1984 Girls Soccer Team

1984 Girls Soccer Team

The 1984 Girls Soccer Team put Glen Rock High School on the map in New Jersey interscholastic girls sports.

Glen Rock High School began fielding a varsity girls soccer team in 1978. Over the next six years, girls soccer compiled an overall record of 51-41-9 but never qualified for the State Championship playoffs. At the start of the fall 1984 season, there was a good amount of optimism but also several questions. There was a new Head Coach, Ed Troy, who was introducing a new system of play, and the team only had a handful of returning senior starters. However, Coach Troy was an experienced and successful soccer coach (having led the boys soccer team to Group, Sectional Championships in 1979 and 1981) and an experienced and successful coach of girls athletics (having coached girls in cross country, track & field and field hockey). And the players, led by Co-Captains Mary Beth Hopkins and Nancy James, had an incredible esprit de corps.

As a result, the team won the school’s first B-PSL championship in girls soccer and qualified for the State Championship playoffs. They then advanced to the Division B (Groups 1 & 2), Sectional Championship game where they defeated league rival Mahwah by a score of 2-1 on goals by Carolyn Marra and Hall of Fame Inductee Katie van Keuren. Crowned Division B, Sectional Champions, they then advanced to the Division B, State Championship, where they met Delran. In a tense, physical struggle, the two teams tied 3-3 after playing two scoreless overtimes (with Glen Rock’s goals scored by Hopkins, James and van Keuren). As a result, Glen Rock and Delran were crowned Co-Champions.

The 1984 team’s final record was 19-2-2 and they were named Groups 1 & 2, Bergen County Team of the Year by The Bergen Record. They scored 71 goals and only allowed 17 goals (and had 14 shutouts), both school records at the time.

James led the team’s offense, scoring 22 goals and delivering 12 assists, both breaking prior school records. She was named to the First Team, All-League and First Team, All-Area (The News) and received Honorable Mention, All-Suburban (by The Ridgewood News).

Patsy Fleming at sweeper led the team’s defense. She was named to the First Team, All County, First Team, All-League, Second Team, All-Area and First Team, All-Suburban.

Sophomore van Keuren was named to the Second Team, All County, First Team, All-League, Second Team, All Area and Second Team, All-Suburban.

Other players receiving deserved honors were Laura Sonderberg (Second Team, All-League), Tara Alvino (Honorable Mention, All-League), goalie Jane Hillman (Honorable Mention, All-Area) and Hopkins (Honorable Mention, All-Area).

However, the team’s success has always been attributed to its team members joining together to set a standard that became a goal — and very often the supreme achievement — for all succeeding Glen Rock Girls Soccer Teams.  Because of its accomplishments, the team was inducted into the Glen Rock High School Hall of Fame in the organization’s 2008 inaugural year and was the first girls team inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Head Coach – Ed Troy