Point Pleasant Beach Girls Soccer Advances To State Title Game

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — One more game. The Point Pleasant Beach girls soccer team extended its season Tuesday, earning a spot in the state group championships.

The Garnet Gulls, who won the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I championship on Saturday, defeated Palmyra in the NJSIAA Group I semifinal, winning the game in a shootout. Point Pleasant Beach now is set to play the winner of the Waldwick-Mountain Lakes semifinal that was being played Tuesday night.

The Group I championship game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Kean University.

Point Pleasant Beach, 14-6 this season, trailed Palmyra, the South Jersey Group I champ, at halftime Tuesday, but tallied a goal to tie the game 1-1. The tie held through the rest of regulation and overtime, before Point Beach edged Palmyra 5-4 in the shootout, according to NJ.com.

The Garnet Gulls had gotten to the Group semifinal by defeating Highland Park on Saturday, 10-0, to capture their first state sectional championship since 2010, NJ.com reported.

In the game against Highland Park, Baileigh Johnson had a hat trick, scoring the first goal two minutes into the game, and Naima Shortridge and Sage Sakowicz each had two goals for Point Beach. Johnson, a freshman, is the team's leading scorer with 18 goals this season, according the team's stats on NJ.com.

Senior goalkeeper Morgan Highland recorded the shutout against Highland Park, stopping four shots according to the game article, for her eighth shutout of the season.

In winning the sectional championship, the Garnet Gulls had to beat their longtime Shore Conference rival, Shore Regional. Point Pleasant Beach faced Shore, a five-time NJSIAA Group I champion, in the Central Jersey quarterfinals and won, 3-2.

Palmyra, which beat Audubon 4-1 in the South Jersey Group I championship game, had just one loss this season, 7-0 to Holy Cross on Oct. 5, before Tuesday's loss. The team also has two ties.