By Rich Chrampanis
Considering that just five days earlier, Frankie Tagliaferri was 5,740 miles away from Colts Neck High School in Amman, Jordan competing for Team USA in the Under 17 Women’s World Cup, it would have been understandable for there to be a letdown when the Lady Cougars took to the pitch against Marlboro High. Yet before the first whistle blew, the only player on the field with extensive international experience had a smile a mile wide, eager to compete wearing her school’s jersey.
“It’s hard to acclimate being back here and the first couple of days I didn’t feel like I was back,” Tagliaferri said after scoring a goal and an assist in the Cougars 5-0 win over the Lady Mustangs. “I’m just really excited for this year, for my senior year and I’m happy to be back.”
The midfielder spent two years as part of the United States U17 national team which culminated in the World Cup competition in Jordan. She started the scoring in the USA’s 6-0 win over Paraguay and scored the only goal in the American’s 2-1 loss to Ghana. The US finished 1-2 in Group D play, falling to Japan 3-2 and not advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament. Tagliaferri has now scored 11 goals in international play and her confidence continues to grow as she shined on a worldwide stage.
“It was incredible. Walking on the field and hearing the national anthem and being with the girls and the team representing your country is the best feeling,” Tagliaferri said. “The first goal I scored, it got our momentum and it felt really good because we’ve been preparing for two years and to finally put one in the net felt really good.”
“I’ve always felt like she was capable at that stage,” Colts Neck girls soccer coach Doug Phillips said. “I don’t necessarily agree with exactly with the way they use her there, but that’s my opinion as a coach,” (Tagliaferri did not start in the final game against Japan and was removed for a substitute in the two games that she scored) “She belongs. She’s at the highest level as far as I’m concerned. She’s going to play professionally and above that so it was nice to see her score some goals over there.”
The US Soccer team tweeted a number of pictures throughout their journey in the U17 World Cup and one of them included Frankie doing calculus homework on the trip overseas something that no doubt made the math department at Colts Neck High happy with their student missing nearly six weeks of school. With a collegiate career at Penn State on the horizon, it would have been real easy for Tagliaferri to take a pass on playing high school soccer, but it’s clear that being a part of the Colts Neck team is truly important to her. For Phillips, it’s like the New York Red Bulls getting Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo joining the roster just in time for the post-season push. But the Colts Neck coach explains that it’s much more than just a superstar player back on the roster.
“To the outsider, it’s probably the first thing you think of, but to us she’s a teammate and a family member,” Phillips said. “We’re a very close team. You could see (in her first practice back), we kind of felt complete with her back. It’s been kind of weird with her gone. The level up top is exceptional for us is the best word I can think of and we can keep teams on their heels a little bit more and start playing our style of soccer that we’ve been used to the last couple of years.”
The Cougars played nine games with Tagliaferri and went 6-2-1. The United States early exit in the World Cup was Colts Neck’s gain as their midfielder is now in the mix for the entire Shore Conference Tournament and the state playoffs. Last year, Tagliaferri scored the lone goal in the state championship game when the Cougars stunned #1 nationally ranked Northern Highlands at Kean University. That victory gave Colts Neck a #6 ranking in the USA Today National Top 25 Girls Soccer final poll. Her impact in 2016 has already been made. After a goal and an assist against Marlboro, Frankie registered a hat trick in the Cougars 4-0 win at Manalapan giving her four goals in her first two games back.
In a world where academy soccer discourages top players from competing for their high school, it’s refreshing to see not only one of the nation’s best, but a true world class athlete happily play for her school and chase a state title with the same determination and vigor that she used to chase a World Cup trophy.
“We’ve been talking about it since last year,” Tagliaferri said. “We’ve been all really excited for this year and it’s my senior year with all my best friends so we’re really excited for it.”
