Monday,
October 5, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Amanda Tripodi scored twice and had an assist for Northern Valley/Old Tappan, the No. 10 seed that knocked off No. 23 Westwood, 5-0, in the opening round of the Bergen County Tournament. |
OLD TAPPAN – There was one nervous moment for the Northern Valley/Old Tappan girls soccer team in Sunday’s Bergen County Tournament opener against upstart Westwood. The home team had a two-goal lead at the break, it was dominating the midfield and using its depth to wear down its opponent, but Westwood, having had a chance to catch its breath after doing a lot of first half chasing, almost put together a combination that might have made things interesting.
Brooklyn Colon spear-headed a counterattack up the right wing and let fly a dangerous diagonal ball toward the far post where freshman Taylor Hirstius was chugging to join the play. Hirstius did well to get a toe on the service, but the ball finished wide of the post, a bullet dodged for Old Tappan, which got right back to work pressing its advantages.
The Golden Knights scored three times in 14 minutes midway through the second half to pair their goal output to their edge in possession in a 5-0 win that puts 10th-seeded Old Tappan into the Round of 16 where it will visit 7th-seeded Ramsey next weekend.
“Westwood was good. We were not expecting an easy game today and they almost scored right out of the gate in the second half to make it 2-1. That could have changed everything,” said Old Tappan head coach Tom Quinn. “But I felt that we possessed the ball really well and we took advantage of some shots that we created. We did not get a tremendous amount of shots today, but we scored five and it was nice to see them go in.”
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Freshman Taylor Hirstius came close to getting Westwood back in the game early in the second half. |
Westwood is a young team that won its way into the county tournament with a late victory against Cliffside Park last week, Old Tappan is an experienced side with a stout defense and strength straight down the spine of the field and it was obvious early that Westwood was going to have to do a lot of defending to stay in the game. And 10 minutes in the Cardinals found themselves playing from behind.
Senior striker Emily Crevani draws plenty of attention from opposing backlines and she used that strategy against Westwood when, from a dangerous position inside the 18, she moved the ball out wide to Kelly Walsh, who has enough space to get off a looping, left-footed shot that travelled across the face of goal before settling into the upper right hand corner for a 1-0 Old Tappan lead.
Sophomore keeper Camryn Cullova, who was busy all game long, was also effective against the steady traffic in front of her net. Cullova handled a rip of opportunity by Old Tappan’s Addie Patterson by pushing it around the post in the 23rd minute and was little more than five minutes and a little bad luck away from keeping Westwood within a single goal at halftime.
Cullova got in on a high-bouncer into the box and steered it clear, but Crevani nudged the rebound toward the goal line. Westwood defender Laura Schneider raced back and nearly cleared it off the line, but it was ruled to have broken the threshold and Old Tappan took a 2-0 lead into the break. For a team that has not necessarily been able to finish the myriad of chances it has created in the last couple of weeks, the Knights were happy to finally knock the lid off the net.
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Senior Emily Crevani had a goal and an assists for Old Tappan, which will play Ramsey in the Round of 16. |
“We have been working on finishing in practice and working on playing more together as a team, so I think that showed today in finishing and taking shots,” said Walsh, a junior and a three-year starter. “We’ve always had good chemistry, but this year there are a lot of upperclassmen that have been on varsity and we are even closer. We are friends on and off the field and we are working well together.”
That was evident as all five of the Knights’ goals came with assists and their ball movement eventually wore down the Cardinals, who were simply not as deep.
“We got tired. That was exactly it. They controlled the play and playing defensively for 80 minutes is very tiring. We didn’t have the legs today, but I am confident that we will bounce back,” said Westwood head coach Eric Pfiefer. “It was nice to get the chance to compete with the best in Bergen County and it was good for us to get a gauge of where we are at. You can only learn from losses and we are entering a stretch of games where we hopefully we can grab some wins and keep the morale high.”
Old Tappan built some morale with its three-goal outburst in the second half and junior Amanda Tripodi played a part in all three. Tripodi scored twice off assists by Crevani and Walsh and also assisted on Walsh’s second goal of the game, which she swept in from just inside the 18 when Tripodi dropped a pass after winning the endline.
Old Tappan (5-1-2) has been bolstered by the arrival of Jazzin Clark, the senior midfielder who plays right in the center of the park. Clark transferred in from rival Northern Valley/Demarest before this season and has made a difference by providing a physical presence and smart distribution. Clark has also freed up Walsh to get forward more often.
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Junior Brooklyn Colon was a threat on the wings for Westwood. |
It’s been an adjustment going from one Northern Valley to another, but Clark has fit right in.
“I love the school, my teammates have been amazing and they treated me like part of the family right away. It is a fresh start, but it is also bitter-sweet. I have had a great experience here, but the rivalry game [against Demarest] was a tough one,” said Clark. “But I love this team and I know I am in the right place. We have a lot of talent and we think we can go far in this tournament.”
It only gets tougher from here as Ramsey is up next and will have the home field advantage and that will come after the Knights play defending county champion IHA in a regular season game on Tuesday. Bergen County is packed with quality sides and an Old Tappan/Ramsey match in the Round of 16 is certainly proof of that. Either team is capable of a deep run, but only one will get the chance.
“We play IHA on Tuesday then [Ramsey] next Sunday and if we win that we know that there is a pretty good chance that we would play IHA again [in the quarterfinals]. We know it is not going to be easy,” said Tripodi. “There are a lot of good teams out there but we feel like we are one of them and we have a chance to go far.”
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