Chatham Girls Soccer Coach Feels the 'Agony of Victory' in his Team's 4-2 Win vs. Sparta; Thornton, D'Egido Net Late Goals

CHATHAM, NJ – The Chatham girls soccer team has been playing better and better of late, scoring 17 goals during its current four-game winning streak against the likes of Randolph, West Morris, Mount Olive and Sparta.

The winning, however, became a little stomach-churning for Cougar coach Anthony Correale on Saturday when his team squandered a two-goal lead and needed two late scores to post its 4-2 win vs. Sparta at Haas Field.

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Chatham got goals in the first half by Lauren Tracey and Alex Donoghue and, after it was tied 2-2, Amanda Thornton's team-leading 10th goal off a pass from Sophie D'Egidio and a clinching goal by D'Egidio made it a happy ending for Chatham (7-4), the 2023 Group 3 state champions.

Alex Donoghue, Sophie D'Egidio, Lauren Tracey and Amanda Thornton talk about the win

“I'm a little frustrated right now because my No. 1 thing is I love us playing good soccer,” Correale said, “But we need to put games away. I told my girls that I never imagined in my life as a coach that we would win four games in a row and score four and five goals and not be happy with what we're doing in our attacking. Every game it's coming down to the last 20 minutes and, if you actually watch the games, you know we should be scoring a lot before that and the games should be put away.”

Such was the case against the Spartans (7-6) when Chatham took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break. The Cougars then upped their game and dominated with its passing and ball control to get into the attack before the game went sideways and Sparta scored on its only two shots of the second half to make it 2-2 in the 71st minute.

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But Chatham regained the lead in the 72nd minute when sophomore midfielder D'Egidio lifted the ball into the box for Thornton, who trapped the ball and touched it into space before lifting a left-footed shot over the keeper and into the net (see below).

D'Egido struck for the clincher in the 78th minute when Ava Paone pushed a ball to her in the box and D'Egidio stepped up to hit a well-placed shot with her left foot (see below).

In the first half, Chatham took a 2-0 lead. The Cougars opened the scoring when senior tri-captain Tracey connected while starting at forward in her first game back from an injury. Freshman midfielder Lucy Arps carried the ball into the attack and pushed a touch pass into the box. Tracey ran onto the ball and took it off the heel of a Sparta defender to finish it for a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute (see below). It was her first goal of the season.

The Cougars pushed their lead to 2-0 in the 24th minute. Senior tri-captain McKenna Hogan blasted a free kick off the crossbar and Molly Haid headed down the rebound to Donoghue, who slotted it home (see below).

Sparta had six corner kicks in the first half, which featured two nice saves by Cougar freshman goalie Charlotte Nelson , one a diving reaction shot of a point-blank shot in the box.

“We definitely played better in the second half,” Correale said. “I think we played great soccer, but we have to put games away. When we get into tournaments, it's going to be important.”

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