Saturday,
November 14, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Old Tappan celebrated the first state sectional title in the history of the boys soccer program after nipping Indian Hills, 2-2 (4-2 PKs) in a shootout in the North 1, Group 3 final. |
OLD TAPPAN -- To get the game to the point that the outcome would be decided in a penalty kick shootout, Northern Valley/Old Tappan needed contributions from everybody. A slide tackle here, a little extra hold in possession there and it added up to a late goal that tied the North 1, Group 3 state sectional final late in the second half. But after two scoreless overtimes, there was only Jake Fiore.
Old Tappan’s junior goalkeeper was the only remaining line of defense and he needed to get any part of his body on any one of Indian Hills’ penalty kick attempts to give the Golden Knights the first state sectional title in the history of the boys soccer program.
The first three did not go so well as Fiore picked a side and dove only to see the Indian Hills shooter pick the other side and score. But it only takes one and, against the fourth Indian Hills shooter, Fiore saw his opportunity.
“I was mainly going with instincts. You can’t second guess yourself. You pick a side and you go and that is why on the early ones I dove and the ball went the other way,” said Fiore. “On the one I saved I was just reading hips a little to see which way he would go. I was lucky on the guess and lucky that it was at a savable level so I could get it.”
All four of Old Tappan’s shooters – Garrett LaMorte, Peter Livanis, Andrew Squillace and Conor Kelly – made their kicks so when Fiore made the first save and Indian Hills last shooter missed the frame, Old Tappan was able to celebrate a 2-2 (4-2 PKs) win and the first state sectional title in the history of the boys soccer program.
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Wolfie Albrecht (15) knocked in a long throw-in early in the second half to five Indian Hills, the No. 15 seed, a 2-1 lead. |
The penalty kick shootout was necessary to determine which team would advance to Tuesday’s Group 3 semifinal round against North 2 champion West Morris Mendham, which came through that bracket as the No. 1 seed. Such was not the case in North 1 as Old Tappan, the No. 12 seed, actually hosted the final as Indian Hills entered the tournament as the No. 15.
Indian Hills cleared the bracket of No. 2 Pascack Valley and No. 3 Ramapo, the reigning Bergen County champion and looked like it was on an unstoppable roll when it scored just over five minutes into the game. Using the long throw-in of Jimmy Alderiso, a reliable weapon all season, the Braves got numbers in the box and Scott Halper headed in the second ball to make it 1-0.
“The thing we worked on the most in practice the last two days was defending the long throw and then we gave the goal away in the first five minutes,” said Old Tappan head coach Mark Torrie. “But after that, I thought we reacted positively. I thought, after that, we got behind them at will.”
The game was officiated tightly and consistently, so after some early physicality it settled into a match with free movement for both sides. Old Tappan had two potential equalizers ruled out in a five minute span, the first by an offisides call and the second for an aggressive challenge against Indian Hills keeper Andrew Cameron. But less than a minute after that one, Louis Long picked the perfect time to score his first goal of the season as he waited on the backside of the pile before heading home LaMorte’s corner kick with 12:02 to play in the first half.
“I have scored three goals in my varsity career and all of them have been in the air on headers,” said Long, one of 13 seniors on Old Tappan’s roster. “My finishing in practice has been terrible and everyone has been joking around with me, but I just really wanted it today. The ball came in and I could even see it. The sun was in my eyes and I just closed my eyes and got lucky. The ball went off my face and went in.”
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Louis Long's first goal of the season got Old Tappan even at 1. |
Old Tappan had three more legitimate chances to take the lead before the half but Cameron stood up strong. He pulled in a lunging rip by Kevin Bae in the 34th minute, went to his knees to keep out a sneaky one timer by Lucas Casamento in the 36th minute and robbed Casamento again in the 37th by flying out to cut the angle on a half-a-breakaway chance.
Old Tappan was on the front foot heading into halftime but was knocked right back early in the second when it gave up two throw-ins from in deep in the first six minutes. The Knights survived the first one but not the second as Alderisio flung in another line drive that bounced around before Wolfie Albrecht put it home and put Braves back in front, 2-1, with 34:04 left in regulation.
Fiore bailed his team out in the 57th minute when he poked away a potential walk-in situation against Luke Backman at the edge of the box, but, other than that, the chances were mostly at the feet of the Golden Knights, who kept up the pressure with short balls over the top, but were running out of time.
Indian Hills was less than seven minutes from finishing off yet another upset before Livanis timed a run brilliantly. On yet another floating lead pass, Livanis settled it with a shoulder in front of the last defender and slid it home to tie the game with 6:34 left in regulation.
“I saw Andrew Squillace with the ball and he kind of made eye contact with me. I kind of figured it was coming my way,” said Livanis, who scored the lone goal in Old Tappan’s semifinal upset of top-seeded Northern Highlands in the semifinals. “He played a perfect ball over the top and tried to make the most of it. I saw the keeper coming and just tried to slide it in the bottom right.”
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Scott Halpern scored the first goal for Indian Hills, which started the season
1-5-2 and finished with a 15-8-2 record. |
Old Tappan had to then survive a scare late in regulation when it gave away a free kick in the middle of the park only about 22 yards from goal. The free kick sailed wide.
Each team had once solid chance in the first extra session. Old Tappan dealt with an Alderisio long throw two minutes in and Indian Hills’ Oliver Key slid in from behind to break up a Casamento charge into the box seven minutes in.
The second overtime passed relatively uneventfully and the first three round of the shootout were three makes apiece. Then Fiore got his gloves on the next Indian Hills attempt and that changed everything.
It ended one of the best seasons in Indian Hills boys soccer history, one that started inauspiciously at 1-5-2. The Braves rallied to win the Bergen Cup, snuck into the state tournament as the second to last seed and then wrought havoc in what is perennially one of the state’s toughest playoff brackets all under first year head coach Michael Calderon.
“There are so many great things that happened to us this season. At one point of the season we were 1-5-2 and one reporter said that we were looking at a rebuilding year. These guys didn’t want to hear that. They knew what they had, they knew what they were capable of and it is a tight-knit little family we have here,” said Calderon, whose team finished the season with a 15-8-2 record. ”They changed things around in the middle of the season and you have to take your hat off to these guys for just making it this far. Nobody thought we would make it past Round 1 as the 15 seed. Nobody thought we would make it past the quarterfinals or past Ramapo in the semis, so to be here in this moment, I am so proud of these guys.”
Old Tappan is riding some wave as well and it will continue in the Group 3 semifinals on Tuesday at Ridge High School against Mendham.
“For me it is a justification of the process that the boys are involved in. The community has worked hard with the club and the rec programs and they are feeding kids in here. If you are a soccer player and you live in the four towns or five towns including Rockleigh, we want to make it foolish to look to play anywhere else,” said Torrie. “And now we are playing with house money so let’s go, let’s see what we can do.”
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