Freshman Smith adapts quickly in Millville's win over Vineland

VINELAND – More than anything, he looks comfortable.

Devaughn Smith is one of the smallest players in the midfield, but he's one who never stops moving. He challenges for possession on the outside; he comes back hard to defend; he looks for gaps in the defense he can exploit.

He never seemed to have an indecisive moment Thursday, when he scored the lone goal in the Millville soccer team's 1-0 win over Vineland.

It's all pretty ironic, really, because as a freshman playing a new position, he was in completely unfamiliar territory.

The lights at Gittone Stadium and an intense, physical arch-rival made the Thunderbolts' Cape-Atlantic League, American Division meeting with Vineland even more different.

“My teammates just really lifted my spirits,” Smith said. “They never talk down on me. They always pick me up. It's really the team spirit that helped me get rid of my nerves, coming under the lights to play this game.”

He felt those nerves as soon as he got off the bus.

“The environment is different, the teammates, the opponents, the refs – everything is different,” he said. “The atmosphere; parents, supporters – everything just comes into the game. It's very energetic.”

Very energetic sums up Smith pretty nicely, too.

He found one of those gaps in the 13th minute against the Fighting Clan. With fellow freshman Terron Stevenson about to throw the ball in and everyone moving toward the net, Smith hung back from the pack and Stevenson found him.

“He saw me. I was wide open in space,” Smith said. “And I saw a defender coming, so I had to just tap it away from him. I had the space, on my left foot, and I just took the shot. I'm just trying to hit the net, at that point, with as much power as I can, but I hit it in a good spot, on the sweet spot, and it went in.”

Vineland keeper Tristan DeLeon leaped to get his hands on it, but couldn't bring it down. It bounced into the high netting.

It was the second goal in three games for Smith, who started the season on the bench.

“We actually didn't have him playing in the middle at first,” Millville coach Christian Varga said. “It took a little while for us to realize that's where he's going to play. He's kind of slowed things down for us, and we've changed formation a little bit, too.”

As a freshman, he was happy to get on the field, no matter where the Thunderbolts put him.

“It's a weird position for me. I'd never played winger before,” he said. “I usually play center mid, for my club. When you're a winger, you really have to get up and down – attacking, defending, it's really non-stop. You also have to play the crosses. As a (center) midfielder, you're really in control of the game – when you attack, when you sit back and how you switch play.”

Some of it he figured out instinctively. Some he picked up on video.

“It's just a couple minutes at home every day, analyzing players who play that position,” Smith said. “You figure out a philosophy for playing it.”

There's been a lot of figuring out going on among the Thunderbolts. DeLeon saved a penalty kick off the foot of another freshman, Kevin Dick, in the final minute of the first half that might have made the last 40 minutes more a cruise, and less a battle.

“We've got four freshmen on this team,” Varga said. “They're getting a taste of Millville-Vineland. I'm proud of them. This is easily a game that – especially after the penalty shot that we missed – it could have gone the other way, and we did what we had to do to keep that momentum in our end.”

John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times, Courier Post and The Daily Journal. E-mail him at jlewis@thebct.com or follow on Twitter @JohnLewis19. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.