Tuesday,
November 10, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Senior Val Busch lining up what turned into Mahwah's second goal, the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Ramsey in the North 1, Group 2 state sectional semifinals on Monday afternoon. |
RAMSEY – A senior defender whose job is to stop goals from happening, Mahwah’s Val Busch found herself in an interesting position 13 minutes into the second half of Monday’s North 1, Group 2 state sectional semifinal. With her team trailing rival Ramsey by a goal, Mahwah had a corner kick and with so many defenders packing the box to help protect a lead, Bush saw the opportunity to move up the pitch more than she normally would.
Funny the way the ball bounces…
A corner kick sent in by Erin Jaffe hit off a tangle of bodies in the inside the area and bounced back to where Busch had the time and space to plot her next move.
“The ball bounced off a Ramsey player and one of our players, I am not even sure who it was, tackled it and it came right to me,” said Busch. “I went right for that upper corner. I didn’t know that it would go in, but that was where I was trying to put it.”
Busch’s looper from just outside the area on the right side floated into that spot where a goalie has no chance. Her shot just about hit the underside of the crossbar as it nestled into the opposite corner. That was Busch’s first goal of the season and it tied the game.
As if that was not enough unexpected offense, Busch also sent in the high-arcing service that decided the game. In the 66th minute, her attempt to play the ball over the top to Sarah Jordan, who was making run down the middle, instead hit off a defender’s head and bounced in for an own goal, the one that gave Mahwah a 2-1 victory and a date with top-seeded Ramapo in Thursday’s sectional final.
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Olivia Gilligan's goal in the 7th minute gave Ramsey the early lead. |
“This game means a lot. We won the league but it was through a tiebreaker and the girls wanted to confidence to be able to say they won it outright. It’s Ramsey, They are always a great side and they are our rival,” said Mahwah head coach Courtney Carrelha, coaching with verve in her seventh month of pregnancy. “The game meant so much to them that I think the nerves took over the first 20 [minutes], but when we finally settled down and played our game you could see that we came back to life.”
But while the butterflies were as yet unsettled, Ramsey came out flying. The Rams’ speed on the flanks was evident early when Devon Larsen motored up the right side and sent in the perfect cross for Olivia Gilligan, who settled it with her first touch and buried it with her second. Just 6:37 into the game, Ramsey had a 1-0 lead.
While Mahwah was limited mostly to shots from distance, including one by Hannah Busch that was parried over the bar by Ramsey keeper Erica Lis in the 11th minute, the Rams kept up the pressure with charging runs. One of them forced a poor Mahwah clearance and Kayla Whelan almost doubled Ramsey’s lead but her chip finished just high of the crossbar 23 minutes in.
Maddie Barrow and Syndee Rawdon worked a nice 1-2 in the middle of the field with Barrow taking the second pass out wide to the left and getting inside the area before ripping a shot that Mahwah keeper Michelle Silva saved point blank at the near post.
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Sophomore keeper Michelle Silva made some key stops for Ramsey, which will play Ramapo in the section final. |
It was not too long after that Mahwah started to gain the initiative by keeping the ball on the ground and attacking down the middle of the field with Jordan, a junior adept at holding up play and then stretching the defense with her ability to possess the ball with speed. Mahwah almost got even just before halftime when Jaffe’s corner kick rattled around in the box with three different T-Birds getting a touch before it was finally cleared out.
Ramsey maintained its 1-0 lead heading into halftime, but the tide was turning.
“They got a lot more aggressive than we were. We were backpedalling, we were wary of a couple of their players I guess and we started to back up,” said Ramsey head coach George Wright. “They were controlling to the top of the box and it was a scary situation.”
Mahwah’s pressure was heavy before it finally broke through when Val Busch hit the second ball of Jaffe’s corner into the upper shelf to tie the game 13 minutes into the second half, but a minute later and against the run of play, Ramsey very nearly went back in front.
Gilligan made a bull rush up the left channel and was taking on defenders as she got to the top of the area. As the traffic got heavy and with Silva flying out low, Gilligan side-footed a shot through the scrum and only a fearless effort by Silva kept the ball out. She made the initial save and stayed in the rebound mix long enough for a teammate to clear the ball out.
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Kayla Whelan and Ramsey finished the season with a 16-3-2 record. |
“I just remember the girl coming at me and all I was thinking was ‘Get the ball!” said Silva, a sophomore. “Right when I came out to get it, it kind of bounced off my stomach and went flying forward. I didn’t know where the ball was for a second, but then I saw Jen [Moutenot] dribbling it out and I took a deep breath.”
Eight minutes later, Val Busch found herself with the ball at her feet, open space in front and idea to go over the top. It turned out better than she planned as the ball took a deflected off the defender’s head and past Lis, who was heading in the opposite direction to play the original angle.
There was some luck involved in Mahwah’s game-winner, but the T-Birds were not lucky. By keeping the ball pinned in the Ramsey end and repeatedly probing inside the 18, something good was bound to happen. And when it did, Mahwah (16-3-2) had earned its spot in Thursday’s final against defending champion Ramapo.
If history is any guide, then the T-Birds are the live underdog. In 2013 Mahwah upset the Green Raiders in the state sectional quarterfinals.
“It is going to be tough, but we can’t be intimidated and we have to play our game,” said Jordan. “We’ve done it once before in my freshman year and we did it on their own field, so we know it is possible to do it again.”
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