Monday,
October 24, 2011
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Christina Songeri lining up the shot that got Northern Highlands back even just before the half on the way to a 3-1 win over Glen Rock in the Bergen County semifinals. |
ORADELL – Coaching can be an exercise in simplicity. Sometimes all it takes is asking for a volunteer to score one of the most important goals of the season, then put that player on the field and watch as she comes through in the clutch. The coach is Northern Highlands' Tara Madigan and the player is Christina Sonageri, a senior midfielder and team captain who was tired of piling up assists.
“When we were warming up coach asked, “Who is going to get the goal today?”, said Sonageri. “ I told her I was going to get the goal because I have had assists all year but I haven't been able to put one in.”
So when the opportunity presented itself as a Glen Rock clearance went astray in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament on Sunday at River Dell High School, Songeri made good on her promise. From just over 30 yards out, she bent a ball from the right side into the opposite upper 90 for the goal that tied the game after Glen Rock's fast start.
Sonageri's goal changed the momentum just three minutes before halftime and the undefeated and top-seeded Highlanders then wore down the upstart Panthers in the second half on the way to a 3-1 victory and the county final where they will play second-seeded Ramapo, a 3-0 winner over four-time defending champion IHA in the other semifinal.
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Kendall Daly scored off a corner kick in the 26th minute to give Glen Rock the lead. |
“They went to clear the ball out and I just stepped in front of my mark and hit it like I was clearing it and it went right into the back corner,” said Sonageri, who sent the equalizer into the side panel inside the left post. “It's a shot that I have taken a couple of times this year but I haven't been able to quite put it in, so it was very exciting.”
The first half was very exciting as Glen Rock, the No. 4 seed and the decided underdog, came out to play rather than trying to pack it in and play for a shootout. The Panthers kept their normal formation with three forwards and tried to match the aggressiveness that has been Northern Highlands calling card this season.
“It's not really about the winning and the losing, it's about being proud of the effort. I know it sounds really cliché, but it certainly is the truth and I am really proud of our effort,” said Glen Rock head coach Tracy Trobiano. “I think we were dangerous and we came to play today.”
With its defense organized and being anchored by senior goalkeeper Margi Rivara, who was aggressive in flying out to break up the throw-ins of Highlands' Jackie Reyneke, which by now have been as well-documented as they are dangerous, the Panthers took their shots at getting forward and one of their rushes was rewarded by a corner kick that was struck by Hannah Petrone and volleyed home by Kendall Daly. Just like that, Glen Rock was full of confidence and had a 1-0 lead to show for it with 14:45 left to play in the first half.
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Clare Shea scored both of Highlands' second half goals. |
Highlands nearly answered just 35 seconds later when Lindsey Shrout first-touched a Reyneke throw just wide of the mark to the left, but Glen Rock survived that scare and all of the others until it was just three minutes and 11 seconds from carrying its lead into halftime. But then Sonageri stepped in front of that clearance and changed the game in the Highlanders' favor for good.
“She's a senior captain and she told me right before the game that she was sick of getting assists,” said Madigan. “I am glad she got one.”
While Glen Rock might have been matching Highlands in chances generated through the flow of play, where the Panthers did not match up well was against restarts, and the Highlanders force them as well as any team in the state. There is basically no such thing as a drop pass in the Highlanders arsenal as everything they get they get by going forward.
The pressure is constant not only in the offensive third, but in the midfield and in its own defensive third. They leave an opponent with few good options and throw-ins, corners and free kicks are often the result.
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Glen Rock keeper Margi Rivara showed no fear of getting invloved. |
A foul 25 yards from goal just over five minutes into the second half gave Highlands another such opportunity and Clare Shea made it count. She bent the ball from right to left and into the upper shelf on the left side to give the Highlanders the lead for good at 2-1.
Twenty seconds later Glen Rock was further pushed to the brink when it lost its starting sweeper, junior Sarah Forino, who was helped off after a physical encounter with Highlands freshman Hana Kerner. Forino would return 15 minutes later and with a visible limp, but there was no slowing Highlands, which knows what to do with a lead once it gets it.
“There was no relief and the amount of throw-ins that they won gave us no relief either, but I think our kids really handled the pressure well,” said Trobiano. “It just came down to the fact that we might have run out of gas a little bit and that is OK, we used up a lot of energy.”
At some point in every game, and to Glen Rock's credit it happened only once on Sunday, but Highlands is going to score off a Reyneke throw and it did so in the 71st minute. She hit Shea right on the head inside the 6 and the Highlands sophomore flicked home her second goal of the game and the clincher.
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Madison Holleran and Highlands will face Ramapo in next weekend's county final. |
So now it is on to the county final against a familiar opponent. Highlands beat Ramapo in their only previous match-up, an impressive 6-2 triumph in Allendale back on September 22. The teams will meet in the first in a regular season match on Thursday night to decide the league championship before going at it again in the county final on Saturday at Indian Hills High School in a 1 p.m. start.
Highlands last won the county title in 2005 when it shared the crown with IHA after winning the outright championship in 2004. The Highlanders have been the favorite since that impressive win over Ramapo a month ago. Carrying that label and the undefeated record for this long while every other team got to play with nothing to lose has been taxing, but that is all over now. Every game that the Highlanders play from here on out will be against opponents with plenty of expectations of their own and it is going to be a sprint to the finish.
“It is certainly not easy, but I think even coming into this game today, we are not talking about seeds anymore. No one really cares what seed we are or what Glen Rock was,” said Madigan. “It was just a matter of who is going to come out and play better that day and it will be that way for the rest of the season for as long as it lasts.”
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