Ferris goes OT to pull the upset of Hudson Catholic

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

JERSEY CITY - Although Hudson Catholic has a young team and struggled through a tough schedule this season, a nice tune-up win over Ferris seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for a team that has lost by 1-0 scores to Emerson (U.C.) and Memorial, two of the top teams in the HCIAA, before heading into the HCIAA tournament starting next week. Apparently, Ferris was not aware of the Hawks' plans.

Facing a 2-1 deficit, Ferris striker David Soliman scored with 13 minutes left to force overtime. Edward Galdamez netted the game-winner in the 94th minute to give Ferris its biggest win of the season and the minor upset over Hudson Catholic on Tuesday at Lincoln Park West, 3-2.

Ferris did not take long to grab the lead when Ivan Velez took a ball in the corner and crossed to Soliman, who headed it in for a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the match. The early goal seemed to wake up the dormant Hawk offense. Like Ferris, the Hudson also scored on its first shot of the game when Alex Neves took a pass from Bismark Koranteng and drilled a shot into the side netting to knot the score at 1 in the 9th minute.

Nearly 10 minutes later, Danny Rodrigo's cross went through the box unscathed and Koranteng laid out to tap it in, giving the Hawks a 2-1 that they took well into the second half.

"We started to go more to the flags in the second half and we were getting more chances because of that," said Ferris head coach Rob Escobar. "We couldn't cover their forward (Koranteng) with one guy. So we shadow-marked him and put our sweeper on him as well. It got them out of their offense and helped us get into what we wanted to do."

Ferris' freshman sensation Joel Sewell dribbled through three defenders and ripped a 25-yard blast that Hudson Catholic goalie John Long had to leap to tip over the bar. The Bulldogs kept pressing and finally got the equalizer they were seeking in the 67th minute. Soliman parked himself in front of the box when Sewell ripped another blast that was blocked in front. Soliman was right there to score off of the scramble to tie it at 2.

Ferris nearly won the game in regulation with two minutes left when Luis Leon took a through ball from Sewell and broke in by himself. Long had to come out and challenge and they arrived at the ball simultaneously. It bounced off Long and right to Leon, who appeared to have an open net. He floated a shot towards the goal, but Hawks' sweeper Marco Gaspar made a spectacular play. His leaping header just in front of the goal line saved the game temporarily and forced overtime.

Ferris held a 9-0 advantage on corner kicks, but could only muster two shots off of those corners.

"We are not a huge team and we need to at least get shots off of those corners," said Escobar. "Hudson Catholic is a tough team and you have to put away chances when you have them. We have only scored one goal off of a corner kick this year, so that is definitely a concern."

Hudson Catholic had a chance early in the second overtime. With the net wide-open, a crossing ball skipped through the box and no Hawk was there to knock it home. The Bulldogs came right back down the field and nearly ended it on a shot by Galdamez, but Long made a sprawling save to keep the match going, but not for long.

Less than a minute later, Velez once again used his quick first step to get to the corner. His cross was deflected by Sewell and right to Galdamez, who relished his second chance to score.

"Once the ball came to me, I just wanted to put it on net," said Galdamez. "All I wanted to was for us to win this game, and to score the winning goal in a game like this is very exciting."

He quickly trapped the ball and curved a shot into the upper-right hand corner to end the game and give the Bulldogs not only a 3-2 win, but plenty of momentum heading into next week's HCIAA tournament.

"This was a tough, physical game, but it showed that we could win a game like this," said Velez. "It's nice to make the HCIAA tournament, but we're not happy with just getting there. We want to win the whole thing and let people know that Ferris is a team that is going to be very tough to beat."

The HCIAA-Coviello tournament starts on November 2nd, with Ferris (6-9-1, 3-5-1 HCIAA-Coviello) and Hudson Catholic (4-9-1, 3-5-1 HCIAA-Coviello) projected to get the 6th and 7th seeds, respectively.

Ferris outshot Hudson Catholic, 20-8. Only fantastic performances by Gaspar and Long (10 saves) kept the Hawks in it until the very end.

"Any loss is tough to take, but I'd rather play well and lose and I think we played well today," said Hudson Catholic head coach Tom Burns. "We are young, real young. We are very talented, but our youth shows sometimes. We are only going to get better, it's just a matter of believing in ourselves."

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Rich Barton