SOCCER

Ridge's Keefe is Courier News Girls Soccer Player of the Year

Lauren Knego
Courier News and Home News Tribune

Ridge's Erin Keefe is the consummate team player. 

After starting the season 5-1, the Red Devils fell in back-to-back shutouts against Bridgewater-Raritan and Northern Highlands at the end of September. According to coach Katie Donahue, the seniors got together and came to the conclusion that something had to change. 

Which is when Keefe stepped up. 

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Keefe, a senior who started the season as the center midfielder, was moved to the center back position in order to bolster the defense. It worked wonders as Ridge finished the season 15-1 with 12 shutouts. 

"I think she was very selfless in the fact that she wanted to be more involved in the attack, but she understood where the team needed her and she stepped up," Donahue said. "She understood that we had players to rotate, but we didn’t have anyone we could rotate into the center back role. When we weighed the pros and cons, it was something that was very simple for us to solidify, with the way she plays and her speed and ability to read games and be physical and win the air balls, it allows the outside backs to get involved in the attack, which is a big part of our offensive shape."

Keefe finished the season with eight goals and six assists as Ridge finished 20-4, advanced to the Somerset County Tournament final, won the NJSIAA North 2 Group IV sectional title and finished as Group IV co-champions with Freehold Township after playing to a scoreless tie. 

For her efforts, Keefe is the 2017 Courier News Girls Soccer Player of the Year. 

"She is a very determined player, and the kind of player that a lot of her teammates look to as a common presence out there," Donahue said. "She’s focused and understands where to position herself and wants to be involved in set pieces, she’s a leader with how she plays and her style and what she does to make players around her better."

Keefe said she started playing soccer when she was three or four because her older sister, Shannon, played. She also played basketball and lacrosse, but gave them up when she entered high school in order to focus on soccer.

During her freshman year she was pulled up to varsity due to an injury, and ended up playing in one of the Ridge's biggest games of the season the next day. Despite being a bundle of nerves, the fact that Shannon and Donahue had confidence in her abilities helped immensely. 

"I got pulled up and I was very nervous, but my sister was on the team and she helped me. She and coach had my back and told me how to play and it was crazy, but with the help of my teammates they helped me play the best I can play," Keefe said. "I think it boosted my confidence a lot. I know it was a really good boost that I was good enough to come up and I knew that the next year I could help out."

Keefe has been starting ever since, and has played a number of positions, including center midfield, outside back and center back. She prefers being in the middle, but anywhere her team needs her to play, she'll play. 

"Anything they needed, I could do whatever they needed me too, where they needed me I just kind of went," she said. "It was senior leadership in the back and I got to see the field, which was good for me to communicate with people and tell them were to go and where to shift, we were the eyes in the back."

The defense was instrumental against undefeated Westfield in the North 2 Group IV final, as both teams battled for 100 minutes but neither team could score. The Red Devils won in penalty kicks 4-3 to win their third-straight sectional title. 

"It’s crazy, we never gave up, even when we were underdogs and predicted to lose, everyone used it as motivation and played as hard as we could for 100 minutes because we knew we had to be the ones to win," Keefe said. "We realized that they were undefeated and a great team and at the point we said, 'Hey, we’re a great team too,' and we could use that moving forward, we can do this."

Ridge kept the momentum going in the Group IV semifinals against Morris Knolls, winning 1-0 to advance to its first final since 2015. Keefe assisted on the lone goal as the Red Devils won 1-0. 

In the Group IV final against Freehold Township, Ridge again kept another potent offense scoreless as both teams finished as co-champions. 

"It’s definitely hard (being co-champs), especially because we did it in 2015 and again now," Keefe said. "Freehold Township is a really good team and right after the game no one realized the accomplishments because we wanted to be the only ones with the trophy. It took a couple of days but we realized we are still state champions and we should be proud of what we did this season."

Keefe will continue her soccer career at Lehigh University next season, and she's excited to use all of the knowledge, lessons and skill she's learned in high school at the next level. But her high school soccer career isn't over yet as she will play in the High School All-American Game on Dec. 2 in Orlando, Fla. 

"I think the Westfield game," Keefe answered when asked about her favorite moment this season. "All the hard work, we had been together for the whole season, since Aug. 15 every day, and that’s the day everyone realized as a team how much faith we had in each other and how much we could push through even when we weren’t supposed to."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego