Tuesday, September 10, 2013

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Harwin Ventura scored in the 23rd minute to give Cliffside Park the lead for good in a 4-0 win over Ramsey.

CLIFFSIDE PARK – A season-opening win is generally a feel-good feeling for virtually any team in any sport. But after a lackluster 6-3 win over Westwood on Saturday, Cliffside Park boys soccer coach Jim Fucci was expecting better execution in all phases of the game from his team that high expectations from both inside the locker room and from outside of it.

As one of, if not the, best team in North Jersey, opposing teams are going go give the Red Raiders their ‘A’ game every time out. On Monday it was Ramsey who came in looking for a benchmark victory and through the first 20 minutes it played the home team even up. But before the teams walked off the field for halftime, Cliffside Park made it mark and standout Orlando Neto had a lot to do with it.

The Red Raiders held a 1-0 lead, but the outcome was very much in doubt before Neto showed why he is as dangerous with the ball as any player in the state. In a 79-second span late in the first half, Neto scored a pair of incredible goals that gave Cliffside Park a comfortable three-goal lead at the half. The defense did the rest from there, allowing just one shot on goal in the second half en route to a 4-0 triumph at Cliffside Park High School.

“Ramsey is a quality program every year and I thought we played pretty well today for it being so early in the season,” said Fucci. “Our back line was significantly better than we were against Westwood and we needed to be against a tough team like Ramsey.”

Mike Saalfrank had seven saves for Ramsey, which was playing its first game of the season.

The possession battle was even for most of the first half, but it was Ramsey that had three quality scoring chances over the first 20 minutes. The best of which came when a bicycle flick off by Jack Dugan of cross that was bobbled by Cliffside Park keeper Edgar Argueta, but with Argueta well off of his line and out of position the Rams knocked the rebound wide.

Harwin Ventura got the Red Raiders on the scoreboard on a hustle play off of a corner kick. After getting knocked around, the ball was headed back in with Ventura and Ramsey goaltender Mike Saalfrank arriving at the same time. Ventura was able to pop it loose and then tap the ball into the open net for a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.

Ramsey was still in it and looked like it might be down only a goal heading into halftime before Neto suddenly caught fire after being dropped into the midfield to help kickstart the offense. Off a cross from Matt Reyes, Neto timed his run perfectly and cracked a scissor-volley from 15 yards out into the upper left-hand corner to make it 2-0 with 4:06 left in the half.

“They were clogging up the middle and doing a good job, I just had to stay patient and wait for an opportunity,” said Neto, a first-team all-state selection in 2012. “We know every team is going to come at us hard and we have to do the same thing. My first goal, I didn’t really have time to react and I had to hit it first time on net. The second goal I saw (Saalfrank) off his line a little bit. I had space to get off a shot so I took a chance at the corner and it went in.”

Just over a minute later, Neto carried the ball into the Rams’ defensive third and bent a shot past the diving Saalfrank and into the upper right-hand corner to put the Red Raiders up 3-0 at the half.

Orlando Neto scored twice in the first half for Cliffside Park, which has scored 10 goals in its first two games.

“Against a talented team with a player like (Neto), if you make mistakes or lose 50-50 balls, it gives them time to start their attack and they’ll make you pay for it,” said Ramsey head coach Jamie Phillips. “Their first goal hurt because we had our chances early and maybe it would have been a different type of game if we scored first. But the final score I don’t think is indicative of how the entire game was played, especially in the first half. We will learn from this and we have no choice but to bounce back since we play a big league game against River Dell (tomorrow night).”

Cliffside Park (2-0) tacked on the final goal in the 57th minute when senior Kevin Kindelan headed home a loose ball into an open net. The defense was outstanding over the final 60 minutes, led by sweeper Eli Pappas. Argueta made four saves to earn the shutout. Saalfrank had seven saves for Ramsey (0-1), which was outshot 15-7.

Although the Red Raiders have moved up to Group 3, the expectations are still the same: Grow as a unit every day and work towards being a major contender for both county and state titles. While there is still virtually an entire season left, the outcome was a step in the right direction.

“What we were looking for was improvement from Westwood on Saturday to today and we had that,” added Fucci. “We flip-flopped our sweeper and stopper. That worked out great, as both guys seemed more comfortable and played very well. I also thought we pressured better in the midfield and made good decisions when we possessed the ball. Our most important focus is simplifying things and controlling what we can control. We can’t control what section we’re in, or what our ranking is, or any off-the-field stuff. When we play within ourselves and only focus on what we can control, we’ll be a much better team for it. How we played a today is positive step forward.”

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