Goalkeeper
stood in front of her bench, sobbing uncontrollably.
A few feet away, sweeper
, through tears, embraced an assistant coach and took the blame for the corner kick that led to the game's only goal that Barofski couldn't stop.
A few minutes later, Belvidere coach Amy Krushinski put her spin on why
in the North 2 Group 1 sectional semifinals on Monday.
Which led to a breakout at the Belvidere end of the field in the final minutes of the first half.
Glen Ridge's Jeanelle Mitchell ended up with a shot inside the box that Penna managed to block but couldn't keep the ball from going over the end line, setting up the corner.
Senior midfielder Daneille Lisovicz hooked the ball into the goalmouth. Barofski tried to get a hand on it but the ball hit underneath the crossbar, then started to carom out.
But Mitchell, a senior forward standing in a scrum right in front, nodded it back in for her sixth goal of the year.
Sort of.
While neither girl was ready to take credit for the goal, they weren't giving it back, either. Thus, Glen Ridge has a Thursday afternoon date in the sectional final against New Providence, the defending Group 1 state champ, and the team that ousted Belvidere in the Group 1 semifinals last November.
Krushinski wanted to do something about her team's play the past two games. Belvidere struggled through the first half in last week's game against David Brearley before
.
Against Glen Ridge, the County Seaters couldn't get their game going until the match was almost 30 minutes old.
First,
crossed the ball from the left wing to
, but her glancing shot was caught by Glen Ridge keeper Margaret Provost. About a minute later, Sharr's header off Penna's corner kick went over the net.
Finally,
cross from the right wing was met by Nechay coming in from the opposite side but her header was grabbed by Provost who moved across in time.
Glen Ridge scored shortly thereafter.