Mary Grusser's goal with 4:56 left in the first half stood up as Ramapo knocked out upstart Old Tappan, 1-0, on Saturday in tbe Bergen County Tournament semifinals.
ORADELL -- There are a handful of programs that have dominated the upper echelon of Bergen County girls soccer for quite some time. It’s a tough group to break into. Not an outsider amongst them, Ramsey, Ridgewood and Ramapo all played their way into this year Bergen County Tournament semifinals. Throw in IHA and Northern Highlands and in any given season the county champion is going to come from that select group.
That is why it was somewhat refreshing that there was a new face this year, a program that has perennially been close to the elite county level but has rarely, and maybe even never, been able to break through. Northern Valley/Old Tappan crashed the party this year after upsetting Northern Highlands in a 9-goal thriller and they showed up in the semifinals against second-seeded Ramapo to try to push things even further.
The Golden Knights did not pack the box, they did not try to just clear the ball and hope for overtime and eventual penalty kicks. Nope, Old Tappan came to play and gave it a heckuva run. In the end, the only separation between the two teams was a quality goal by Mary Grusser, who slotted home with just under five minutes to go in the first half.
Old Tappan made Ramapo work for it, but the Green Raiders held on for a 1-0 win on Saturday afternoon at River Dell High School. Ramapo will play top-seeded Ramsey, which got a penalty kick goal in the second overtime to outlast No. 5 Ridgewood in Saturday’s first semifinal.
Grusser, a junior who scored a hat trick in last weekend’s quarterfinal victory over Saddle River Day, has been a difference maker in this tournament.
“It came from the buildup and a great job by our outside wing, Kyra Magerko. She got to the middle and found me running through,” said Grusser. “I picked up my head, found the pocket and got it there”
Nicole Klapowitz was a key part of Old Tappan's well-coordinated attack.
Grusser’s goal changed the dynamics of a game that was pretty even up until that point. A steady wind blowing mostly across the field but also slightly at Old Tappan’s back for the first half, gave the Knights a little wiggle room in getting forward. Nicole Klapowitz had what we probably Old Tappan’s best look of the first half when she got a third ball and got off a solid rip that finished in the gloves of Ramapo keeper Annie Landers.
“The defense in front of me was great. I couldn’t have asked for more,” said Landers, a junior who finished with 5 saves. “We kept everything in front, cleared the ball out and I thought we played a smart and disciplined game.”
Ramapo’s defensive organization was all the more impressive because it has seen some turnover in the back. Senior centerback Gabriela Stephens was lost for the season to a knee injury and senior Victoria Mirkovic is only now close to returning after an illness. Sophomore Lucy Carr stepped in to partner Maddie Saxton in the middle between Kaitlyn Arnold and Jada Giordano and while Old Tappan (12-3-1) kept them busy, the Raiders, for the most part, kept traffic in front of Landers to a minimum.
Ramapo got the benefit of the wind in the second half and had more of the ball for the first 20-plus minutes, but a formation switch to three up top with about 17 minutes to go made the Knights more offensive. They kept at it right up to the final buzzer, which sounded just a few second before the Knights could tee up one final corner kick.
“We knew we were up against a good team. It is not a fluke when you come out with a ‘W’ against Highlands,” said Ramapo head coach Maddie Gibbs. “They have a new coach, we knew they were going to bring a different energy and, watching film, we saw that they play offense more than Old Tappan typically does.”
Kyra Magerko assisted on the goal for Ramapo, which will play Ramsey in the Bergen County championship match..
The new coach is Maia Levenshus, an Old Tappan graduate and a multi-sport standout who wants to push the program past its historic glass ceiling. The Knights won a state sectional title two years ago, but that was in Group 2. Succeeding in the county tournament means going up against the traditional Group 3, Group 4 and Non-Public A state powers.
This was a good start as it is the first time in at least 25 years that Old Tappan reached the semifinals and it quite possibly might be the first time ever. The quarterfinal win over Highlands could be the catalyst to bigger things. The Knights certainly looked like they belonged on the pitch against Ramapo.
“The No. 1 goal that we had was to beat a team that was ranked above us in the preseason. There are a few teams in the last 15 years or last 20 years that we just couldn’t get past,” said Levenshus. “Coming from being an assistant or a player here at Old Tappan, my role has changed. It took a couple of weeks at the start, but we talked about trust, the girls trusting me and me trusting them and their abilities. I could see the change in them that they are ready to play and whatever changes I make or we make as a coaching staff, they are willing to do. So, when we decided to really go for it they were all in on our game play. When we said we are pushing up they were ready for it.”
So it is Ramapo (13-1) against Ramsey for the county title next Saturday in a 2:00 p.m. start at River Dell. Ramapo’s lone loss of the season was to Rams, 1-0, back on September 12.
“We played them once already, we know a lot of those girls, they are a great team and it is going to be a great game,” said Arnold, a senior who will play at Gettysburg College next year. “We are excited.”
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