All is right with Koerner’s left in No. 5 Paul VI’s title win over Immaculata

It wasn’t the ideal situation for Paul VI sophomore Camryn Koerner, a right-footed kicker who had no option but to use her opposite foot.
Koerner placed a shot inside the far post for the lone goal with 16:09 remaining as top seeded Paul VI defeated No. 2 seeded Immaculata, 1-0, in the South Jersey Non-Public A championship.
The Eagles earned their third sectional title and second in three seasons. They will meet Immaculate Heart in the Non-Public A state championship either next Wednesday or Thursday at Franklin High School. This will be a rematch of the 2022 state final when Immaculate Heart won 4-3 in overtime.
Paul VI, No. 5 in the NJ.com state Top 20, improved to 19-2-1. Immaculata, seeking its first sectional title, finished 13-6.
Paul VI junior midfielder Emma McCarthy sent a long ball that deflected off a defender to Koerner. As she sped toward goal on the left side at a difficult angle, Koerner unleased a shot from about 15 yards out before a defender could block it, to score her 15th goal of the season.
“I had to shoot it with my left since there was a girl coming to my left, so I had to get it around her,” Koerner said.
Prior to the goal, Immaculata was really taking to Paul VI, applying relentless pressure on the Eagles.
“I thought we had the better play in the first half, but they were dominating for about 20-30 minutes in the second half,” Koerner said. “Then after the goal, we said they are not going to take it on our field, and we kept going hard.”
The game changed on Paul VI’s counter-attack, started by McCarthy, a North Carolina lacrosse commit, who was a force at midfield. She began the game at attacking midfield, and then moved to defensive midfield when teammate Kylie Berk left the game with an injury. McCarthy excelled at both positions.
“There was high midfield pressure saw (Koerner) up there, and it ricocheted off a defender and she did the rest,” McCarthy said.
Immaculata had possibly its best chance with about 25 minutes left when a corner kick was headed on goal, and blocked, and then two subsequent tip-in attempts failed.
“We really thought the first half was pretty even in terms of chances, but we were really happy with the way the second half was going,” Immaculata coach Jeremy Beardsley said. “There was that mad scramble on the corner that we couldn’t push across the line.”
One reason Immaculata had long dominant stretches was the play of senior midfielder Devin Reeves.
She constantly broke down defenders to start the attack and unleased one rocket of a shot from about 30 yards out that Paul VI keeper Chloe Krupa tipped over the cross bar.
“She was the best player on the field today,” Beardsley said
Among the more talented players in the state is Immaculata sophomore forward Amari Manning, who displays great touch, a booming shot and extreme toughness.
Paul VI didn’t man-mark Manning, but senior center back Sara O’Donnell did as good a job as possible limiting Manning’s chances.
“I just wanted to put it on her right foot because she is a really strong lefty and she is so quick with the ball, so I forced her the opposite way and just put pressure on her,” said O’Donnell, a Staten Island commit.
With both teams showing plenty of skill and grit, this was the type of game expected between the top two seeds in Non-Public A.
“This is the first team we played this year that challenged our defense to this level,” Paul VI coach Karen Anderson said. “They put a lot of pressure on us, and it was a great game.”
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Marc Narducci can be reached at [email protected]