As the fall season of high school sports comes to a close, the focus of many young athletes turns to the preparation for the winter season.
However, for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Girls Soccer Team, their season continued to be extended as they made an appearance in the final round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Tournament for North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 for the first time since 2019.
Although the Panthers lost to Westfield High School, 1-0, the team’s run this year is indicative of a new era of girls’ soccer for Bridgewater-Raritan.
The team finished with a 16-5-1 record, which was the first time that the Panthers had surpassed the mark of 15 victories since 2018, the year in which they won the Somerset County Tournament and a state sectional title.
However, to say that the success of this season was unexpected is an understatement, as the team had gone 6-11-2 in 2023. Despite the subpar season, the team looked like a sleeping giant, with many juniors and sophomores ready to make their mark on the team.
In 2024, the once inexperienced team had seemingly found their stride, getting off to a 5-1-1 start. With five seniors, the team had formed a new identity. In addition to the seniors, the team had found strong underclassmen contributors, including junior forward and top scorer Reese Reimann and sophomore midfielder Stella Grant.
Grant acknowledged in an interview that having a young team may seem like a disadvantage on paper, but allows for younger players to get comfortable with playing on a varsity field earlier on in their career.
“With such strong leaders, it’s much easier to play, because they can help guide us,” Grant said.
When asked about the team’s biggest leader, it was no surprise that Grant talked about senior forward Grace Drumgool. Drumgool is committed to play Division 1 soccer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and has been playing on the varsity team since her freshman year. Grant described her as an “insanely smart and strong player. ”
“She always knew what to say, and led us all to be so close as a team. She definitely pushed us all to be better players.” Grant said.
By mid-October, the team sat at 8-4-1 and as winners of the Raritan Division of the Skyland Conference. However, the team was not satisfied. At this point, the Panthers began to streak, just at the right time. The Panthers would finish their season on an eight-game winning streak, not losing a game from October 19 to the sectional finals.
To start their playoff push, Bridgewater-Raritan was seeded at No. 3, and faced a matchup against 3-15-1 Watchung Hills High School. After conceding an early goal, the Panthers went on to beat them 6-1, scoring six unanswered goals from Ella Giacomazza, Hayden Tormasi, Reese Reimann, Grace Drumgool and Summer Winchock.
In the quarterfinal round, the team faced the No. 11 seed, Franklin High School. The game proved to be a tough test for the girls, sending the game to double overtime following a 1-1 deadlock. However, with a minute left in the period, Grace Drumgool slotted a pass from Mikaela Perez home for the clutch goal.
Following the quarters, Bridgewater-Raritan had arguably its toughest matchup of the season against the No. 2 seed Bayonne High School. The Fighting Bees had amassed 19 wins and won the Hudson County Tournament. However, the girls breezed through the game, shutting Bayonne out and winning 4-0, following braces from both Audra Day and Reese Reimann.
The Panthers then faced 19-1 Westfield in the final, who had breezed through the tournament only allowing a single goal. However, the Panthers gave the Blue Devils a run for their money, as the game ended at only a 1-0 deficit. Westfield eventually won the overall Group 4 state championship.
Despite falling short of the title, Stella Grant acknowledged the benefits of going on such a deep playoff run.
“Despite the loss, I hope that this will encourage all of our returning players to want to come back and finish what we didn’t get to complete this year,” she said.
The Panthers are poised for a monumental 2025 season and certainly have proved that the team is capable of winning big games.
“I believe that we will be able to win a sectional title,” Grant said.
