Rams' soccer squad finds way to win

Washington Township coach Shane Snyder called them "quirky."

Gloucester Catholic co-coach Courtney White called them "unique."

Whatever kind of goals they were, Gloucester Catholic scored enough of them for a 3-1 victory yesterday in the second round the South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association Tournament.

The second-seeded Rams (12-0) will meet Moorestown at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Eastern.

Township, seeded seventh in the 16-team, single-elimination tournament, went home to finish its Olympic Conference regular-season schedule.

Although the Minutemaids (8-6) appeared to outwork Gloucester Catholic, especially in the first half, they were on the short end of a 1-0 score at intermission.

June Maloney scored the first goal on a wind-assisted corner kick that keeper Kara DiJoseph could only watch sail into the right corner of the net.

The Rams, ranked second in South Jersey by The Inquirer, scored the next two goals with the help of the wind and a post.

"I've been around this game long enough to see some quirky things," Snyder said. "We played good enough to win."

Township, ranked fifth by The Inquirer, had an advantage in shots and corner kicks before intermission. But it had to wait for Amanda Ward to tie the game at 1-1 with 21 minutes remaining in the second half.

Nicolette DeLaurentis scored the go-ahead goal from the 18-yard line with 8 minutes, 15 seconds left.

"I was a little surprised that it went in," she said of the high, arcing shot, "because it was an air shot, and that had a little to do with it dropping in.

"Once we got up, we knew that we would work hard to keep the lead."

The Rams did just that. The team White said was asleep and kept alive by the defensive plays of Paige Maloney and Tori Dot scored again 16 seconds later.

This time, June Maloney fired from the left of DiJoseph to the far right corner, striking the post and scoring.

"I saw the open space, took the shot, and it worked out," Maloney said. "This is what we worked for all year. People say we're a team from a weak conference, but we proved that we're up there with the big dogs."

However, Catholic has more work to do if it wants to win the prestigious tournament, as it did in 2005.

June Maloney and DeLaurentis, both seniors, played on that team and agreed that the current squad had the chemistry to go all the way.

Meanwhile, White said she wanted good, solid goals, but was happy to take what the team got.

"We won in a unique way," White said.

Washington Township 0 1 - 1

Gloucester Catholic 1 2 - 3

Goals: WT - Amanda Ward. GC - June Maloney (2), Nicolette DeLaurentis.

Saves: WT - Kara DiJoseph 3. GC - Caitlin Sweeney 7.