Senior goalie Lauryn Dempsey and her New Providence teammates have proven to be nothing if not resilient this season.
And that remarkable resolve was on full display yesterday in the NJSIAA/Star-Ledger Group 1 championship match.
Despite being outshot by a wide margin and spending most of the game fending off attacks in front of its net, New Providence did some excellent work in its defensive third to emerge with a scoreless tie against Glen Rock and a share of the Group 1 championship at The College of New Jersey in Ewing.
It's the second time New Providence has earned a co-championship in Group 1 in the past four years.
"Our team showed so much heart," Dempsey said. "We just kept fighting and we never gave UP." Dempsey was referring to her team's, performance yesterday, but she easily could have been talking about New Providence's entire season.
The team barely qualified for the state tournament when it forged a scoreless tie with rival Gov. Livingston in its last game before the cutoff. Its record at the time was 8-8-1.
"If you had said in October that we would win a share of the state championship, I don't know if we would have believed it," junior sweeper Heidi Sarazen said. "But we always had hope, and that helped us realize our goal."
It didn't, however, translate into any goals against Glen Rock. In fact, New Providence (13-9-2) managed its only shot of the game in the fourth minute of the match when Tory Kania ran in on an empty net but put a shot wide.
From there it was all Glen Rock, which built an 8-1 shot advantage through 80 minutes of regulation and then peppered eight more shots at Dempsey in the ensuing 20 minutes of overtime.
But Dempsey, with some spirited help from Sarazen, stood firm in the face of all that pressure. Dempsey finished with eight saves for her 14th shutout of the season and 44th of her career.
"I knew I had to really concentrate back there and I had to make sure my defense was concentrating, too," Dempsey said. "With all that pressure we knew we couldn't afford to make any mistakes."
Junior Abbie Paris was at the center of Glen Rock's attack all afternoon. Her excellent playmaking yielded plenty of opportunities - but no goals.
"It's frustrating because we felt like we were playing to win and they were content to tie," Paris said. "It was one of those if only feelings. If only we had done this or that a little differently."
Glen Rock (19-1-2), which played Pennsville to a 1-1 draw in last year's Group 1 final, posted its 21st shutout and finished the season having allowed only two goals. It marks the fifth time the Bergen County school has shared a state
title since 1995.
"I told the girls that we need to be proud of our whole season, including today," Glen Rock coach Meredith Guerin said. "We're still going to wake up tomorrow morning as state champions."
NEW PROVIDENCE 0 - GLEN ROCK 0
By SIMEON PINCUS Staff Writer
After unlikely tournament run, New, Providence shares crown
EWING - It was a draw that lifted the New Providence High School girls soccer team into the state tournament, and it was with a draw that wrapped up the Pioneers' season to give them their second Group I co-championship in four years.
Senior Lauryn Dempsey made seven saves and New Providence survived being outshot 14-1 to play to a scoreless draw with North Jersey, Section 1, Group I champion Glen Rock on Saturday at The College of New Jersey.
"Apiece of it (the championship) right now is good," said New Prov-idence coach Scott Murphy, whose team did not manage a shot on goal and had its only shot of any kind come in the fourth minute. "In a lot of our games we've been outshot and dominated and we just hang in, hang in and we get that chance. That's been our season. We defend, defend, defend and then counterattack, counter-attack. We didn't put it in this time.,,
It was the second straight Group I co-championship for Glen Rock, which tied Pennsville 1-1 in last final.
Dempsey, who started for New Providence in 2000 when it tied Haddon Township for the Group 1 title, is second all-time in union county in caree shutouts with 43. Forward Tory Kania was also on the 2000 squad.
While Dempsey was just a rookie on the 2000 team, she said she would have preferred to see a winner Saturday but is happy that her teammates experienced a championship, even if they had to share it.
"In 2000, I was just a freshman," said Dempsey, who also faced seven comer kicks, including three in overtime. "I was so, `Whoa,' amazed and everything. Now I'm just happy for the girls. These girls have been playing together for so long, since second grade, especially for the juniors and seniors. I'm just happy to get it for them."
"We've been working hard since August 20th, some of the girls even over the summer," Murphy said. "°To go away playing that well and not getting a piece of it (would hurt). This is better than losing in a shootout."
New Procidence, which qualified for the states by earning an unlikely tie with North Jersey, Section2, Group 2 champion Governor Livingston in its last game before the cutoff, has not worn its home whites since the regular season ended more than three weeks ago.
The fifth-seeded Pioneers won three road games to claim the title and then surprising South Jersey Group I champion A.P Schalick in overtime Tuesday in the state semi-final.
New Providence's Tory Kania goes on the attack during yesterday's Group 1 final against Glen Rock at The College of New Jersey
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID BERGELAND
New Providence's Tara Alberse, lower right, upends Glen Rock's goalkeeper Sarah Volkomer during the second overtime period Saturday in the Group I championship game at The College of New Jersey.
And that remarkable resolve was on full display yesterday in the NJSIAA/Star-Ledger Group 1 championship match.
