Sussex Advances to Region XIX Final

The Sussex women's soccer team advanced to their fourth Region XIX Final in 4 years yesterday after a 1-0 win against Rowan College at Burlington County.  Karleigh Noll scored the game winning goal off a cross from Romane Calandreau with ten minutes remaining in the first half.  Sussex started off on the front foot, controlling play for the entire first half.  RCBC found themselves pinned back toward their own penalty area for most of the half, defending in numbers, and making it very difficult for Sussex to break them down.  The Sussex midfield, consisting of Maddi Ollington, Lea Fricke, and Giovanna Castro were constantly pulling the strings and keeping possession for the Skylanders.  Then, with 9:53 remaining in the half, Sussex winger Romane Calandreau found herself in space on the right side of Burlington's penalty area, where she delivered a far post cross to find Karleigh Noll outjumping the defender to head home the goal and take the lead.

The second half started with RCBC increasing the pressure and earning scoring chances of their own.  Sussex had to remain resilient and make some last ditch tackles and blocks to keep Burlington scoreless.  Both sides would see chances in the second half with the balance of play being very equal between the teams.  The best chance for Sussex came about 20 minutes into the half when Hayley Merriman found herself one on one with the goalkeeper in the left channel off an incisive pass from Maddi Ollington.  Merriman did everything right, except for the finish which saw her shot miss narrowly wide to the right of goal.  Sussex goalkeeper Emily Martinez was also called into action having to make 3 saves to keep the clean sheet.

Sussex will play in the Region XIX Final against Essex CC in a repeat of last season's Final on October 27 at the Proving Grounds in Conshohocken, PA.

Photos courtesy of Traci Smith.