Ocean County College Women's Soccer Heads To National Tournament

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Ocean County College women's soccer team boarded buses Tuesday morning, heading off on what they hope will be a long weekend away.

That's because a long weekend will mean the Vikings have reached the championships of the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament.

It would be the icing on the cake of what has been a stellar season for the women, and a shining achievement for the team and for Breeana Cassidy, who is in her second year as the team's head coach.

Ocean County College won the 2022 NJCAA Region XIX North Atlantic A championship on Oct. 29, defeating Brookdale Community College 1-0, the Vikings' eighth victory of 2022.

As a result, the Vikings are making their sixth trip to the NJCAA Division III National Championships. In 2014 OCC shared the Region 19 title with Brookdale, but before that, the Vikings won four straight Region 19 titles from 2008-2011.

OCC reached the national championship game in 2008 and the national semifinal in 2011, but has never won the title.

Reaching it this year would be a nice bounce-back for Cassidy, who was named the Region 19 Coach of the Year. The Vikings were 4-8 under Cassidy in 2021, her first year as coach.

"It's a big change from the first year," Cassidy said before the team headed out to Herkimer, New York, where the Vikings' quest for a national championship begins Wednesday. "The team just responded really well" this year.

Cassidy attributes some of that response to the fact that she is only a few years older than the women who play for her.

"There is four years between me and them," said Cassidy, 24, who played for two years at Brookdale and played club soccer while she was finishing her degree at Monmouth University. Cassidy is local; a 2016 graduate of Freehold High School where she played varsity soccer, she also played club soccer in the Twin County Soccer Association. "I understand this generation a little more."

Cassidy said she found her interest in coaching while she was still in college and worked for Soccer Specific Training, a Monmouth County-based soccer club, coaching some of their youngest players.

After she graduated from Monmouth University, she said she wanted to pursue coaching further, and applied for the OCC opening.

"It's a part-time commitment, but a full-time job," said Cassidy, who also works full-time for Trinity Solar as marketing coordinator. "I had a really great understanding from (Trinity)," with the company allowing her the flexibility needed to be with OCC for practices and games.

Coaching college soccer is challenging, but coaching at a community college poses additional challenges because there are no scholarships — students play solely because they love the game. And unlike a four-year college, each year can bring a full team of new players, as students move on to four-year schools or otherwise leave college behind.

She has an assistant coach, John Merklin, whom she knew through connections from her days as a club soccer player. Merklin also has connections in the local club community, and between the two it helps with recruiting, which is a perpetual process.

"It’s a constant revolving door," Cassidy said. "There's no incentive to come into the program." Convincing students who might otherwise have been ready to hang up their cleats takes finesse. "You have to have the right words for the right people. The hardest part is getting them in the door. Once they're on the field, they're usually glad they decided to play."

This fall she started with a team that was predominantly freshmen — 14 of the 17 players on the Vikings roster are freshmen. They didn't play like freshmen, however.

"That was the biggest surprise," Cassidy said. "They were already playing and acting as if they were sophomores."

That includes Jessica Smith of Freehold Township, a midfielder named the 2022 Region 19 Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year. Smith had the game-winner against Brookdale in the Region 19 title game, where OCC avenged one of its two regular-season losses.

Also a freshman is goalkeeper Holly Applegate, who has recorded five shutouts with a .74 goals-against average and an .821 save percentage.

Smith, Applegate, and freshmen Melanie Lockwood, Marquella Boutsikaris and Alexis Scully all were named to the all-Region 19 team, as was sophomore Juliana Rettino, the team's captain and the Region XIX Player of the Year.

Rettino has been an important piece of the Vikings' turnaround this season, Cassidy said.

"She has been the backbone for two years and my only returner," Cassidy said. "She is a player that believed we could turn this program around."

"No one is more deserving than Jules," Cassidy said. "This girl hustles every second out on the field no matter who she is playing. There is never any quit in her."

It's a mentality Cassidy has worked hard to instill in the team, and she believes the fact that she is close in age to her players helps in that regard. She has shared her own playing experience, including having to come back from what Cassidy said was "my fair share of injuries."

"That's my whole thing with them, never giving up," Cassidy said. "When we're having a bad game, I tell them 'Just don't give up on yourself, keep pushing forward."

The national championship quest begins Wednesday when the team takes on Genesee at 1:30 p.m. If they win Wednesday, they advance to the semifinals on Friday, and the semifinal victors meet Sunday for the national title.

And while Rettino has been a key piece of the team's success, Cassidy said the team's strength is that every player has an important role.

"For us to win, it's got to be everybody playing their roles," she said.