Senior Sears' "target shooting" boosts Shawnee into state final
MEDFORD – There's no official name for it. “The archer” can probably suffice.
Nate Sears did it four times Saturday.
“It's kind of like, I hit the bulls-eye with my shot. Give a little cele,” Shawnee's senior attack said. “I've seen people do it in college lacrosse, and I kind of picked up on it after that. Matt Welsey does it too. He did it a lot last year, so it came from that too.”
It wasn't the celebrations themselves that keyed Shawnee's 14-11 win over Clearview in the South Jersey Group 3 championship game. It was the timing of them.
Sears scored twice in the final 1:45 of the first half to give Shawnee a 6-4 lead, after the Pioneers had pounced on the Renegades with four straight goals to open the game.
The third one gave Shawnee a 10-9 advantage after Clearview had rallied for the second time to tie the game in the second half. The last gave the Renegades a 12-10 advantage with 5:55 left in the game.
Clearview pulled one back when Mario Leone scored in transition just 38 seconds later, but Sears set up Nick Goeller on a Shawnee transition to restore the two-goal lead with 4:20 left.
Goeller's four goals and two assists matched Sears' offensive output. Welsey and Ethan Krauss added two goals each.
Sears said Krauss, who has 55 goals to his credit this season, was one of the keys to changing Shawnee's fortunes after its slow start. Clearview gave him all the respect he's due – but it made opportunities for his teammates.
“We put Krauss on the crease, and they wouldn't slide off him, because they were shutting him,” Sears said. “So they basically had no slides. When we dodged, we pretty much won our match-ups and just scored.”
Shawnee won its first South Jersey title since the 2015 season.
“We were here last year and we lost to Ocean City,” Goeller said. “It feels great to be on the other side of the field. We've been through it all this year; had some great games and some bad games, but this is all that matters. This is it.”
What it means
Shawnee is the South Jersey Group 3 champion for the first time since 2015 and will face Scotch Plains-Fanwood, a 10-9 winner over Chatham in the North Jersey final, next Wednesday for the state title. The Renegades fell to the Raiders in a regular-season game, 10-6, on April 30.
Key play
Clearview tied the game at 8-8 on a goal by Mario Leone with 4:10 left in the third quarter, but a measurement just prior to the ensuing draw found a Pioneers' player to be using an illegal stick. Instead of a draw, Shawnee was awarded possession, and exactly a minute later, Goeller converted Ethan Krauss' assist and the Renegades were back on top.
By the numbers
Shawnee reached the final for the fifth straight year. The Renegades lost to Ocean City last season and to Moorestown on three prior chances. … McAneney's goal was his sixth of the season. He has six assists. Shawnee is 6-1 this season when he earns a point.
They said it
Sears, on capturing a South Jersey crown:
“We obviously lost to Ocean City last year, and we lost a championship in football, so we came out for revenge this year and we finally got one. But we're not done yet. We want to be the first team in Shawnee history to beat North Group 3.”
Shawnee coach Don Green, on the team's slow start:
“I think we just settled into the game. We were a little nervous, playing in this game because it was such an immense thing for our guys; really wanting to win. Since last season, we've had this as our goal. We were a little uptight, but we calmed down and got a nice little second-quarter run.”
Green, looking ahead at the state final:
“We're playing with house money now. We know that we can play in that game, and we're just very excited to be there.”
Correction
In the origiinal version of this story, Nick Goeller was mis-identified as Tom Sanson. Goeller, not Sanson, wears No. 2 for Shawnee.
John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times, Courier Post and The Daily Journal. E-mail him at jlewis@thebct.com or follow on Twitter @JohnLewis19. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Shawnee overtakes Clearview to earn South Jersey Group 3 crown
