Friday, October 3, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Arielle Sydnor's goal in the 19th minute gave Northern Highlands the lead for good in a 3-0 win at Pascack Valley on Thursday.

HILLSDALE -- Thursday night was set as the cutoff for the Bergen County Tournament, but Thursday afternoon was not the time for the Northern Highlands girls soccer team to worry about that. The more pressing issue was Pascack Valley, a talented team playing on its own home field that had the ability to end Highlands' perfect start to its season and its claim to the No. 2 spot in the tournament draw.

“Going into today, we weren’t concerned about [the seeding meeting] tonight, necessarily,” said Highlands head coach Tara Madigan. “Just maintaining our record in the league was the priority and what ever happens tonight, happens tonight, but we are in a great situation right now.

The great situation was the result of Highlands’ impressive 3-0 win over Pascack Valley and the No. 2 seed that came a few hours later. The Highlanders went to the county final last season and are seeded just behind also unbeaten IHA, the defending champion. Highlands has a first round bye before facing the winner of Cresskill vs. Paramus Catholic in the Round of 16.

Terry Ely was a force in the midfield for PV before leaving with an injury late in the first half.

It wasn’t easy on Thursday, or at least it wasn’t in the first half, for Highlands, which ran into a tough challenge in Pascack Valley goalkeeper Traci Corra. With Highlands having the better of possession and scoring opportunities from the get-go, Corra found herself in the line of fire often. She made on brilliant save in the in the 16th minute when Stacey Kadell’s cross found Leah Taylor making a run at the far post. Taylor got a boot on it, but Corra dove low to her left to keep the game scoreless for the time being.

Eventually Highlands was able to find the range when Samantha Fiorenzo found Arielle Sydnor cutting down the middle of the field and put the ball on her in stride. Sydnor used two dribbles to clear some space and hit the low left corner to give Highlands the 1-0 lead it took into halftime although it could have been more.

In one sequence with just under three minutes to play in the first half, Corra made three point blank saves as the ball ricocheted around the six yard line. She held on to the last rebound to keep her team in the game at the half.

But PV had two strikes against it as the second half started. First, Terry Ely, the Indians’ talented midfielder, was relegated to the bench with an injury sustained late in the first half. And secondly, Highlands just kept on applying pressure that paid off 10 minutes in when Taylor played a short ball across the top of the 18 where Fiorenzo was waiting to one-touch it home for the 2-0 lead.

Katrina Battle scored Highlands' final goal in the 54th minute.

“I don’t think that there were just one or two players that stood out today. I think as a group we played really well. We had some good combinations and played some good balls across the middle and we scored when it counted,” said Madigan, whose team improved to 7-0 on the season with all of the wins coming inside the rugged NBIL. “It was definitely important to get that goal early in the second half. PV’s defense did an excellent job and their goalie made some unbelievable saves, one after the other, so getting the two goal advantage in the second half was big for us.”

Fiorenzo was a problem for the Indians’ all day, making things happen up the right side and drawing defensive support that opened space for her teammates.

“We worked as a team and we play at our best when we use our advantages. We work to the outside and send a lot of balls in and it worked for us today,” said Fiorenzo. “We knew this was an important game for us, but we really don’t worry about the other stuff [like the county tournament seeding meeting]. We want to win every game we play and we go out there the same way.”

Traci Corra was outstanding in the Pascack Valley net.

Highlands buried its final goal in the 54th minute off a corner kick that banked off a pile in front of the net and found its way onto the head of Katrina Battle, who knocked it home to finish the scoring.

Caroline Broder needed just four saves to keep the clean sheet for Northern Highlands, while Corra made 11 saves and played much better than the final result suggested. Pascack Valley fell to 3-3-1 a few hours before being given the No. 9 seed in the county draw and an opening match against No. 24 Bergen Tech.

“We have to turn the page. We have the second half of the season coming up we are in the county tournament and we just have to get ready fro what is coming in the future,” said Pascack Valley head coach Nicole Olshalsky. “It will be nice to get a first round game and hopefully gain back any confidence we might have lost here. Northern Highlands played well and that is a good team, but so are we. We feel like we have a bright future we just have to keep working.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.