Monday, October 8, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Alec Kaminer making one of his three saves in the penalty kick shootout that wound up giving Paramus a 4-4 (4-3 PKs) win over Bergen Tech in the Round of 16 in the Bergen County Tournament.

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS – In game that saw eight goals whiz pass four different keepers through the 80 minutes of regulation, the last person that figured to be the 'Man of the Match' in Sunday's Bergen County Tournament Round of 16 game between Paramus and Bergen Tech would be a goalie. But when 100 hundred minutes had passed and the outcome had still yet to be decided, the slate was wiped clean with the start of the penalty kick shootout.

Paramus sophomore keeper Alec Kaminer did not start the game and he had never been through the do-or-die phase of a playoff game, but now that it is over, his first experience is certainly one he will savor. Kaminer turned away three of the four penalty kicks that were taken against him, the last one closing the door on a 4-3 shootout win that decided a match played to a 4-4 draw through regulation and two 10-minute overtimes.

“This was the first time that I have ever been involved in PKs. It was crazy. I never thought it would come to this, but I just wanted to do it for the seniors and give them another game to play in the county tournament,” said Kaminer, who splits time in net with senior Rushil Surapeneni. “Yesterday at practice we were working on PKs and my coaches told me to watch the shooter when he puts the ball down and see where he looks first. That is the approach I used.”

Bergen Tech's Jeremy Schwartz celebrating the goal that tied the game at 4.

Kaminer saw the first PK taken against him by John Falciolince ripple into the lower left hand corner, but he saved the next two, one with a dive to his right and the next by holding his ground in the middle of the frame. Meanwhile, Paramus' first three shooters – Benji Audi, Lucas Tasci and Randy Casalla – all converted their attempts to put Paramus in control of the shootout, up 3-1. Bergen Tech keeper David Heller saw Paramus' next shooter graze the outside of the right post to keep the Knights alive for another round, but when Kaminer snuffed BT's fourth shot, the celebration could start in earnest.

“[Kaminer] is going to be good. He's got some height to him, he is an athletic kid, he plays basketball and baseball so he can jump. He can under a ball and he tracks ball well,” said Paramus head coach Al Romeo. “In penalty kicks you want an athletic goalie, well, there you go, there is an athletic goalie.”

After a feeling out process that lasted the first 31 minutes of the game, it looked like the goalies were already in shootout mode as each teams offense found repeated paths to the goal and scored a combined eight times in the final 49 minutes of regulation.

Bergen Tech's was more the battering ram approach as it used its size advantage to hold possession and it took the lead with 8:55 to go in the first half when Arthur Santos created space for himself at the top of the penalty area on the right side and finished into the opposite corner to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. Four minutes later, Dominic Lalic crashed the near post on a Santos corner kick, flicked it on to create havoc and the ball went off a defender for what looked like a commanding 2-0 lead.

Brian Iama striking the free kick from 45 yards out that got Paramus even at 2 early in the second half.

But Paramus changed the momentum inside the final two minutes when Max Brodarzon hit a restart and Adrian London stuck with it in traffic. His second time volley hit the top shelf and the Spartans had a good feeling heading into the break down just 2-1.

“That goal picked up a lot of momentum for us. For most of the first half it was like we were asleep, but that first goal got us ready to go for the second half,” said Brodarzon, a senior midfielder. “They had a lot of big players, a lot of physical players, but we finally started to play our game. We are a passing team, quick touches, quick movements and we started to take over a little bit.”

It was a quick blast that got Paramus even just five minutes into the second half when Brian Iama lined up a free kick from 45 yards out and buried it beneath the crossbar to make it 2-2. Bergen Tech grabbed the lead back in the 56th minute when Adian Kutner split Paramus' two central defenders on a perfectly timed run and caught up to a through ball. Kutner then played the ball wide to the left to Jeremy Park, who used the outside of his right foot to roll a cross to Daniel Zehirov, who finished in the lower left.

With the game now a resembling a tennis match with heads cranking each way to keep up with the back-and-forth action, Paramus tied the game at 3, although the exact timing of it was unclear. With the scoreboard clock not running and with the referee's and coaches watches way out of alignment, another restart provided the game's sixth goal. A yellow card shown to BT's Alexander Ivanoff gave Brodarzon a free kick from 22 yards out. Bergen Tech keeper David Heller slapped at it, but Iama pounced on the loose ball to keep it alive and Giovanni Piccione finished it off to square the game with somewhere around 14 minutes remaining in regulation.

Daniel Zehirov scored Bergen Tech's third goal.

One minute later, Lucas Tasci put Paramus in front for the first time when he caught up to a Brodarzon through ball and went in 1-v-1 before finishing underneath the sliding keeper to make it 4-3.

“Number 10 Max [Brodarzon], a kid that I coached when he was 10, 11 and 12 years old, came back to bite me,” said Bergen Tech head coach Nelson Ramirez. “When Bergen Tech went to the NNJIL we used to play Paramus all the time and this is the third or fourth time we have gone into overtime. This was the kind of close game I was expecting, but maybe not with so many goals.”

The last goal of regulation came with about seven minutes to play. Paramus had most of the possession from the time it went in front, but one counter attack was all the Knights needed to get back even. Jeremy Schwartz shouldered past the last defender before netting the equalizer. With :30 seconds left in regulation, Tasci flicked a Brodarzon corner toward and empty net, but BT freshman Kenneth Gwon headed it off the line and onto the top of the net to push the game into overtime.

In the first extra session, Cassalla had Paramus' two best chances. One hit the crossbar flush and the other was taken in the midsection by Heller, while Bergen Tech most dangerous sequence came off a Schwartz corner kick to the back post where Zehirov's lunging toe poke missed just wide.

Adrian London scored late in the first half to give Paramus some momentum.

The second overtime was wide open with dangerous chances each way, but neither team could find the winner and it took a shootout to determine which team would move on to face Waldwick, a 1-0 winner over Cliffside Park, in next weekend's quarterfinal round.

“We did it and it is hard to remember everything. The game went by so fast,” said Romeo of the contest that took 100 minutes plus the shootout and over two hours of real world time to complete. “I was saying to the referee a couple of times, how much time is left? But in the end, when you win, you can't complain about anything. You just take it and move on.”

The loss was a tough one to take for Bergen Tech, which came in undefeated and had two-goal lead and three different one-goal advantages. But with a roster packed with juniors and various other underclassmen, it is pretty safe to say that the Knights will get another crack at the county tournament next year.

“It's been a while since we have been to the dance and being here makes a big difference. It is a learning experience. We have a whole bunch of juniors, we have a whole bunch of sophomores and one freshman and I am sure we will be around,” said Ramirez. “And I think the fans are going home with a tremendous satisfaction. They got their money's worth with this crazy game.”

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