despite losing two games in a row. Clinging to their small divisional lead, the Owls need a win against South Amboy on Thursday.

“I think it starts with getting back to the basics,” Highland Park coach Chris Ruckdeschel said. “Whether it was the long weekend or taking an opponent for granted, I think this is the wake-up call to know they’re not invincible and that anybody can show up and beat them on any given day.”

Staff Writer Daniel LoGiudice: dlogiudice@gannettnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @danny_logiudice.