Photos courtesy of the Browne family

By Steve Sears

2010 was the Hackettstown Tigers girl’s soccer team’s first season in the NJAC Freedom Division. They won that division, and also went on the capture the North II Group II state sectional title.

However, it was how they did it that was impressive.

Tara Repsher was then, and still is now, the Tigers head coach. In 2010, the club would be without leading scorer, Alysia Arcona, who had graduated, and the team was jettisoned to a brand new conference, where soccer powerhouses Kittatinny and Newton awaited, among others.

“The year before we had a pretty decent graduating class,” Repsher says. “We had lost Alysia Arcona, who ended up going on to have a good career at Felician College, and we went in with probably the smallest group in terms of numbers of players that I, at that time in my very short coaching career, ever had in our program. When we looked at the numbers starting the season, we were looking at almost like a rebuild, having to rebuild some of those key positions with not a lot of numbers coming up.”

Repsher had 12 players returning, key ones being sophomore Katie Hutton, who during the season had a 13-game scoring streak with nine goals and 17 assists, and senior Shannon Browne, who would tally five goals and 20 assists. But still, the team was unsure what type of impact they would have in their new conference. “We knew we would be competitive because of the players we had,” Repsher says, “but we didn’t have a lot of numbers.”

Cynthia Anderson was a sophomore defensemen in 2010. “It was really special. One of the best teams I’ve ever been on. We were very much like cohesion as a team, and I think it helped to have the leadership of the seniors on the field to kind of guide us through.”

 The Tigers started out the season with six wins and a single loss, two of their wins coming against those strong Kittatinny and Newton clubs. Then the team hit a slump. Repsher says, “We did go on a run in the beginning – we were undefeated for a while – and then had a little bit of a slump coming through.” The Tigers recovered to win eight more games to win the division crown, and wound up as the second seed in the North II, Group II State Sectional tournament. They defeated Ridgefield Park, West Essex, Bernards and Caldwell, the final two contests being comeback games. Repsher adds, “The adversities of not having a lot of numbers and a lot of depth, and to come out and still grind out games, was very big for us throughout the entire season. If you look at that West Essex game, the final score was 3 – 2, and the Bernards game, 3 – 1. Nothing really, I would say, came super easy to us.”

Nothing certainly came easy against Caldwell, their opponent in the North II Group II sectional final. The game was played at Morrison Field in Hackettstown, and the atmosphere was electric. Repsher says, “That game really stands out. It was a 2:00 p.m. game and the administration actually let the whole school out to watch that game at the end of the school day. Our stands were full. Our students weren’t leaving, the teachers weren’t leaving, and the middle schoolers came over to watch. The atmosphere was just absolutely amazing for that game.”

“Walking out on the field for the sectional game, I’ve never been more nervous for a game because the whole school was there,” Anderson recalls. “I’d never seen the stands with a lot of people like that before.”

The Tigers trailed , 1 – 0, at the half. Dzenita Cifric would tie the game early in the second half, and Browne, who would be named First-Team all-league and all-Warren County, would score the game winner with 28.7 seconds left. 

“Every minute mattered, and you couldn’t slack off for a second,” Anderson says. “They (Caldwell) were such a good team. They were pushing so hard the whole game, so I think it was just that feeling of having to persevere and have endurance to match their efforts. And I think for our offense, they were definitely taking every opportunity they could.” Browne’s goal, which came from behind the box, left Anderson in shock. “I said to myself, ‘Did that really just happen?’ I don’t think any of us were expecting it, because it was far out.”

“Everything erupted,” Repsher recalls, who in her mind was starting to prepare for overtime as Browne’s goal hit the back of the net. “As that goal went in, it was just absolute elation.”

The 2010 Hackettstown High School girls’ soccer team finished their season with a 5 – 0 loss against Mahwah in the Group II final, but still sported a final a 19 – 6 record during that historic season.

Repsher sums it up. “I had a good group of girls with grit, which was great.”