Wednesday, October 15, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Aldo Cascio scored just over five minutes into overtime as Ramapo pulled out a 3-2 win over Northern Highlands and maintained sole possession of first play in Division 1 of the NBIL.

ALLENDALE – It is big news when the Ramapo boys soccer team walks off the field with anything other than a win and word of its tie last Friday night against Northern Valley/Old Tappan whipped around North Jersey soccer circles like wildfire over the weekend. Are there cracks in the armor of the defending Group 3 state champions who brought nine starters back from last year's team and added one of the best freshmen in the county to the mix this season?

Northern Highlands certainly took its best shot at finding out on Tuesday with first place in the NBIL's Division 1 on the line.

Highlands, trailing in the league standings by just one game coming in, scored first to put the pressure on and scored with just under 12 minutes left in regulation to tie the score after Ramapo netted two straight, pushing the game to a golden goal overtime session.

But rather then settling for another unsatisfying tie or worse, Ramapo got off the only three shots of the overtime session with the last one coming off the foot of Aldo Cascio for the game-winning goal in the 86th minute of the Green Raiders’ 3-2 win that ran their season record to 8-0-2.

It was the above mentioned freshman, Brandon Alvarado, who started the deciding combination when he tracked down a ball near the end line and, with a defender trailing closely, let the ball float back toward the sideline. Alvarado created just enough space to be able to turn at the flag and he sent in a low cross that bounded through the crease and toward the back post where Cascio was waiting to hammer it home 5:11 into the extra session.

Jared Smith scored on a header with 11:39 to go in regulation to draw No. Highlands even at 2.

“I saw Brandon working hard to fake his guy out and get the cross off. He pulled it off and I knew in the dying moments up the game it was up to me to be fit and be in position,” said Cascio. “The ball came across and I just did my part. I put it in with my right foot.”

Neither keeper, Ramapo’s Dough Harkins and Highlands’ Jake Miller, had much work to do in the opening half as the majority of the game was played in the midfield. But when the second half whistle blew, the offense soon followed.

Less than three minutes after the intermission, Highlands’ Nick Picache got free up the left side and was taken down from behind just before reaching the penalty area. Nick Maghenzani struck the start into the pile in front of the net and Adam Schwartz flicked it in to give the Highlanders the 1-0 advantage, although it was short-lived.

Ramapo drew even just four minutes later as Chris Kuehn won the end line to the Miller’s right and rolled a cross through to the back post where Rob Santaniello was waiting to pound it home. Highlands had the next chance when Alex Licata made a twisting run through defenders up the left and left the ball for Howard Pae, who let go a shot that never got to its target. Instead Ramapo’s Mike Berardo held his ground and knocked down the blast to keep the game even.

It was just about time to start watching the clock as it ticked toward 15 minutes left in regulation when Ramapo took its first lead, again through the talents of Kuehn, the senior who has a knack for scoring the big goal. Kuehn ran on to a free ball in the midfield and didn’t need much more territory to put his team ahead. He took two touches to gather strength and let a shot rip from about 40 yards out the knuckled as it found its way into an unsavable spot in the upper 90.

Chris Kuehn taking the rip from 40 yards out that found the upper 90 and put Ramapo up 2-1.

Northern Highlands head coach Patrick Naughter called it “as good a goal as you are going to see on the high school level,” but his team did not waste any time in seeking its own equalizer. The Highlanders found it in the 65th minute when Alex Ade’s long diagonal cross hung up long enough to get to the back corner where Jared Smith, the smallest player to go up in the crowd, got to it first and headed it in and force the overtime.

Lost in the back-and-forth of the second half was the fact that Ramapo was winning territory and building up a healthy advantage in corner kicks and throw-ins in the offensive third. On the skinny grass pitch, it was an important stat considering that each restart represented a free scoring opportunity, especially against a Highlands defense that was playing with its starting center back, the injured junior Alex Sonageri.

“On this field we are looking to get corner kicks or any kind of restart downfield and as the game went on our guys did a great job of doing that,” said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. “The winning goal didn’t come off a restart, but it did come off a cross from deep in the corner where we were looking to either put one in front or get a corner. You have to keep the pressure on the defense and force them to continually make those kind of decisions.”

Ramapo almost ended the game in the first 65 seconds of the overtime when Alvarado dug a ball out of the corner and left it for Kuehn, who crushed one toward the near post that forced Miller to make his best save of the game, a full dive to his left that ended with him punching the ball out of trouble.

Highlands' Adam Schwartz scored the game's first goal three minutes into the second half.

Highlands’ best chance of the OT came in the 85th minute when Maghenzani stood over a restart from 40 yards out and forced Harkins to rise above the crowd to pull down the serve. Less than a minute later, Alvarado went to work in the corner and the result was the game-winner.

“I was just looking for help. I turned toward the middle and I saw Aldo [Cascio] making his run. He ran on and scored it,” said Alvarado, who has made a smooth transition into a lineup full of upper classmen. “I just try to work hard and earn respect from these guys. Being smaller than most of them, I had to show that I could keep up with them physically, so earning their respect was probably the toughest part of playing varsity.”

Ramapo has every opponent’s respect and is the circled game on opposing schedules no matter what part of the season it is, but the Green Raiders are used to being the side that every team wants a piece of.

“We tied Old Tappan in our last game, so this was an important game for us, especially since we tied [Highlands] the last time we played them,” said Berardo. “Teams get excited to play us and tying us is a big thing for them, so we needed to get a win and get some confidence back.”

The win for Ramapo was actually a two-game swing in the league standings. Highlands could have pulled into a tie in the loss column, but all is not lost as the Highlanders have already qualified for the state tournament and, as the No. 9 seed, will take on No. 8 Tenafly in this weekend’s Round of 16 in the Bergen County Tournament.

Ramapo freshman Brandon Alvarado (left) assisted on the game-winner.

“That is a class program over there at Ramapo, the one that we want to measure ourselves against. Last year we tried to stay in formation against and it didn’t turn out to well, 4-1 and 5-1 losses,” said Naughter, who is in his second season as Highlands’ head coach. “So we have gone to school on them over the last year, I watch them every chance I get to see how they do things. That is the best public school program in the state bar none, but I will say that it is a credit to my guys that we are nearly on their level, this season at least with a tie and an overtime loss.”

Highlands fell to 6-2-2 with the loss, but the program is certainly heading in the right direction. After a three-win 2006, Northern Highlands reached the state tournament in Naughter’s first season and are following it up this year with a county tournament berth and solid results in the rugged NBIL.

“It would have been nice to have gotten the win here today, but this is the fun stuff. This is the kind of game that they will talk about forever, when they are old they’ll say remember that overtime game against Ramapo senior year?” said Naughter, whose team took its first loss since an opening day setback against Demarest. “The good part for us is that we played our game against a very good team, a great team that has been in these situations before, and we took them to overtime. There is some confidence to be taken from that.”

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