Panthers down Devils in SCT final 2-1

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Marin Stefanelli (9) a sophomore at Shore Regional scored the only goal for the Blue Devils in the 2-1 loss to Point Boro.

Within 26 seconds one team’s dream became a reality while the other suffered a defeat. The finals of the 2024 Shore Conference field hockey tournament featured top seeded Blue Devils of Shore Regional and the third seed Panthers of Point Pleasant Borough.

This is the fourth consecutive year that these two schools have faced off in the finals. The Blue Devils won in 2021 and 2022, with the Panthers taking last year’s title. Shore entered the tournament with a nearly perfect 20-1 record and 6-0 in the Shore Conference A North division. Point Boro came into the finals with a 17-7 overall record and were 5-1 in the A South division.

Holmdel High School was the neutral site for this year’s title game. Point Boro had controlled most of the first half with the ball deep in the Blue Devils end of the turf. Taegan Harmon, senior outstanding goalie for Shore Regional was getting a lot of action in the cage, making some very athletic stops. Also helping defend the cage for Shore was sophomore Marin Stefanelli, who was able to sweep away a Panther shot right at the goal line.

With 13 minutes remaining in the first half, Shore Regional scored the first and their only goal of the game. Stefanelli was low and hit a hard direct shot at the Point Boro cage and all your heard was the ball smacking the back of the goal. All the Blue Devil players rushed Stefanelli and helped her celebrate her goal.

However, nine minutes later, the Panthers evened the score at one with a shot by Kylie Repasky. And that is how the first half ended with both teams tied at one goal each.

During the second half of action, Shore was settled and played more of the Blue Devil style of field hockey. But it was a very tight game. With 41.69 seconds left to play, it appeared that overtime was on the horizon when officials made a call awarding Point Boro their 13th penalty corner of the game. Panthers head coach called a timeout to make sure all her players were focused and onboard with the play.

Kelly Carr, head coach at Point Boro, stated that her players told her what play they wanted to run. “With a goalie as good as Teagan, you’ve got to move her or you’re not going to get the ball by her,” said Carr. Point Boro, who struggled on several of the inserts during the game, was able to get a shot off at Teagan, but it was blocked and then as Carr said, it was “chaos” in front of the cage.

Emily Paolella, junior at Point Boro, was in the middle of the chaos, and with 26.02 seconds left in regulation time, she swept in the winning goal. Her teammates rushed her, and she didn’t even realize that she scored the game winning goal.

The Panthers won the second consecutive Shore Conference Title with the 2-1 win over Shore Regional. They had a 13-7 advantage on penalty corners and outshot the Blue Devils 9-5. Harmon had six saves for the Blue Devils.

With the SCT now behind them, both Shore Regional and Point Boro will focus on the NJSIAA state playoffs. Both schools received the number one seed in their brackets. Shore will compete with 15 other teams in the South Jersey, Group 1 Tournament, hosting 16 seed Audubon on November 4.

Point Boro will be the top seed in the South Jersey, Group 2 tournament. They will host Overbrook on November 5.

More photos of the 2024 SCT finals will be posted at www.Facebook.com/TheLinkSports