Wednesday, September 14, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Dave Peralta's first varsity goal gave Hawthorne a lead before settling for a 1-all tie against rival Pompton Lakes on Tuesday.

HAWTHORNE - It was not all that long ago when the budding rivalry between Hawthorne and Pompton Lakes was not much of a rivalry at all and no one knows that better than the Bears' first-year head coach Justin DeFeo. Hawthorne was still trying to build a foundation back when DeFeo was an All-County midfielder and over the past two seasons, Hawthorne has started to catch up, including two slugfests last year, which each team winning by a score of 2-0. The latter of those games was won by Hawthorne in the Passaic County Quarterfinals and Pompton Lakes finally got a chance to turn the tables on Tuesday afternoon. True to form, the gritty squads battled tooth-and-nail for every ball and the result was not necessarily a satisfying one for the players, but certainly a deserving one.

Both teams netted first-half goals before the defenses took over. Hawthorne and Pompton Lakes combined for just six shots on goal over the final 74 minutes of play as, after both posted wins to open the season, the teams had to settle for a 1-1 draw on Saturday at Hawthorne High School.

"We knew what to expect coming in and to get out of here on their field with a result is a good thing," said Pompton Lakes head coach Rob Edgar. "They knocked us out of the counties last year, so this was a big game for us. We're just trying to take it one game at a time, it's cliche but it's true. I think both teams fought hard and when its all said and done, we can look back at this game and say it was a turning point in a positive direction for our season."

Tommy Shannon's goal tied the game for Pompton Lakes.

Hawthorne took control right from the opening whistle and put the Cardinals on their heels until pulling ahead in the 10th minute. Yazeed Atieh made a run up the wing, then served a ball towards the back post. Pompton Lakes goaltender Andrew Garvun was able to make a point-blank save on Jose Salazar's header. But the ball bounced right to sophomore Dave Peralta, who knocked it into the back of the net for his first varsity goal to give Hawthorne a 1-0 lead.

The Bears kept the pressure on until an alert play Pompton Lakes' senior captain Tommy Shannon changed the entire complexion of the game with one swing of his right foot. After a foul well outside the top corner of the penalty area, Shannon quickly put down the ball before Hawthorne's defense could get its wall properly set. That gave Shannon a free strike from 30 yards out. He made the most of it as he bent the ball just over the outstretched hands of Hawthorne keeper Tom Bushnauskas and into the upper left-hand corner to knot the score at 1.

"Tommy's goal was huge. It definitely lifted our spirits and ultimately, it raised our intensity level," added Edgar, whose team faces defending state champion Wallington and defending state sectional champion Glen Rock in back-to-back games next week.

Hawthorne had the only other scoring chance of the opening half in the final minute when Garvun punched a long direct kick from Walther Castillo over the crossbar.

Hawthorne's Walther Castillo (right) whistled a shot just over the crossbar late in the first half.

Each team had only one legitimate scoring chance the remainder of the game. Pompton Lakes' came in the 73rd minute when Bryan Szabo tracked down a long through ball from freshman Krenar Alimi and floated a shot over a charging Bushnauskas towards the net. Hawthorne sweeper Trey Miller raced back into position to clear it off the line. Then in the waning seconds of the second overtime, a Castillo throw-in somehow got through traffic and onto the foot of Atieh, who toe-poked a shot from 12 yards out. Garvun came out to cut down the angle and made the save to preserve the tie.

Pompton Lakes (1-1) held a 12-11 edge in shots, while Hawthorne held a slight edge of its own in corner kicks, 9-7. Gavrun finished with six saves for the Cardinals, while Bushnauskas had five for the Bears.

While neither team technically earned a win yesterday, both teams came away with a good feeling of playing in a high-intensity game against a big rival. It is a game DeFeo would have liked to have played during his playing days at Hawthorne. But now that he has taken over for his brother, Ryan, at the helm, he wants the competitive rivalry with Pompton Lakes to stay intact for years to come.

"Pompton Lakes is a very well-coached team and they always play hard, which mirrors what we're trying to do over here," said DeFeo, 2004 graduate who went onto play both soccer and basketball at Centenary College. "I thought we got into their offensive third fairly often, we just couldn't get enough shots on net to make something happen. It's nice to get an early test like this. While we obviously would have liked to get a win, I feel much better about the way we played today than we did in our first game (a 5-2 win over Manchester). Now we have to build on this and play even better the next time we step on the field."

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