Saturday,
November 9, 2013
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Kevin Tapia celebrating the game's lone goal, his header that gave Kearny a 1-0 win over Clifton in the North 1, Group 4 state sectional quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. |
KEARNY – Only separated by nine miles, the similarities between Kearny and Clifton are plenty both on and off the soccer field. Both are blue-collar towns with hard-working players who will battle for every loose ball. Each town is known as a true soccer town with rabid fans cheering them on every game. Both teams define their season not by a number of wins, but by number of championships it wins. While both teams are having successful seasons by most standards, neither Kearny nor Clifton were particularly satisfied as they both missed out on league and county titles.
The only major title left to win is a North 1, Group 4 section crown in the state tournament. On Friday, Kearny and Clifton clashed in a battle to see which one would still have a shot a trophy and which would see it season come to an end.
Kevin Tapia provided the answer as he scored on a header in the 63rd minute and top-seeded Kearny squeaked past No. 9 Clifton, 1-0, in the North 1, Group 4 quarterfinals at Harvey Field in Kearny.
The majority of the first half had the feel of a boxing match with the game mainly being played in the middle of the field and neither team able to gain much of an advantage until the final five minutes when each team had a chance to go ahead.
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Nelson Pusquin and Clifton had their best chances early. |
Kearny’s Michael Barros (four saves) made a nice save on a volley by Clifton’s Luis Chapal. Less than two minutes later, Clifton keeper Mark Glodava did the same on a hard shot from Andres Pesantez to keep the game scoreless heading into the second half.
“We had some opportunities late in the first half, but we didn’t convert,” said Clifton head coach Alfred Bido. “Against a good team that is strong defensively, you have to take advantage of those opportunities because you won’t get many of them. Once they went ahead, then we started playing much harder but we were also rushing too much and not playing our style. Give credit to Kearny though because they forced to not be as comfortable as we normally would be.”
Kearny raised its energy level to start the second half and began to take control of the possession game in the midfield before finally breaking through for the game’s only goal.
"We weren't opening the field in the first half as we normally do and that's why we weren't getting any offense going," said Kearny stopper Michael Diaz, who made a nice defensive play on a one-on-one with Clifton's Justin Olaya early in the second half. "We had to get back to Kearny soccer, two-touching and using the whole field to create some passing lanes. When we got back to doing that, we create more opportunities to score."
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Daniel Dos Santos sent in the cross that led to the Kearny goal. |
Daniel Dos Santos barely beat an offsides trap and sent a cross into the middle of the box. Despite giving away at least six inches to both of Clifton’s central defenders, Tapia somehow sliced between them to get position and head the ball into the lower-right hand corner with 16:42 to play to put the Kardinals ahead 1-0.
"You have to be aggressive to win a ball in the air and (Dos Santos) gave me a great cross," said Tapia. "I didn't think I'd be able to win the ball with their two big guys in the middle. Then I saw it coming right to me and I had to get my head on it. I was hoping just to make their keeper make a save and maybe we'd get the rebound, but I'm happy it went in instead."
The Mustangs picked up the intensity and fought valiantly in search of the tying goal that could force overtime, but the Kardinal defense was having none of it. They allowed just two shots over the final 17 minutes as Kearny moved on to North 1, Group 4 section semifinals where they will face fourth-seeded Bergen Tech, a 3-0 winner over Randolph, on Tuesday at Harvey Field in Kearny with a 2:00 P.M. start.
While the Kardinals are pleased with the win that kept their season afloat for the time being, they know that their level of play needs to go up another notch if they are going to take another step toward an elusive title.
"There is pressure every game once you get to the states," added Diaz. "One mistake can cost our team the entire season. Concentration is something we need for 80 minutes. The games are not going to get any easier and we have to prepare ourselves to play better every time out if we want to be section champs."
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