November
12, 2003
March 21,
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Everywhere
that Manchester's Andy Saliasi (15) went, there were at least two Tenafly
defenders |
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TENAFLY -- Eric Jaeger sent in the cross off a restart from just inside the sideline and Rodrigo Biggio finished off his run into the box by heading one down and into the goal for the only score of Tenafly's 1-0 win over Manchester in Tuesday's North 1, Group 2 state sectional semifinal.
And while all of that was going on, the game's biggest difference maker was well behind the play, on the opposite side of midfield in fact, and probably still shadowing his mark.
"If we
are going to say someone was the player of the game, it was Tomo Hongo," said
Tenafly head coach Bill Jaeger. "Tomo really came out and took Andy (Saliasi)
out of the game."
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| Eric Jaeger's restart seven minutes into the second half led to the game's lone goal. |
It was the first time all season that Tenafly chose to specifically mark one player and it was Hongo who drew the assignment of following Saliasi, Manchester's sophomore striker who had scored 40 goals in 22 games this season, including seven in his first two playoff games.
The one shot Saliasi managed in the first half came on a restart and was not Hongo's responsibility, and of the two Saliasi got in the second half, one went wide and one was saved by Nathan Goldman.
"It was
a thrill to play against a kid like that, a great player like that who is
as good as people said he was," said Hongo, a junior who was also giving up
about six inches to Saliasi. "All I tried to do was contain him and let the
support come and help me. I just didn't want to get beat and the one or two
times I did, there was help coming right away."
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| Dave Berg helped Tenafly own the midfield, especially in the first half. |
Tenafly (14-5-1) completely owned the first 40 minutes. Saliasi's shot off the restart, which was dipping before just skimming high of the crossbar, was the only one that Manchester (16-7) could muster in the opening half. Meanwhile, the Tigers had some chances to get on the board but saw them all go high, wide or into the waiting hands of Manchester keeper Craig Galletta.
Biggio, Eric Jaeger, Dave Berg and Jaime Ferroli did a good job of pressing the attack and putting the Tigers in position to get goals in the first half. All that was missing was the finish as the teams went into halftime still scoreless.
"We had
six or seven balls inside six-yards and we had clean shots and we didn't get
one," said Bill Jaeger. "In the game of soccer when you don't have a lot of
goal scoring, those are the times that you worry that you are going to lose
the game because they are going to come back and get a counter."
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| Jhoan Franco's cross midway through the second half set up Manchester's best scoring opportunity of the game. |
But before Manchester got a chance, Eric Jaeger hit Biggio with the cross that resulted in the game's lone goal just 7:10 into the second half. The Falcons then pushed up a bit and found more success in the offensive half, but couldn't punch home the equalizer.
Manchester got off five of its six shots on Goldman and earned all five of its corners after halftime. The closest the game came to being tied was in the 71st minute when, after a corner was spit back out by the Tenafly defense, Jhoan Franco sent a cross through the area that became dangerous when Saliasi got free on the back post but couldn't get a foot to it in time to sneak it in.
"We just didn't finish in the second half when we got our chances," said Manchester head coach Rich Broderick, whose team closed out its season by winning 14 of its final 18 games after a 2-3 start. "We are an offensive team. Andy has 40 goals and Jorge (Elizalde) has 15 and they did a nice job controlling them."
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| Tenafly Rodrigo Biggio put home the game's lone goal on a header in the 47th minute. |
The Tigers had a few chances to make the last few minutes less tense. Dan Rohlman got free up the middle and touched one past a sliding Galletta, but the ball trickled just wide. Jaeger then had two dangerous runs up the right side on consecutive chances inside the final 8 minutes, but his first ended in a cross that found no takers and the second in a shot from in deep that Galletta went to a knee to corral.
Tenafly outshot Manchester 10-6 in the game while Goldman made eight saves to Galletta's five. Goldman never got a chance to make that one defining save, but he was confident coming off his line and broke up trouble before it could take shape.
"He was
strong coming out in the air and if he didn't come out as strong as he did
a couple of times, I am pretty sure they would have gotten at least one (goal),"
said Coach Jaeger, of Goldman, his senior keeper. "He cut off a lot of chances
and we have been talking about that, about coming out when it is necessary.
This was the best game he ever had and he picked a pretty good time to do
it."
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| Nathan Goldman was steady in net as Tenfly advanced to the North 1, Group 2 section final. |
Tenafly, the No. 6 seed, now moves on to the North 1, Group 2 state sectional final where it will take on No. 4 Morris Hills, a 2-1 winner over Pequannock in Tuesday's other semifinal.
"Our defense has been great in the playoffs, especially today with Tomo marking that kid Saliasi. We haven't given up a goal in three games," said Eric Jaeger, one of 12 seniors on the Tenafly roster. "Offensively we were only able to get one in today even though we had a lot more chances. Hopefully we'll finish better in the next round and end up with a state championship."
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