Tuesday, November 13, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Orlando Neto knocked in the game's lone goal and Cliffside Park survived Madison with a 1-0 win the North 2, Group 2 state sectional quarterfinals.

CLIFFSIDE PARK – When Cliffside Park has it rolling like it did for the first 60 minutes or so in Monday's North 2, Group 2 state sectional quarterfinal, it is soccer played right. When in possession, the Red Raiders use all 11 of their players in the build up to an attack, the ball rarely ventures more than a foot off the playing surfaces. There are few breaks for throw-ins, there are probing runs and creative solutions to getting through the last line of defense. Cliffside can run a defense ragged when it forces the pace of play in its favor, it can score goals in bunches and Madison did a lot of chasing through the first half especially.

But when Madison made the adjustment and stood its ground in the second half, there was still plenty of time left on the clock and Cliffside spent the latter stages of the game trying to catch its breath and nurse its slim one-goal lead to the end.

“We came out with the fear of Cliffside Park. Madison has always come here and lost, they are the 5 seed we are the 13 and we got out of our game of playing a possession style. But we got through that first half and I asked them if they wanted to end their season that way or did they want to end it playing their best,” said Madison head coach Frank Nunez. “And I think we came out and responded.”

Jonathan Miller's do-or-die volley in the 57th minute was Madison's least real chance at the equalizer.

Madison put Cliffside on its back foot for much of the final half-an-hour, but could never find that final combination to get even. Cliffside might have been limping a little bit at the finish line, but it is moving on to the semifinals after a 1-0 win.

“I give Madison a lot of credit because they did chase us for 50 minutes and when it was over they were still standing. We came out in the second half and we didn't play. We had no shape, we didn't have options on the ball and guys were running away from the attack,” said Cliffside Park head coach Jim Fucci. “When you are up a goal you can't be racing teams down the middle, you can't be holding balls in the back because then they limit your options in the midfield and you have to play the ball long and give up possession. They were strong, they had stamina and I feel like we might have gotten away with one today.”

Cliffside's scoring chances started early and it had a golden opportunity in the 11th minute when Orlando Neto slipped in Gabriel Donato on the right side. But Madison keeper Sean Haughey read the play and slid out for a bang-bang save that kept the game scoreless. Haughey also was not fooled by a free kick that Neto tried to take quickly from 25 yards out in the 15th minute and Haughey also broke up another scoring chance five minutes later when he tipped the ball away from Jose Pena, who was sprung up the right side by Neto's lofted diagonal pass.

A sweeper turned striker turned goalkeeper, Cliffside freshman Edgar Argueta kept a clean sheet.

Madison almost got out of the first half unscathed, but Cliffside kept the pressure on and used some creativity to finally break through. Donato won a 50/50 ball up the right sideline, got even with the top of the box and picked his head up to look for a service. Donato saw Lopez just inside the area and put the cross right on him, but Lopez saw the play developing behind him. By opening the wickets and letting the ball run through his legs, Lopez cost himself a shot on goal or at least an assists as he dummied the ball for Neto, who ran in behind and deposited into the side of the goal for the game's lone score just 2:31 before halftime. Haughey, who was solid all game, had no chance on the play.

“There was a battle for the ball and I joined and won the 50/50. I heard Do-Do [Neto's nickname] calling my name and saw him and Jose and just passed it. Do-Do called Jose off, Jose opened his legs to let it through and Do-Do finished it,” said Donato. “That first goal for us is so important because when a team scores first against us they just pack the box. They put all their players back and it makes it tough to score.”

But the second half was a different story. Gone was Cliffside overwhelming possession advantage, gone were any nerves that Madison might have had and almost gone was Cliffside's lead just two minutes after the break when Schuyler Fuchsman ran onto a ball at the top of the area on the left and hit a skidder that was probably in frame and heading for the opposite corner. It presented the toughest challenge of the game for CP keeper Edgar Argueta, who extended fully to his left and got just enough of his finger tips on the ball to steer it around the post.

Schuyler Fuchsman nearly tied the game with his shot on frame just two minutes into the second half.

Argueta is one of six freshmen on the Cliffside Park roster and, on a team full of interesting journeys to Bergen County high school soccer, he stands out. Argueta was a sweeper on his club team in El Salvador just two years ago and was a striker for the Raiders when the season began. Replacing the keeper was not even on Fucci's to-do list when the season began, but Argueta's natural ability to control the box, his ability to distribute quickly short and long and his obvious and unwavering confidence made it impossible for Fucci not to turn the job over to him midway through the season.

“I never played keeper before I got here [to the United States]. Back in my country I played as a sweeper and I never played keeper before two years ago. Playing in recreation two years ago one of my coaches put me at keeper and that is how it started,” said Argueta in Spanish through Donato, who translated. “I just started learning the position and now I feel like I am getting good at it.”

While Madison kept coming down the stretch, the Dodgers were unable to put another real dangerous shot on net. In what turned out to be the last quality chance at the equalizer was in the 57th minute when Matt DiRuggiero drove a hard ball into the box for Jonathan Miller, who had a step on a defender. But with the pace of the service gaining on him, Miller was left with a do-or-die chance on a waist high line drive. He got a boot on it, but couldn't redirect all the way on goal and Cliffside held on down the stretch to advance to the semifinals where it will host Rutherford, an upset winner in Hackettstown.

Madison saw another strong season end with a 9-6-4 record and has made a habit in the last couple of years of only losing to teams that go on to win championships. It lost to Cliffside in the state playoffs two years ago when the Raiders went on to win the outright Group 2 state title, it lost in the section final to Bernards last year and the trend continued in the Morris County tournament this year.

Jose Lopez is one of Cliffside's six freshman that have helped the Raiders win 14 of their 18 games.

“We got knocked out of the county tournament by Roxbury, the team that went on to win it. In conference we lost only to the team that went on to win it and we lost today to a team that I feel like is going to go on and win the section,” said Nunez. “The teams that we lose to seem to go on and be the best and we can take something from that, but one of these years it would be nice if that team was us.”

That team might be Cliffside Park (14-3-1) this year and, even though the Raiders have been one of the best Group 2 programs in the state year after year over the last decade under Fucci, they still might be a year ahead of schedule in making another run at a state title. When Steve Martinez is not on the pitch, the Raiders play without a single senior and they have freshman in key positions like Argueta in goal, Lopez up top and Jamie Banegas anchoring the middle of the back line. The Raiders also played without Filip Bajovic, a key piece in the outside midfield. He pulled a quad muscle in practice this week and outside fullback Gramoz Peposhi is playing through a knee injury.

All that said, they will host a semifinal game against an old BCSL-American Division rival on Friday and are just two wins from another sectional championship.

“At the beginning of the season I would have been happy if we were able to play two state games. I thought that would be great for us moving forward and now we are there. If we knock a ball around we are okay, but we are small and we are young and we are not as physically strong as some teams because we are starting freshman, sophomores and juniors,” said Fucci. “Maybe we won't break down next year like we did late in the game today, we'll have another year in the weight room. But we are here, we are still playing and we are one of four teams left.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.