Girls Soccer: Forsythe scores three goals as Edison cruises past Colonia
COLONIA – The turf at Colonia High School may be blue, but senior forward Felicia Forsythe and the Edison High School girls soccer team were certainly not feeling blue after Saturday morning’s victory against Colonia.
Forsythe scored three goals in the second half to lead Edison (5-2) to a 3-0 victory over White Division foe Colonia on a chilly early fall morning. With the hat trick, Forsythe now has 18 goals and five multi-goal games on the season.
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“She pressures defenses and goalkeepers, I think everything that we do is somewhat centered around her and her ability to make plays,” Edison coach Christopher McKnight said. “Having defenders follow her around, even when she’s not scoring goals she’s a major threat on the field.”
Forsythe’s first goal was probably her most impressive of the day. After receiving a pass from senior Elena Elias, Forsythe took an ambitious shot from about 40 yards out and snuck it past the goalkeeper to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead about seven minutes into the second half.
Her next two goals were more routine. She found the back of the net with less than 25 minutes to play to extend the lead to 2-0 and then sealed the victory with a goal at the seven minute mark.
“I feel like we were just working all together,” Forsythe said. “The ball movement was working, and we know how each other plays.”
The Edison defense shined just as brightly as Forsythe, shutting down the Colonia attack and limiting its shots on goal all game. With only one senior starter and three sophomores, the Edison defense is slowly turning into a cohesive unit.
“Our defense is continually getting better and better each game with leaps and bounds,” McKnight said. “They’re ability to play as a unit and communicate and their ability to know the tendencies of their teammates is really helping them improve as a unit.”
Colonia (4-4) did a nice job of limiting Forsythe and the potent Eagles' offense early on, keeping Edison off the scoreboard in the first half. In the second half, the Eagles upped the ante and were able to break the stalemate.
“We knew we had to score in order to win,” Forsythe said. “They were pressuring us more in the first half, but we were playing around them. Everything worked better for us in the second half.”
After dropping their first two games of the season to divisional opponents in Woodbridge and Bishop Ahr, Edison is now riding a five-game winning streak.
“We have a nice flow going, a little win streak,” McKnight said. “Hopefully we’re going to take that momentum and confidence, and to see everyone a second time around with a little more knowledge is going to help us in the games to come and hopefully help us catch the division leaders.”
Staff Writer Daniel LoGiudice can be reached at dlogiudice@gannettnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @danny_logiudice.