Monday,
October 20, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Charlie Ortiz scored off a turnover early in the second half and that goal stood up as sixth-seeded Ramapo upset No. 3 Tenafly in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament on Sunday. |
RAMSEY -- When a ball falls to a player in open space and then that player knocks it home against an out of position goaltender, it may look like a stroke of good fortune. But the want to hustle into that position and to be the guy in the right spot at the right time is a skill in itself and Ramapo’s Charlie Ortiz has a knack for it.
Last week Ortiz positioned himself on the back side of the pileup in front of the net on a long throw in and was there to volley home the equalizer in the final 15 minutes of the Green Raiders’ win over Fort Lee in the Round of 16 of the Bergen County Tournament. On Sunday in the quarterfinals, Ortiz was at it again. an outside midfielder, he stayed high up the pitch and on the opposite side of the play as Tenafly was trying to clear the ball out from deep in its own end.
So Ortiz was right where he needed to be when a defender headed the ball the wrong way, across the top of the 18 with no one but Ortiz able to get the end of it. Ortiz took two dribbles and then fired back across the goal and inside the opposite post for the lone goal in Ramapo’s 1-0 upset of third-seeded Tenafly at Ramsey High School.
“When you get the opportunity you have to take it and score, especially in the county tournament. It’s a team effort, it is not about just one individual, but being in the right place at the right time always helps,” said Ortiz, a junior. “Tenafly is a great team and they have a lot of great players, but putting that goal away changed the way their heads were in the game. After that we just played our game and didn’t have to worry about the score.”
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Noah Rosenberg made four saves for Tenafly, which lost for just the second time this season. |
Ortiz’s goal came four-and-a-half minutes into the second half and with the wind at the Green Raiders’ backs. The steady gusts were not really all that much of a factor for a Teanfly team that is adept at moving the ball on the ground anyway, but they did help Ramapo clear balls out and punt them away when they fell into the hands of senior goalkeeper Armand Biagini.
“Tenafly is full of good players. Number 7 (Guy Zeplovitch) is real good up top, 23 [George Avrassoglou] is a dangerous player, 10 [Natan Vidra] is dangerous, so I really have to hand it to my defense. We stayed organized, we stayed together and we played smart,” said Biagini, who was also in net when Tenafly beat Ramapo last month in a regular season game. “We were working all week on man-marking, stepping to them harder than we did last time we played them. Last time I felt like we were always one step behind, but I thought in this game we were one steap ahead.”
With the wind in the first half Tenafly had some good chances, one of the best of which came 13 minutes in when Zeplovitch threw himself into a crowd at the near post to try to get a foot on a rolling dross sent in by Vidra. The shot got knocked down before it got to Biagini before Ramapo made a solid bid to go in front six minutes later.
Ryan Campbell won a jumpball situation on a high bounce and then won the race to the endline. He sent in a rolling cross to the near post and Dylan Rocchio first-timed just wide to the right. In the 29th minute, Tenafly keeper Noah Rosenberg robbed Campbell, who headed down a Kevin Winiarski long throw, at the right post and Tenafly defender Jae Soon Jung cleared a Keeyan Hagshenas volley off the line less than two minutes before halftime.
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Kevin Winiarski and the Ramapo defense gave little space to the potent Tenafly attack. |
While there was not much build-up to Ramapo’s goal early in the second half, there didn’t need to be. One break that went their way made the difference for the Green Raiders, who played the kind of team defense that made it hard for the normally precise Tenafly attack to find a way through.
With Winiarski, the senior sweeper, winning balls in the middle of the field with the support of Matt Collins and Pat Hammer amongst others, Ramapo was able to see out the game for the final 35 minutes, even if there were a few hairy moments.
Less than a minute after Ramapo took the lead Avrassoglou sent in a rolling cross toward the near post. Andrew Hwang was the first to it and went with a tricky back heel that would have go in had Biagini not dived to smother it. The Tigers’ last good look came in the 67th minute when Vidra snaked his way through two defenders and got off a rip from 20 yards out that finished high and wide of the mark.
“I thought we were able to push them out a little further. Instead of letting them shoot from 18 yeards and in we made them shoot from 25 or 30 yards and that made a big difference. Tenafly is so technically solid that if you lose sight of one of their attacking players for even a second they will find that pass and hurt you with it,” said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. “That is why I am happy with our guys. It took a team effort from our defense, from all of our guys, and that is what they gave us.”
Ramapo, which lost to Don Bosco Prep in a penalty kick shoot-out in last season’s semifinal round, will get a rematch next weekend in the semifinals. The Ironmen, the No. 2 seed, knocked out Garfield, 4-1, in the third game of Sunday’s quarterfinal double header.
“There is nothing better than the county tournament so any win in it is a great feeling,” said Biagini. “Tenafly was a great team to play in the quarterfinals and this is a great win for us and we know we are going to face another great team in the semis, but that is what makes it fun.”
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