Emma Shushansky and Rory Presti scored to help No. 15 Chatham extend its home winning streak to 21 games.
It’s an understatement to say semifinals have been unkind to the Cougars in recent years. They fell in the sectional semifinal in 2022 and 2024. They’ve also dropped two Morris County semifinal matchups in a row.
Fortunately, this year’s North Jersey, Group 3 semifinal on Monday was played on their home turf, a place they’ve tasted victory 20 consecutive times.Emma Shushansky and Rory Presti scored to power second-seeded Chatham, No. 15 in the NJ.com Top 20, to a 2-1 win over third-seeded Summit in Chatham.“It feels so good, honestly, because I think going into this game, we kind of knew what we needed to do, and we knew we haven’t lost yet on our home field, so we knew we couldn’t break that now,” said Shushansky. “At the beginning, we kind of came out a little slow, but we kind of knew that we need to have that fire and we just needed to get it done.” The last time a Chatham team marched this deep into the state playoffs was in 1987 when Chatham Township finished as a runner-up in the Group 1 final. That was before both Chatham Boro and Chatham Township high schools merged. This team did reach a sectional final in 2019, but there were four sections to each group instead of two. When there were four sections per group, a sectional final was equivalent to today’s sectional semifinal in terms of wins needed to capture a state crown. “This year was the team that I thought if we ever did it, we could do it this year,” said Chatham assistant coach Kristen Fallon. “They’ve just been playing really well as a team. I think their passing is great. They really know each other on the field. I was pretty confident that they could do it.” The team needed to come from behind, however. Summit struck first on a deflection off a corner from Elena Deveau with 3:16 left in the first quarter.After losing Allie McCaffery, a 30-goal scorer, to graduation last year, Shushansky has thrived in the spotlight. She had six goals a year ago and is up to 43 and sits three points shy of 100 on the season. The chemistry she’s developed with Molly Chazen and Erin Flynn has been pivotal to Chatham’s success.“I think just making sure we’re connecting very well and communicating and getting those goals because half of my goals, half of Molly goals, all of the goals are just from great balls from the forwards or the mids and they’re just good tap-ins,” Shushansky said. “So just making sure we’re connecting, I think, really was my go-to goal going into the season.” Shushansky had the insert on an extended corner that led to a shot from Ava Ewing. The ball was deflected to the back of the cage by Rory Presti to close the third quarter.Georgia Lee had two stops in the game, including a diving stick save with just over seven minutes left in regulation. The ball trickled a foot wide of the post to her right. That was as close as Summit would come and the defense shut the door. “Georgia is literally a brick wall,” Shushansky said. “She is such a good goalie. She just communicates so well with the defenders, and the defenders have been doing so well this season with communicating, making sure everyone’s on a mark. And I think our defense is so, so strong this season. I think that’s honestly what really helped us this game.” The team has earned at least one more practice ahead of Wednesday’s sectional final, which will be on the road against top-seeded North Hunterdon, which defeated fourth-seeded Northern Highlands, 7-0, in its semifinal bout on Monday. Chatham’s season has ended at the hands of North Hunterdon two years in a row but this team thinks history is within its grasp. “I’m honestly, over the moon,” Shushansky said. … “It’s just so exciting for us because we know our potential, and we’re going to work so hard in practice tomorrow and really bring it on Wednesday. And I really hope that we can bring home a trophy.”Brian has been reporting on high school sports since 2015. He specializes in field hockey, ice hockey and baseball coverage. He's also worked with MLB.com and MLB Network since graduating from Michigan State...If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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