No drama. Not much fanfare. Business as usual. And that's okay with Monica Wood.

In a recent soccer game against Pen Argyl, Wood deposited four balls into the back of the net, one of which was the 100th goal of her four-year career at Palmerton High School.In her own words, "it just happened.""I didn't pay much attention to it," she says. "It was basically a quiet moment and that was fine because I'm concentrating on winning the game before any personal goals."Wood's total now stands at 108 goals, and to place that into a perspective for Palmerton girls' soccer, she broke the school record of 45 set back in 2006. She also eclipsed the single season record with her 41 scores this year, more than doubling the previous record.Wood began playing recreational soccer when she was five years old. At age 12, she played for Carbon United and now when she's not lacing her shoes for the Lady Blue Bombers, she patrols midfield for Keystone Athletics' 17U premier team.When asked whether proficient goal scoring is more of a talent than a learned skill, Wood claims it requires both."Soccer is a very difficult sport to play well and even if you have athletic ability, you need to practice a lot to really be good at it."At Palmerton, Wood's combination of talent and skill have propelled her team into the district playoffs in each of the past two seasons, a remarkable feat because Palmerton had previously qualified for post season play only once in its school history.Palmerton head coach Nate Petrosky said that his star midfielder has deceiving abilities."She's faster than most realize. She has long legs, never puts her head down and will run through an opponent to set up a scoring chance," said Petrosky. "Monica also possesses solid ball control skills which allows her to cut around defenders."Since opposing teams are aware of her scoring power, they often will double and triple team Wood. Her counterattack is to roam throughout the midfield area until she can break free and charge the net."It certainly gets frustrating at times when I have to get away from players who cover me wherever I go," said Wood. "But that usually leaves one of my teammates wide open so I can easily pass her the ball."Petrosky says his team is a mix of girls who have limited soccer experience with seven underclassmen as starters."Our youth and overall inexperience makes Monica's accomplishments even more impressive," he says. "We play against some solid soccer programs in the Colonial League and she has been a great example for our younger players."Her success is not just based on her talent. Monica is incredibly passionate about soccer and drives herself above and beyond what's expected from most players."Wood may not feel that scoring 100 goals is a dramatic event, but her coach recalls other games in which her goals were huge for the Bombers. Last season, she scored to beat a good Salisbury team, 1-0. This year against Northern Lehigh, during a victory that qualified the Bombers for districts, Wood excelled again. She scored two early goals as the teams battled to a 2-2 halftime tie. After NL took a 3-2 lead, she tied the score once more. Then, with 30 seconds left, she found the back of the net to seal Palmerton's most important victory.Next season, Monica Wood will take her game to Division 1 New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) where she intends to study business. It looks like she has a leg up on her major already. She's been nothing but all business during her record-breaking career at Palmerton.*******Every Friday during the fall sports season, the TIMES NEWS will publish its annual fall sports notebook reflecting back on the week that was, and highlighting both individual and team accomplishments, as well as interesting information that may have occurred in games, matches or meets. The weekly notebook will cover cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, tennis and volleyball, and will consist of storylines from the previous seven days. Today's notebook will be the final edition of the fall sports season and will reflect back on all of the regular season happenings from last Wednesday up through this past Tuesday.SOCCERHAAF TIME - In last Wednesday's 7-0 victory over Catasauqua, JD Haaf knocked in two goals to become Northwestern's all-time single-season leader in goals scored. With his 33rd and 34th goals of the season, Haaf surpassed previous record holder Jesse Sechler (1995).HAT TRICKS - The regular season concluded with three more area athletes registering hat tricks over the past week. Palmerton's Monica Wood is no stranger to scoring, as the school's all-time career goals leader notched her sixth hat trick of the season with four goals against Northern Lehigh last Wednesday. In addition, Lehighton's Frank Bokan and Jim Thorpe's Luke Morris scored three goals apiece in leading their teams to victories on Saturday.PLAYOFF BOUND - Palmerton's Monica Wood scored all four of her team's goals in a 4-3 victory over Northern Lehigh last Wednesday to give the Lady Bombers their ninth win of the season. With a 9-9 overall record, Palmerton advances to next week's District 11 playoffs.VOLLEYBALLGETTIN' DIGGY WIT' IT - On Thursday, October 15, against Pottsville, Jim Thorpe's Alexandra McGinley finished with 24 digs, which brought her over the 500 mark for her career. At the conclusion of the regular season, the sophomore defensive specialist currently has 540 career digs and counting.SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST - Entering Tuesday's regular season finale against Weatherly with a 9-10 overall record, Jim Thorpe needed a win against the Wreckers to salvage its season and advance into the District 11 Class AA Tournament. Not only did the Olympians take care of business, they did so in decisive fashion with a three-game sweep of Weatherly (25-15, 25-21, 25-20).FIELD HOCKEYWIN AND IN - Three Times News field hockey teams needed wins in the final week of the regular season to advance to the district playoffs and all three teams managed to punch their tickets into the postseason. Northern Lehigh was the first team to clinch with a 3-0 Colonial League victory over Salisbury last Wednesday. The Lady Bulldogs finished the regular season 8-9-1 overall and 8-7-1 in the League. On the very next day, Northwestern defeated Northern Lehigh 3-1 to earn its automatic berth into the District Tournament. The Lady Tigers ended the year with an identical record to their Colonial League counterparts (8-9-1 overall, 8-7-1 League). Finally, Lehighton entered the fray a mere 24 hours later with a 7-0 victory over Bethlehem Catholic. The Lady Indians secured their spot in districts with an 9-8-1 overall record.DIVISION CHAMPIONSThere was no shortage of success for Times News area teams this fall sports season, as in addition to 16 teams advancing into the District 11 playoffs, six squads captured Division Championships within their respective Leagues. Marian had the most success with three division championships. With a 9-1 record, the Marian golf team captured the Schuylkill League Division 2 title; the Marian Volleyball team finished a perfect 13-0 to win the Schuylkill League Division 2 Championship; and the Marian girls cross country team went undefeated (6-0) to win the Schuylkill League Division 2 crown. The Tamaqua girls cross country team claimed the Schuylkill League Division 1 Championship with a perfect 7-0 record, while the Lehighton boys soccer team took home the Schuylkill League Division 1 title by finishing 11-1 in the League. In the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, the Pleasant Valley volleyball team captured the Mountain Division championship with a 10-0 unblemished record.