It took just over two minutes of soccer time for Juliana Ryder to record a natural hat trick and blow past her twin sister, Arianna, as Steinert’s leading goal scorer. But in a sibling tortoise-and-the-hare tale, Arianna slowly carved out her own three-goal game to reclaim her spot at the top of the list.
“Yeah, I did have that in the back of my head when I passed her,” Juliana said with a laugh after helping Steinert’s girls soccer team to an 8-0 win over visiting West Windsor-Plainsboro South Saturday. “And then she came back and I was like ‘Whatever!’ But I was happy for her.”
Juliana entered the game with one goal while Adrianna came in with three, which tied her for team lead along with Kailey Connor.
After shooting wide on their first shot and having the next two saved by Jasmine Akma, the Spartans went to work.
More specifically, the sisters went to work.
With 32:41 remaining, Juliana converted a cross from Adrianna to make it 1-0. Just 1:37 later, Ryder scored off a pass from Arielle Warringer, and a scant 41 seconds after that, Jasmin Ortega set up Ryder for yet another score. That gave the junior three goals within 2:18.
“I was not expecting that,” Juliana said. “I was just thinking ‘Get one, get two,’ just to get us off strong. And then the third one was kind of right there so I put that one in. Everyone was like ‘Woah, good job.’ But that was unexpected.”
It was the second hat trick of Ryder’s high school career, as her three against Trenton helped her lead the Spartans with five goals in 11 games last year. Asked if she considers herself a goal scorer, Juliana said “I like to think I am. I try to assist a lot. I think I’m 50-50, but this was a big goal game for me today.”
After one twin had her fun, the other one got her turn.
First there were goals by Reilly Klein and Warringer; and Arianna tallied midway through the half. She scored two more in the second half to increase her season total to six.
And while Juliana enjoyed her momentary spot at the top of the scoring list, she also liked watching her sister do the job.
“On the field we bicker a lot but we’re close,” Juliana said. “It doesn’t affect us personally, either on or off the field.”
Coach Mike “Stinger” Hastings is just happy to see players scoring goals this year. Their 20 have already surpassed last year’s total of 18, and the Spartans have done it in six fewer games.
“Our problem every year is putting the ball in the back of the net, so if we can get somebody to do that, we’re gonna be all right,” Hastings said. “The Ryders are pretty good. Hopefully this will build their confidence and we can make a run here.”
The victory was Steinert’s fourth in five games this year, allowing them to surpass its 2020 total in a weird, 3-3-5 season. Despite the fact WW-PS (0-5) is winless, Steinert knew its fast start was important.
“That has been a problem with us recently,” Ryder said. “It’s better to score first and get the momentum. It just made us go.”
“That’s exactly what I said before the game, that the longer you can keep a team in a game they’re gonna play better,” Hastings said. “I said ‘Your goal is to get them early.’ We struggled early and then put three in right away and then we figured it out. Soccer’s all about problem solving and they figured it out.”
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