October
6, 2006
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| Megan Gwozdecke, one of Hasbrouck Heights' two freshman starters, scored the Aviators' second goal and assisted on their third tally. | |
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS -- The normal trend at Group 1 schools inside any given program is that success comes in cycles. A class or two of talented athletes leads a team to championships then graduates and leaves a hole that takes a few years to fill in. There are some prominent exceptions. Glen Rock football, Bogota boys basketball and Secaucus girls volleyball all come to mind as does the Hasbrouck Heights girls soccer team, which just keeps on keepin' on.
With Thursday afternoon’s 3-0 win over St. Mary’s, Hasbrouck Heights improved to 11-0 on the season, moved a step closer to winning a sixth straight BCSL-National Division championship and won its 60th straight game against in-league competition.
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| St. Mary's keeper Stephanie Serrao made 11 saves to keep the Gaels close for 70 minutes. |
And this is no grizzled group of veterans that is keeping this current run of success in tact. In fact Hasbrouck Heights lost six four-year starters that were all-league selections last year to graduation and had zero senior starters on the field on Thursday. The starting 11 consisted of two juniors, seven sophomores and two freshmen.
“One of the first things this group of girls said when we started in the preseason is ‘How are we going to win without all of those girls [that graduated]?” said Ollie Pimm, the Heights head coach who has piled up over 300 wins in his career, which has included stops at Northern Highlands and IHA. “To start from there before the season started and to be where we are now, with 11 straight wins this year, it really is a credit to this group of kids. We basically started from scratch.”
Ten minutes in, Heights got the lone goal of the first half when Beth Bruno, a sophomore, gained control in the midfield, took a couple dribbles, drew two defenders to the middle of the field and got the goalie moving. Bruno then sent freshman Julia Weingartner up the right side and hit one clean back toward the middle of the net.
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| Heights freshman Julia Weingartner (left) either scored or assisted on the Aviators' first goal. |
The ball was on its way in when Amanda Spethman ran on near the goal line to finish it off. Whether the ball was over the line when Spethman made contact was not clear even after the game, so the official goal scorer was still in question, but it made no difference on the scoreboard and Heights had a 1-0 lead.
St. Mary’s (6-3, 5-3 BCSL-National) had its best chance to get even in the 23rd minute when It was awarded a restart that Judy Mulrain lined up about 35 yards from the goal. She struck the ball well, but Heights sophomore keeper Angela Cristofolo gathered it in with no trouble and Heights gave up few scoring chances over the final 62 minutes.
Despite having the advantage in possession and having plenty of chances to extend its lead, Heights was still clinging to its slim advantage more than 20 minutes into the second half. But with just more than 18 minutes left on the clock, Mulrain, St. Mary’s sweeper, was shaken up on a collision in the midfield.
Mulrain came off the field and then made her way to the center stripe to reenter, but before she could get back to her position, freshman Megan Gwozdecke sent a ball into the penalty area where Spethman trapped it with her toe. Spethman then dribbled past the last defender and slid the ball in the lower right hand corner to give the Aviators some breathing room.
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| Despite the loss, St. Mary's is on target for its third straight Bergen County Tournament appearance. |
“I thought our kids were playing hard and we were in the game even though they had the better of play,” said St. Mary’s head coach Joe Soto. “But when they scored that second goal, it kind of took the wind out of us a little bit.”
Heights closed the scoring in the 87th minute on a corner kick. Gwozdecke’ struck a line drive that found the head of sophomore Juliana Romano, who flicked home the game’s final goal.
Romano, another member of Heights’ talented and deep sophomore class, also spearheaded the Aviators’ defense. The sweeper is a part of a unit that has allowed just one goal in the last nine games.
“We’ve just really been able to cover everyone on the other teams,” said Romano, breaking defensive strategy down to its most basic principle. “We talk really well and we just work well together as a team. That is why we are so successful in the back.”
Despite the loss, St. Mary’s has had its own resurgence over the past four seasons under Soto. The Gaels had never made the Bergen County Tournament before Soto took over, but will make their third straight appearance this year. And before this current crop of St. Mary’s seniors, which includes Mulrain, Caitlin Moran, Molly McPherson, Dotty Skordinsky, and Marissa Cannici, arrived, St. Mary’s had made just one state tournament appearance in its history. If the Gaels make it this season, and it appears to be a lock that they will, it will be for the fourth straight time.
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| Sophomore sweeper Juliana Romano, here nearly heading home a first half corner kick, is a part of the Heights'' defense that has allowed just one goal in its last nine games. |
“We know we are going to be a low seed in the county tournament, but it is nice to be able to say you made it and that the improvements we’ve made over the past four years have paid off," said Soto. “And you never know, maybe we can get in there and steal a win.”
Hasbrouck Heights has one game left before the cutoff for the Bergen County Tournament and that is on Saturday in an independent matchup against Old Tappan. Pimm has beefed up the independent schedule over the past few seasons in order to get his teams ready for the postseason and this year the Aviators have wins over Holy Family Academy, Eastern Christian and Tenafly.
“Old Tappan is going to be a good test for us. Maybe their record doesn’t show it, but they are a good team playing against top competition in the NBIL. We’ll go into the [seeding] meeting at 12-0 or 11-1, see where we wind up and then try to get a win or two,” said Pimm, whose team pulled off a big county upset in 2003 when it upended Ridgewood. “We have kids on this team now that were ball girls at that Ridgewood game so they have seen it. But whatever happens, I am proud of what they have done so far, it’s really more than any of us probably expected.
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