Santucci and Desmarais score 4 of 7 goals for Ocean

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr. – Thursday night, September 8, was the kickoff of the 2022 girls varsity soccer season at Ocean Township High School. This season, the Spartans have a new head coach in Alex Pickett. Yes, she is the sister to NFL Steelers quarterback, Kenny Pickett.

Neptune High School was their first opponent with Pickett and her girls easily defeating the Scarlett Fliers, 7-0. Ocean scored four first-half goals, the first kicked in by sophomore midfielder Isbella Santucci at the 6:12 mark. Senior center midfielder Abigail Desmarais scored the second goal at 21:10 off an assist from Kaia Abbatiello, sophomore forward.

Ocean took a 3-0 lead at 36:04 when Madison Clark, sophomore center mid, scored off an assist from Natalie Feniger, junior forward.

The last goal of the first half, was the second of the game for Desmarais. This occurred at 38:15 and Madeline Woodward, sophomore mid, assisted. The Spartans took a 4-0 lead into the halftime break.

Second half started just like the first. Santucci scored her second unassisted goal at 55:15. Two minutes later, Woodward scored off an assist by Feniger, her second of the game.

Ocean’s last goal came at 70:29 by Madelyn Suchodolsky, sophomore center. Assistaning on this goal was Olivia DeGirolamo, sophomore mid.

“Overall I thought our girls played a complete game. From the first whistle to the last there was no let down and everyone played hard,” said Pickett. It is obvious watching how the players react to their new head coach that they buy into her system and style. “We were able to execute things we had worked on and talked about all preseason. It was nice to start the season out on a ppositive note and I look forward to working with this team the rest of the season.”

Click on the photo for a caption

Additional photos at www.Facebook.com/TheLinkSports