Thursday,
September 18, 2013
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Izzy Ramil, one of Old Tappan's three freshman starters, scored her first varsity goal in Wednesday's 5-1 win over Paramus Catholic. |
OLD TAPPAN – In the preseason, Northern Valley/Old Tappan head coach had an inkling that he might have something special with this year's team. He had talent coming in with a freshman class that put three players in the starting lineup to back up a group of sophomores that had been a part of last year's league championship team. The Golden Knights were bringing back an experienced back line and had striker in sophomore Emily Crevani who had already proven that she could score varsity goals. The pieces were there, but a coach never quite knows how they all might fit together until the meaningful games start.
“We have a real young team. We are trying to win with freshmen and sophomores up front and that is not always an easy thing to do,” said Old Tappan head coach Tom Quinn. “We are really focusing on getting better because we have room to do that. It is a young squad, so we have to stay short-sighted; one-game, one practice at a time.”
But the longer view is also starting to come into focus now as a look back to the start of the season shows four wins in four games, the latest being Wednesday's impressive 5-1 win over a solid Paramus Catholic side. The question is no longer if the Golden Knights will be good, but more like how good can they be?
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Nicole Cortellino driving toward Paramus Catholic's goal just over two minutes into the second half. |
“I think a lot of people might have underestimated us coming into the season and I could see why. We weren't really sure how it would turn out ourselves, but we are playing really well,” said senior Peyton Sardanis, Old Tappan's starting right back. “The freshmen this year are really good and we have blended really well. They have filled the gaps left by the seniors who graduated and we are playing more like a team this year.”
Mary Katherine Brosnan has taken over as the starting goalkeeper this season, but the rest of the defense returns as Sardanis, sweeper McKenzie Senick, Nikole Rizzo and sophomore Kelsey McLaughlin all return with experience and have handled things in the defensive third, allowing the 'kiddie-corps' up front to attack without hesitation.
Last year the offense, almost exclusively, went through the graduated Raba Nasif with Crevani picking up the crumbs playing in behind. This year Crevani is the point-player, she had a first half hat trick against Paramus Catholic, but the freshmen trio of Amanda Tripodi, Kelly Walsh and Izzy Ramil have combined for five goals through the first four games. Offensively this year, there are options. In a 1-0 win over Tenafly earlier this week, Tripodi had the only goal and Walsh the assist.
“When you have three freshman that are going to start you don't really know what to expect, but they are really good and they have fit into the team really well. Today Izzy [Ramil], one of the freshman, had her first goal and Amanda and Kelly Walsh already have scored two goals each,” said Rizzo, a senior captain. “Even coach Quinn said that he is not used to coaching such a diverse team. We pass a lot, everyone gets involved and there is not one person making 50-yard runs and shooting. We move the ball around a lot more.”
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Senior Peyton Sardanis is part of an experienced Old Tappan defense. |
Old Tappan (4-0) took a while to solve Paramus Catholic's defense with its high back line coaxing the Knights into numerous offside positions early in the game. But Crevani eventually solved the puzzle as her teammates kept providing quality opportunities. McLaughlin set in a perfectly placed high-ball and forced the keeper to make a decision. She stayed back and Crevani charged, slotting home the game's first goal in the 25th minute. Rizzo set up the next one as she played Crevani in with a rolling ball along the carpet and the sophomore striker made it 2-0 with 13 minutes left to play in the opening half.
For goal No. 3, Taylor Parcells won a ball in back and knocked it forward for Amanda Maccaro, who brought it down and put it right in the path of Crevani, who cut left and then back toward the middle of the goal before finishing with her left foot to give Old Tappan the 3-0 lead it took into halftime.
“Usually teams play off of me and I struggle with that because I don't have the best footwork to be able to dribble past everybody, but on a day like today when they tried to play me offsides, I just tell my teammates to kick it over and I try to fly past them,” said Crevani. “Sometimes my timing is off and I get caught too far forward, but I just keep trying and playing against a defense like that is a better game plan for me.”
Needless to say, things did not go as planned for Paramus Catholic in the first half.
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Melyna Portal assisted on the Paramus Catholic goal. |
“The first half...it happens. Over the course of an 18 game season a half like that is going to happen and unfortunately it happened to us today. I don't want to disparage any of what Old Tappan did today. That is a very good team that played like it and they are going to be trouble come tournament time, it's just that we did not match their level of play, their level of intensity in that first half and I think we could have done better,” said Paramus Catholic head coach Bill McPartland. “I think we came out in the second half with more of a purpose, with more of a sense of what we needed to do and I think our play in the second half showed a little bit better of what we are.”
The change after the break was evident almost immediately as only a sterling save by Brosnan off an in-swinging corner kick by Melyna Portal kept PC off the board two minutes into the second half, but the Paladins stayed with it and struck less than a minute later. Portal fed a ball through the middle for Nicole Cortellino, who shoulder past the last defender and finished into the lower left to make it 3-1 with still over 37 minutes left to play.
But that was the high-water mark for Paramus Catholic (1-3), as Old Tappan got back to creating chances. Maccaro had two near-misses that would have been standout goes as she ripped a half-volley off a throw-in just high of the mark in the 51st minute and had an overhead kick in traffic off a Crevani flick sail just high in the 61st minute.
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Francesca Mangano's first goal of the season closed the scoring for Old Tappan. |
Old Tappan put the finishing touches on the win inside the final 10 minutes as Ramil redirected a corner kick for her first varsity goal to make it 4-1 and sophomore Francesca Mangano added her first goal of the season> Emily Sullivan kept a ball alive and out of the keeper's hands with a header in a scrum inside the 18. The ball bounced back to Mangano at the top of the arc and she ripped off the inside of the left post and in to close the scoring in the 77th minute.
“I was really excited and happy because I really wanted to get my first varsity goal and now it is out of the way,”' said Ramil. “For the first couple of games I was really nervous, but I think on Monday [against Tenafly] was when I actually felt comfortable just playing.”
Paramus Catholic has had a tough schedule to start the season, but in no way does McPartland feel that anything is yet lost. That Paladins have the skill to turn it around.
“We played DePaul, a very good team, we've played IHA and St. Dom's to start the season and this is not like North Jersey soccer was 15 years ago when there might have been five or six questionable teams on your schedule. When you show up to a field now you know you are in for a battle no matter who the opponent is,” said McPartland. “Unfortunately today we did not start the battle until the 41st minute, but I like this team, I like the way they work and we will press on.”
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