Friday,
November 13, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Senior Sarah Scire celebrating the goal that sealed her first half hat trick as Ramapo took a 5-0 lead before hanging on for a 5-3 win over Mahwah in the North 1, Group 2 state sectional final. |
FRANKLIN LAKES – Just over six minutes into Thursday’s North 1, Group 2 state sectional final. Ramapo’s Nikki Butler beat the keeper to a high bounce and nodded home the game’s first goal. Three minutes later, Sarah Scire scored. Two minutes after that, Scire scored again and the Ramapo senior finished her hat trick less than five minutes later. When Cami Pecore walked in a goal after a misplay in the back, Ramapo was ahead 5-0 just 22:13 into the game.
Caught between competitiveness and sportsmanship, Ramapo head coach Paul Heenehan took some of his starters off the field just 25 minutes into a state sectional final and why not? Ramapo certainly was not out to embarrass its opponent and, with a five-goal lead on its own home field, the game was done and dusted.
Until it wasn’t…
Mahwah got a goal back just before the half, got a second just after the half and when it put a third one in, the T-Birds forced Ramapo to sweat a little bit over the final half hour. Mahwah made a bid for what probably would have been the biggest comeback in the history of the New Jersey high school girls soccer, but it just had too far to go as Ramapo closed out a 5-3 win and a second straight state sectional championship.
While a coach tries to prepare his or her team for just about any contingency that might pop up in a playoff game, Heenehan never did get to cover how to discreetly whittle away 60 minutes of game time with a 5-0 lead without running up the score.
“I took all of the momentum away from our team. We were up 5-0 and I was thinking ‘How long should we just keep playing?’ I have too much respect for Mahwah and for [head coach] Courtney [Carelha]. I adjusted things and it completely took the momentum away from us,” said Heenehan. “Give Mahwah credit for the way they completed the game. They came to compete and they competed for the full 80 minutes.”
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Allison Jordan's goal late in the first half started Mahwah's comeback effort. |
But those first 20 minutes were a nightmare for the T-Birds, who were knocked kilter by Ramapo’s first goal. Butler got up to head it on the open goal and the ball took one bounce on the way to the goal line. Brenna Jaffe hustled back to try to clear it away and he did steer it out, but it was ruled that the ball had already crossed the line.
Because there was contact on and by Butler on the original shot and because she remained down on the field in pain as Jaffe was making her bid to keep the ball out, the referees had barely finished giving the explanation of the goal to both coaches before Ramapo struck again to make it 2-0. Sommer Cochran’s corner kick was spit right back out where it came from and Cochran’s re-service was met with a bad clearance that rolled back across the box and Scire had an easy look at the first of her three goals.
“I think that first goal really threw us off. So much happened on that play, we weren’t even sure it went in and then they came right back and scored another one,” said Carelha. “It took us a little while to recover.”
Full recovery was still a ways away as Scire flicked in a cross from Monica Scaglione to make it 3-0 in the 17th minute and then got in behind on a ball that skipped by a defender on the wet turf. Scire chipped the keeper in the 19th minute to make it 4-0 and finish off her hat trick.
“I was just challenging the ball, high pressure, and trying to be in the right place at the right time,” said Scire. “It worked out for me today.”
Everything was working for the Green Raiders as Erin Racano sent a long ball into the box in the 23 minute and Cami Pecore went up to challenge the keeper. The ball popped free, Pecore walked it into the open net and Ramapo was up 5-0. Not too long after that, Heenehan started to sprinkle in some non-starters.
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Nikki Butler's goal put Ramapo in front just 6:13 into the game. |
While Ramapo may have eased off the gas a little bit, Mahwah was under no obligation to do the same, not with almost 60 minutes left and the T-Birds just kept playing. Late in the first half, a long discussion between the head ref and his assistant led to Mahwah being awarded a corner kick. Erin Jaffe set it in, the ball rattled around in the scrum and freshman Allison Jordan finished it in the 36th minute. It looked like a modest consolation prize late in the first half, but that goal leading into halftime spurred the T-Birds forward.
But just 29 seconds into the second half, a Ramapo defender was given a yellow card and Mahwah had an early chance with a free kick from 40 yards out of the left. Jen Moutenot drilled it toward the upper 90 and it found its way in to get Mahwah with 5-2 with still a full half to play.
“That is what I love about this team. They fight,” said Carelha. “And too be honest, after we got that early goal I think we dominated the play for a lot of that second half.”
It was hard to argue that point as Sarah Jordan, the junior attacking center mid who has already committed to play at Yale, sprinted down the spine of the field, got to within 30 yards and hit a rope that got through again as Mahwah drew to within 5-3 with still 29:11 to play.
“Offensively, [Mahwah’s] strength is from the outside and if your strength is shooting from the outside, then you are in every game,” said Heenehan. “You don’t have to get it into the box; you don’t have to shoot from in close. If you can get it in from out there, and Sarah Jordan’s shot was upper 90, you always have a chance.”
It is times like that when it is nice to have a defense comprised of four experienced seniors and Ramapo’s back line never panicked. They faced some more pressure for sure, but the combination of Racano, Scaglione, Abby Adams and Karlie Brogan hung tough to see out the game.
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Sarah Jordan scored Mahwah's second goal and she was dangerous from start to finish with her runs through the middle. |
“I was pretty nervous before the game started, but once we scored five goals my nerves settled and that might not have been the best thing,” said Brogan. “We never expected to go up 5-0, but when we did maybe we relaxed a little too much. When it got to 5-3 we went back into the mode of ‘We are not losing this game,’ and we were able to step it up.”
Mahwah had a couple of chances to get within one but goalkeeper Lizzy Stellakis broke up a rush at her right-hand post in the 63rd minute and Sarah Jordan’s free kick from 25 yards out right in the middle of the park sailed high and wide. A Stellakis save and consecutive clearances off the line by Brianna Manobianco and Olivia Kraebel snuffed out Mahwah’s final chance in the 75th minute as top-seeded Ramapo finally slammed the door on its second straight state sectional championship and the 23rd in 38 years since Heenehan started the program.
Next up is Whippany Park, which came from the No. 6 seed to win the North 2 title, 4-1, over Parsippany. Ramapo is one win from a second consecutive trip to the Group 2 state final. Last season the Raiders lost to Colts Neck in the championship match at Kean University.
“We just can’t go into that [Whippany Park] game and just think that it is going to be easy and that we are going to win again because last year was not an easy game,” said Brogan. “You can automatically think about getting back to and winning the state championship game. It’s semifinals first and if we win then we will think about what comes next.”
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