On November 12, 2025, the number two seed Point Pleasant Girls’ soccer team faced the number six seed Wall Township High School in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 2 Semifinal of the State playoff tournament at Point Boro High School.
After talking to Coach Edolo to reflect on the team this season, he said, “It would be extremely hard to replicate what we did last season, but I think this group had an amazing season. They lost 5 key players from last year and still were right there in every competition.”
After a 2-2 draw in the Central Jersey Group 2 Tournament semifinals, Point Boro took a 2-0 lead. All of Point Pleasant Boro’s goals during regulation play were scored by Elise Viggiano. Wall tied the game to force overtime, and eventually went into penalties. The players who successfully converted their penalty kicks for Point Pleasant Boro were Elise Viggiano, Leah Gerdes, and Maddie Renna. Point Boro goalkeeper Stella Stevenson made critical saves in the shootout to help secure the win. When recalling the game, Coach Edolo shares, “The Wall game was tough for many reasons. In the first 10 minutes, we lost our most consistent/best player when Khloey was fouled from behind and injured her knee. However, these girls kept going like they did all year and scored two goals to pull away from them. But we lost our focus a little and almost gave them the game. Whenever you play a local rival, the emotion sometimes takes away from the focus, and anything can happen. They tied it up, and we ended up fighting for our lives in a penalty shootout. Our shooters were ice cold and made every shot. Stella came up with two great saves, and we moved on to the Sectional Final. It was a fantastic way to end a great battle.”
In the end, the Panthers defeated Wall Township 3-1 in a penalty shootout, allowing them to move on to the Finals v. Allentown, where Boro was defeated, ending their season. Edolo recalls, “After a tough game without Khloey controlling things in the back, we lost in overtime to Allentown. I know we win that game 9 times out of 10, but sometimes soccer shows you that the best team doesn’t always win. It’s a shame that we didn’t win any silverware, but we competed with the best in the state, and on our day, any one of our losses could have been a win. From the way they trained and played all season, I think these girls deserved more. But I am so incredibly proud of everything they did this year. Not too many people thought we would be able to be as successful as we were this year, but these kids believed in themselves and went out there every day to prove somebody wrong.”
The Lady Panthers may not have had the same success they had last season, but they went a lot further than expected and proved their abilities, overcame injuries, and ultimately had a memorable season.
