Sunday,
October 27, 2013
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Wayne Hills celebrated its second Passaic County championship in the last four years after a 1-0 win over Clifton in the county final on Saturday. |
WAYNE – Walking off the field at halftime of Saturday's Passaic County Tournament final could have represented an 'Uh-oh,' moment for the Wayne Hills girls soccer team. The Patriots had the advantage of a stiff wind at their backs for the first 40 minutes of play and had plenty of chances to take the lead, but through a combination of tough luck and an even tougher goalkeeper in Rachel Egyed, Clifton's All-State netminder, Wayne Hills had nothing to show for it but a scoreless draw and the prospect of playing into the breeze in the second half.
“That was exactly a part of the conversation. I told the girls to forget about the missed chances, that is something you just play through, but I knew it was going to be tough because we would be playing the second half against the wind,” said Wayne Hills head coach Greg Rehberger. “We were going to be under a lot of pressure and we had to accept that, but also we had to stay aggressive. We had a lot of the play in the first half and that gave confidence that we could continue that.”
Wayne Hills certainly did continue that as, rather than coming out after the break and proving that its first half attacking style was due to more than just the weather conditions, the Patriots instead showed that they really didn't care which way the wind was blowing. Wayne Hills controlled the midfield throughout and with that they owned the edge in possessions and in shots and even got one to go behind the brick wall that is Egyed.
Sophomore Meaghan Griffin got free up the left side, cut it back toward the middle and rolled a shot inside the near post in the in the 46th minute to give Wayne Hills the 1-0 victory and it second Passaic County championship in the last three years. It was also sweet redemption for Griffin, who got nothing but a concussion to show for a run-in with Egyed in last year's county final.
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Clifton's Rachel Egyed left little doubt that she is the state's best goalkeeper. |
“Every shot you miss just makes you want to get the goal that much more. I was dribbling and I saw a lane for the pass, but I guess I was a little bit selfish because I wanted to do it myself. I finally learned my lesson, too, because I kept the ball on the ground,” said Griffin. “[Egyed] gave me a concussion last year so I know it can be a little scary going in against her, but once I saw her coming out I just forgot about everything. It was me against her and I guess this year I won.”
It took that kind of fearless effort to get one past Egyed, who plays as much like a talented sweeper as a freight train of a goalkeeper. Clifton plays the ball through her feet to get moving forward and when she is called up to make a save, she commits fully. Three times in a seven minute span in the first half, Egyed robbed Wayne Hills of goals.
In the 11th minute, Wayne Hills keeper Erica Knudsen launched a punt into the wind that took its first hop well over the center stripe and it was a big one. Griffin tracked it an took possession behind the Clifton back line, which plays high up the pitch. Griffin put a hard shot on target, but Egyed made herself big and got her fingertips on the ball, which continued on its path but bounced onto the football crossbar above the net. In the 18th minute, Samantha Rodriguez sent in Griffin, who took two dribbles into space only to see Egyed choose right and stone the shot. On the ensuing corner kick, Egyed got up to keep Griffin's volley from reaching the upper 90.
The tough luck portion came just over three minutes before the half when Griffin dispossessed a defender at the 18 and walked in and scored, but the goal was disallowed by a foul call. That left Wayne Hills still chasing the first goal as it walked off at the half. But rather than getting discouraged, the Patriots just stuck with the gameplan.
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Sofia Zapata and the Wayne HIlls defense allowed very few open looks and helped the Patriots win the battle of possession. |
“We've really turned into a possession team, which is something I have been talking to them about since the beginning of the year, and that really helped us today. With the wind, keeping the ball was a big factor,” said Rehberger. “Clifton is a great team and we knew they would come at us, but we also knew that approach would give us the opportunity to play the kind of game that suits us best.”
Griffin scored 7:33 into the second half and then the onus fell on the Wayne Hills (15-1) defense to close out the game.
“I think our marking was good all over the field, in the back and even up top where we tried to put pressure defense and that made a big difference,” said Sofia Zapata, the Wayne Hills sweeper. “Just getting here and giving ourselves a chance to play them after losing to them in the final last year was a big accomplishment, but we didn't want to leave it at that. We wanted to win it all.”
Inside the final 20 minutes, Clifton had to chase the game with mixed results. Nicole Rzekjec played a nice diagonal ball through to Olivia DeMuro, but she was ruled to have been just off-side in the 64th minute and with just over six minutes to play, Rzekjec's corner kick twisted into a dangerous position at the 6, but Knudsen pulled it in just ahead of a crashing Sidnee Moldonado. While Knudsen was steady in the Wayne Hills net, she did not have to be spectacular, which was a credit to the defense in front of her.
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Nicole Rzekjec was in the middle of many of Clifton's best sequences. |
“We weren't afraid to go out and play against the win in the first half and we were able to get some looks, but they came out in the second half and scored a good goal. We were a little flat today and that is uncharacteristic of us, but take nothing away from Wayne Hills,” said Clifton head coach Stan Lembryk. “Defensively they played very deep and it was hard for us to penetrate a defense that was so far back. Give them credit, it worked and we couldn't make the final connection. A big game like this is all about opportunities and today they put one away and we didn't.”
With this result coming on the heels of the Wayne Hills boys team beating Clifton for the county title in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader at Wayne Valley High School, it has been quite a season for Patriot soccer. The girls team has now won 15 straight games and has not lost since opening day.
“It was very stressful in the final few minutes trying to protect a one-goal lead in a county final, but we new we had to do everything we could to make sure we did not go into overtime. We saw the boys win and we wanted to make it a sweep,” said Knudsen. “This was a great day for Wayne Hills soccer.”
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