Monday,
October 21, 2013
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Northern Highlands' celebrated its 2-1 win over Ramsey that gave the program its 500th victory and a sixth straight Bergen County championship. |
WESTWOOD – Much like her teammates, Jordan Paton was going through a wide range of emotions in Sunday’s Bergen County final after watching Ramsey tie the game early in the second half. Retaining their stranglehold on the Bergen County title was something the Highlanders worked hard for all season. In just an instant, it began to slip away from their grasp. After struggling to score on short corners all afternoon and not wanting to face the prospect of overtime, someone had to step up and make something happen. Paton had filled that role nicely all game long and did so again when the stakes were at their highest.
Off of a corner, Paton scored her second goal of the game with 7:06 remaining as top-seeded Northern Highlands extended its streak of Bergen County titles to six with a 2-1 triumph over No. 2 seed Ramsey in the Bergen County Tournament championship game.
“Ramsey was extremely persistent all game and made us work for everything we got,” said Northern Highlands’ head coach Rich Smith. “It was difficult to get into the attacking zone. We kept trying to force corners to keep the pressure on them. I felt pretty confident that even though we weren’t getting many shots, that all of little failures would lead up to success in the end if we kept at it.”
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Victoria Corriston's goal got Ramsey all even at 1. |
When the teams met on opening day, Highlands was in control throughout in a 2-0 victory. It was evident early that it would not be the same sort of domination the second time around as neither team recorded a shot in the first 15 minutes with Ramsey having the only scoring chance over that span. Annie Young ran onto a long ball and touched it around Northern Highlands’ goaltender Alexa Markel. The ball went just was out of Young’s reach, however, and Clare Dalton raced back to clear the ball away.
On their first quality scoring chance of the game, the Highlanders earned a penalty stroke when Ramsey goalie Jana Moses had to fall on the ball to prevent it from rolling into the net. Paton stepped up to take the stroke with a plan in mind. She looked towards the right side of the cage, but went to her left instead, sneaking a ball inside the left post with 12:40 to play in the first half that put Northern Highlands in front 1-0.
“I kept looking at the right side and I think the goalie saw me doing that, so I went for the left corner,” said Paton. “I didn’t shoot it that hard, but it went where I wanted to go and it went in.”
Ramsey came out on fire to start the second half and eventually netted the equalizer. Kassidy Shelter’s shot was saved but Victoria Corriston was right there to knock in the rebound 8:44 into the second half to tie the game at 1.
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Highlands' Jordan Paton celebrating her second goal of the game, which was the game-winner. |
“When they scored, that was definitely a wake-up call for us and we knew we had to pick it up,” added Paton.
Northern Highlands had several scoring chances from that point on, but were consistently turned away by Moses. The Highlanders did not relent and kept pushing forward to earn one corner after another before finally breaking down Ramsey’s wall of defense. Paton took the corner and dished it to freshman Fiona Walley, who sent a hard shot into the box. Lauren O’Keefe got a deflection and Paton was there to slam it home with 7:06 left in the game for a 2-1 lead.
Ramsey attempted to push numbers forward in trying to force overtime. Led by Dalton and Jessica Gant, the Highlander defense hung tough and allowed just one shot over that final 7:06 as they held on for a sixth straight Bergen County title.
“I’m so proud of how well we played today. Just to get this far is an accomplishment,” said Ramsey head coach Becky Fantry. “At the beginning of the season, we didn’t even know if we would get to a county final. Our defense is one of our strengths and I thought we played really well in that area. Our youth and inexperience in big games showed at times, but we’re still learning. With 10 of 11 starters coming back next year, this is hopefully an experience that will serve our program well in the future.”
The win was a milestone for two reasons for the Highlanders. Not only was it a Bergen County record sixth straight crown, but it was also the 500th victory in the history of the Northern Highlands program. For Paton and her teammates, there was no better way for them to win another county championship with a little extra icing on the cake.
“We’re happy we got this one for Coach Smith,” said Paton. “He’s meant a lot to us and to this program. To get the 500th win ever at Northern Highlands makes it even better. We wanted to win this game for him as much as we wanted to win it for ourselves. This is a great feeling and we’re very happy to be county champs again.”
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