Moorestown Friends School defeated Holy Cross 4-0 in the NJSIAA Semi-Final at home on November 5.
Coming off an impressive 4-0 win against St. Rose on Friday, November 1, the Foxes (16-5) showed no signs of slowing down as they took on Holy Cross (15-6).
The Foxes set the tone early on in the game, as Team Captain Matt D’Ottavi (‘21) lit up the Holy Cross defense, scoring all four goals for the Foxes in the first half of the game.
D’Ottavi said that his performance was his way of “just doing what I can to help this team win, and having trust in everyone else. Just doing my job and letting [the team] do their job.”
While D’Ottavi was spectacular on the offensive side of the ball, on the defensive side of the ball Alex Boller (‘20) started in place Jackson Fox (‘20), who was out with a toe-related injury. Boller managed to put on a great defensive performance that was key to recording a shutout for the Foxes.
“We’ve been practicing since early August, and all this hard work paying off, and we’ve had some major guys going out in injuries, like Jackson, and just the next man up mentality is really what our team is thriving on,” said Boller. “We’re just really using that and glad to be in the championship right now.”
The next man up mentality is something that has been echoed throughout the season, and goalkeeper Mikey Paznokas (‘21) said he believes that “that’s the beauty of soccer. It’s an 11-man sport. I had 10 other guys in front of me ready to play, and I’m very thankful for that.”
Paznokas was able to record a shutout to go along with multiple saves in the NJSIAA Semi-Final.
As the Foxes look ahead to Thursday’s Championship matchup at Wardlaw-Hartridge (13-8-1), Head Coach Mike Schlotterbeck said that when it comes to playing for a title, “it’s a lot about heart and effort and I thought our guys gave that out today, so we just need to do the best we can, and if it’s not enough, it’s not enough, but I have a lot of confidence in my guys that it will be, so we’re really excited for Thursday.”
After just falling short of the Friends League Title in the Championship game, D’Ottavi said, “we just gotta work hard, put away our chances, and we’ll come out with a sectional title.”
