Allie Shenloogian scored early in overtime to give Park Ridge a 4-3 win over Wood-Ridge/Wallington in an entertaining state tournament tuneup on Tuesday.
WOOD-RIDGE – Every now and then there comes along an athlete who plays in so many big games and seems to come up clutch whenever their team needs it that it feels like they have been in high school for a decade. The quintessential example of that is Park Ridge’s Allie Shenloogian. The senior striker has had a fantastic scholastic career both on the soccer field, the basketball court, and the softball diamond. She will eventually play basketball in college, but she does not want her time on the pitch to end just yet.
Locked in a back-and-forth battle with Wood-Ridge/Wallington that headed to overtime, Shenloogian did what she has done for the past four years: She led by example.
Shenloogian scored early in the first overtime period to give Park Ridge a wild 4-3 victory over Wood-Ridge/Wallington on Tuesday at the Wood-Ridge Athletic Complex.
“This was a crazy game, but we found a way to win,” said Park Ridge head coach Dylan Evans. “I thought our defense stepped up in the second half. We stayed focused and we stayed aggressive. Had some girls coming back from injuries and were trying to work them back in. This was a good game for us to have going into states next week.”
Park Ridge wasted little time in taking the lead with Tori Periano scoring just three minutes in to give the Lady Owls a 1-0 lead. The Blue Devils answered back on their first shot on net. Off of a corner kick, Lia Russo cut across a defender to get to the ball first and re-direct it into the back of the net to make it 1-1.
That was just the beginning of the offensive fireworks as Shenloogian bent a shot around a defender that was draped all over her and dipped it just under the crossbar to put Park Ridge back in front. Once again, Wood-Ridge/Wallington responded. Junior speedster Fiona Helly broke loose and ripped a 20-yard shot into the upper left-hand corner with the teams heading to halftime tied at 2.
Fiona Helly (left) scored her Bergen County-leading 27th goal of the season.
The Lady Owls regained control of the possession game to start the second half. However, it was the Blue Devils who struck for their first lead of the game. Freshman Hailey Karabinos, who had a goal waved off just minutes earlier, knuckled a shot through traffic in front and in to put them ahead, 3-2.
Despite the deficit, there was no panic amongst the Lady Owls. Shenloogian collected a ball up the right flank and cut back to beat a defender to the middle of the box before bending a left-footed shot inside the far post to tie the game at 3.
“Allie is such a smart player, she reads the game exceptionally well,” added Evans. “Not only with her ability to shoot on target from any angle, but drawing attention and being willing to find open teammates gives us a wide variety of way that we can score.”
Park Ridge had a pair of chances late in regulation to win it and another from a point-blank chance from Ava Periano. Wood-Ridge goalie Vanessa Nazario was up to the task on all three occasions to keep the Blue Devils’ hopes alive. Unfortunately for them, they would not stay alive for long as Shenloogian struck one last time less than a minute after the previous save on Periano.
On a near carbon-copy play from the tying goal, she received a through ball from Frankie Burke and cut back across the top of the box. With a defender coming at her and Nazario coming off of her line, Shenloogian stayed calm and curved another well-placed lefty shot off the left post for the game-winner.
“I saw space to cut it back and get a good shot, so I took it,” said Shenloogian. “It was really important that we stayed composed when went down a goal in the second half. The big thing is that we kept the ball on the ground and played to feet. We trust each other and we kept playing our game.”
The hat trick was Shenloogian’s 4th of the season for Park Ridge (10-8-1). She now has 24 goals on the season and 67 for her career with her last goal being her first-ever overtime game-winner. Cece Mitchell in her varsity action in net played well in the second half recording four saves with Eve Cohen netting three first-half saves.
Helly’s goal was her Bergen County-leading 27th goal of the season and Nazario finished with 10 saves for Wood-Ridge (12-8).
The Lady Owls have one more tough tune-up on Friday against Lyndhurst before heading into the North 1, Group 1 state sectional tournament, where they are in line for a first-round home game. With the team finally getting healthy, talent on the field, and a proven striker up top, they feel they can be a dangerous out.
“It’s always a tough section and we’re excited for the challenge,” said Shenloogian, who is also the all-time scoring leader in Park Ridge basketball history with nearly 1,700 points in her career and led the program to its first-ever section title this past winter. “This was a big win for us and we want to keep that momentum going into states.”
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