Exactly 364 days prior to the Southern Regional girls soccer team’s clash with Williamstown last week, the Rams met the Braves in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 4 first round.

That day, Southern was the eighth seed, Williamstown was the ninth, and the Rams won 2-1. Brinley Reynolds scored both Southern goals, and Lily Atkins had both assists.

Well, it was almost déjà vu all over again on Nov. 3, except this time it was a different sophomore who scored the two goals during the Rams’ 2-1 victory, while Atkins and Reynolds assisted her. And yes, the Rams were the eighth seed and the Braves were the ninth.

“My job was to get the ball into the back of the net somehow, no matter what it took,” said Quinn Baumiller, who scored with 26:10 and 19:15 to go in the game, the two goals sandwiched around Williamstown’s only goal. “Neither one was pretty, but I put them in.”

Following a scoreless first half in which both teams barely generated any serious scoring chances, the action picked up during the second half – slightly different from last year’s contest, when the Rams and Braves were tied, 1-1, at halftime. Southern generated more sustained pressure on the Williamstown defense through the first 13 minutes of the second half.

As the clock ticked into the 54th minute, the Rams were awarded a corner kick. Emma Little served the ball into the penalty area, where it met the feet of Atkins, who turned and chipped a shot toward the goal, but it deflected off a defender and onto the feet of Baumiller.

Rather than touch the ball into space with a defender at her back, Baumiller stabbed at it with her left foot a few yards from the near post. Opposing goalkeeper Sophia Brando charged out to play the ball and got a hand on it, but the ball bounced into the open net to give Southern (13-9-1) a 1-0 lead with 26:10 left.

COLLISION COURSE: Southern Regional sophomore forward Quinn Baumiller gets her head on the ball before the opposing goalkeeper to score the Rams’ second goal of the second half against Williamstown.

After Williamstown equalized some 5½ minutes later, the Rams quickly answered back to regain the lead.

Given a free kick following a foul about 10 yards into Williamstown’s defensive half, Reynolds delivered a beautiful service behind the last defender and into the box, where Baumiller raced in, beat the keeper to the ball, and barely grazed it with her head as the two collided. The ball took a side spin a couple of yards from the goal and bounced in with 19:10 to go.

“On the first one, I just tried to get a foot on the ball and barely got it,” Baumiller said. “On the other one, I just threw my head in there. Brinley put the ball in the perfect spot. I was a little scared that my head was going to fall off with the impact, and then it looked like the ball was in slow motion rolling into the goal.”

From there, the Rams’ defense took care of the rest, giving up only a pair of scoring chances during the final 19 minutes, as keeper Jacklynn Donnelly managed four saves.

Atkins didn’t remember much about the game against the Braves the previous season but said she and her teammates were more experienced and better prepared this time.

“We came into today’s game with a really good mindset,” said the sophomore forward, who has dealt six assists this fall. “We had to work together, and that’s exactly what we did. We have a lot of young players who got some experience against some tough teams last year, so if we go into any game with a positive mindset, we have a chance.”

Head coach Nicole Iorio noticed the difference against Williamstown this time compared to last year’s game, even though both were victories.

GET IT MOVING: Southern Regional senior Addison Leary sends the ball forward during the first half of the Rams’ win over Williamstown in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 4 tournament.

“We played as a team, more physical, and I think we wanted it more in this one,” she said. “We did good job of getting scoring chances from our set plays. We worked a lot on set plays at practice this week, and we made the most of those chances today.”

Unfortunately, like last year, the Rams took on the top seed in the quarterfinals – this time Egg Harbor (20-1) and not Central Regional – and watched their season end. The Eagles took a 4-0 lead by halftime on the way to a 7-2 triumph, as star player Jackie Brownlee scored five times and assisted on the other two goals.

Assisted by Daria DeMarco, Little scored during the 47th minute to temporarily cut the deficit to three goals, 4-1, but Brownlee scored seven minutes later to push the Eagles’ lead back to four. Reynolds and Egg Harbor’s Abby DeCosta traded goals during the 62nd and 64th minutes, respectively, and Brownlee tallied her 51st goal of the season during the 67th minute.

“Building toward next season, I like our team camaraderie,” Iorio said. “These girls really are a team and excited about soccer. They want to be here. They want to keep playing. They want to win games. We had tremendous leadership from our seniors this season, so I’m excited to see who the leaders become next year. These girls have grown a lot, and the expectation absolutely gets higher for next year.”

Barnegat Bounced in First Round

An up-and-down season came to an end for Barnegat as well, as the 11th-seeded Bengals were shut out by sixth-seeded Sterling, 3-0, in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 2 tourney.

The Silver Knights scored once in the first half and twice in the second, despite senior goalkeeper Ella Tortorici’s 13 saves. The Bengals concluded the season with a 7-13-1 record.