October 14, 2008

     MIDDLETOWN -- The last time Middletown High girls soccer team qualified for the state tournament, Bill Clinton was halfway through his second term, George Bush was Governor of Texas and this year's high school seniors were in the first grade.
     That was 1997; this is now.
     Those years of futility were all swept away Tuesday night when MHS qualified for the postseason with a 4-0 Northwest Conference win over St. Paul of Bristol on Senior Night at Palmer Field.
     "I'm just very happy for the seniors who have had to deal with a lot of adversity over the last few years," said MHS coach Rob Smernoff. "It's nice that they finally get a payoff and get it on Senior Night. For them to be going to states is great."
     Middletown (6-5-1) thoroughly dominated the match. The Blue Dragons had a 22-2 shot advantage and much of the game was played in the St. Paul half of the field.
     "I was most impressed with our back four tonight," said Smernoff. "Those players -- Marisa Musumeci, Marissa Passanisi, Whitney Holder, Jenna D'Amico -- defended the goal very well. We've talked all year about how important that was and tonight they did an exceptional job.
     "Without them, there's no question we would not have six wins and be talking about being in the tournament."
     Middletown went on the attack early and took a 1-0 lead just five minutes and 21 seconds into the match when Katie Chase took a pass from Holder to score. She got the pass some 15 yards in front and had a wide open goal at which to shoot. She didn't miss.
     A little over four minutes later MHS built its lead to 2-0 when Jessica Zingle scored. Chase picked up the assist.
     "I was happy with how we started the game," said Smernoff. "Sometimes on Senior Night it becomes more about the night than about the game. But tonight the kids focused from the opening whistle."
     Middletown built the lead to 3-0 with 19:17 left in the first half when Ali Dagenais scored an unassisted goal and that 3-0 edge held up at the break. The Dragons picked up where they left off in the second half and made it 4-0 when Stephanie Scoville scored with 32:29 to play. MHS peppered the St. Paul goal for much of the rest of the half, but didn't knock any of its many good shots home.
     St. Paul had two shots on the night and both were good opportunities. At 22:25 of the first half a rocket banged off the crossbar. It bounced in front of the goal where keeper Ashley Stokes made the save.
     The Falcons had a good shot at 37:26 of the second half, but a bad kick missed a wide open left half of the net.
     Stokes had Middletown's only save of the night. Stokes and Marissa Rodo each played a half in goal. Both are sophomores.
     Jordyn Rombola had a busy night in goal for St. Paul registering 10 saves. The Falcons fell to 2-8-0.
     Middletown plays undefeated and sixth-ranked Berlin (11-0) Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Sage Park in Berlin.