Thursday,
October 8, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Sophomore Franco Catania poked in the game-winner in overtime for Elmwood Park, which nipped Bogota, 1-0. |
ELMWOOD PARK – As the whistle sounded to end regulation of its match against Bogota on Wednesday, the feeling was an all too familiar one for Elmwood Park. Having scoring opportunities throughout the course of a match, the Crusaders did just about everything positive, but could not find the back of the net. With four one-goal losses against quality competition over the past three weeks, the frustration was coming to a boil. The Crusaders needed this overtime to make all that has gone wrong lately go right.
Fullback Dejan Koskoski made a long run with the ball, then slipped a pass into space near the top of the key. Sophomore Franco Catania ran onto it and poked it past Bogota's standout keeper Kazuki Garay with two minutes remaining in the first overtime period to lift Elmwood Park back over the .500 mark for the season with a 1-0 victory at Elmwood Park High School.
“We were getting frustrated with losing close games and not being able to finish. All we could do was push through it,” said Elmwood Park head coach Jan Andras. “I just told them going into overtime to please show me some more desire. We've lost some close games, including one in double overtime to Waldwick with a minute left, so we know how it feels after a one-goal loss. You have no chance to score if you don't shoot. I made a point to tell them to be more aggressive and I'm happy we got out of here with a good result.”
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Bogota's Colin McDonnell nearly hit the game-winner when he grazed the crossbar late in regulation. |
The first half was played mainly in the middle of the field. Bogota sweeper Nicolas Calabia was outstanding throughout the half, only to be matched by his counterpart Maximiliano Scarpis as neither offense could get on track with the teams going to halftime in a scoreless duel.
As the first half came to a close, Elmwood Park started to control possession. That carried over into the second half where the Crusaders kept the pressure on throughout. However, they were unable to get one past Garay who was aggressive throughout and commanded the box. That set the stage for a wild final four minutes of regulation.
Filip Starenczak's blast hit flush off the left post in the 76th minute. Then, with two minutes remaining, Terry Guzman's volley off of a corner kick was just wide. After being dominated for most of the second half, the Bucs nearly stole the game in the final minute when a shot from do-everything midfielder Conor McDonnell grazed the top of the crossbar and the game went to overtime.
The Crusaders went back on the attack but it was an unlikely run that provided the game-winning goal. Koskoski ran down numerous plays in the defensive third to clear 50-50 balls out of danger. After winning one particular 50-50 ball in overtime, he took the space in front of him and kept on going. He carried the ball nearly 60 yards before two Bucs defenders converged. The junior chipped the ball between them into space but not too far ahead of Catania. That turned out to be a wise decision as Catania was able to get to the ball first and poke it past Garay and into the net for the game-winner.
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Islam Abdalla made six saves to earn his third shutout of the season for Elmwood Park, which improved to 6-5. |
“I just saw the space and I took it until someone on Bogota came towards me,” added Koskoski. “We had to go all in and give it everything we had. I saw (Catania) cutting, I passed him the ball and he had a great finish.”
Garay was fantastic all game long with 15 saves for Bogota (4-6), who, despite being two games below .500, has been quite impressive for a first-year varsity program.
“We're disappointed with the result today because that one play cost us, but we're showing a lot of improvement,” said Bogota head coach Mike . “We have a lot of heart and a lot of desire. It's a lot harder to execute on this grass field and we were missing a starting forward today that I think could have made it a different kind of game. I'm proud of our effort, we just let (Koskoski) make that run and it bit us in the end.”
Islam Abdalla made six saves to earn his third shutout of the season for Elmwood Park (6-5). The Crusaders will now make a push towards earning a state tournament bid in what is turning out to be a loaded North 1, Group 2 section. In an interesting stat, of Elmwood Park's 11 games played this season, six of them have ended in a 1-0 final score (winning three and losing three). Getting back over the hump to win a close game will give the Crusaders a boost heading into the second half of their league schedule.
“It feels really good to have one of these one-goal games go our way,” added Koskoski. “It's been a hard stretch for us but we've kept on fighting. This was a tough game but finally we got the ball to bounce our way and we got a big win.”
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