Thursday, October 6, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Pete Goodman made a bang-bang save inside the final 30 seconds of regulation as Ridgewood heads into the county tournament on a high after a 2-1 win over Old Tappan.

RIDGEWOOD – Had it not been inside the final minute of the game with his team clinging to a one goal lead in a match between two of the best teams in Bergen County, it would have been one of those no-lose situations for Ridgewood goaltender Pete Goodman. Old Tappan's Ryan Walsh, one of the most dangerous offensive players in North Jersey, had just taken possession of the ball inside the 18 yard line with plenty of options to choose from. It would have been no fault of Goodman's had he done his best to cut the angle only to have to take the lonely walk to the back of the net to get the ball back in play.

But because the outcome hung in the balance, Goodman lost his margin of error and had to make the save or get ready for overtime.

“I knew how good that kid [Walsh] is, coach [Craig Mahler] told us how good he was and we saw it in the game. As soon as he got the ball with the way the play went I knew it was going to be up to me to stop him,” said Goodman. “A play just like that happened against Hackensack two days ago and they scored on it. When it happened this time, I recognized the play and knew what I had to do.”

Goodman had to come out under control and find away to get any part of his body on the shot. Walsh struck it clean, but Goodman stuck to his fundamentals, keeping the five-hole closed and knocked down the shot with his shins. When Old Tappan's ensuing corner kick came to nothing, the final whistle blew on Ridgewood's 2-1 victory, its sixth of the season against just one loss and one tie.

Nathan Bodenstein pounded home Old Tappan's goal, which tied the game in the 37th minute.

“[Goodman] came up with a beautiful save, a flat-out game-winning save. He couldn't have done any better in that situation,” said Ridgewood head coach Craig Mahler. “And kudos to him because he has put in a lot of time and it has paid off for him and it paid off for us as a team today.”

It was an eventful final six minutes for Ridgewood, which was locked in a 1-1 tie for the entire second half until it put together an organized rush in the 75th minute. Steven Kaiser started to make it dangerous as he held possession in the middle of the field before pushing a diagonal pass that sent Alec Cobb into the right corner. Cobb beat a defender before sending in a rolling service that pulled the keeper out and left Billy Maltz free to charge the net. Maltz slid in just before a defender arrived and knocked the game-winner into the roof.

“Cobb played a great through ball. It didn't even look like it was intentional, but it came straight through to me,” said Maltz. “I saw it there and I just went in hard, got on the ground and kicked it into the net.”

Ridgewood did have one other lead in the game and it came in the 13th minute off a corner kick Yusuf Hamza. Nick Simon, a defender, joined the action in front of the net and used his head to put the Maroons in the lead. Old Tappan tied the game three minutes before halftime on a service by Paul Tierney that rattled around in front of the net before Nathan Bodenstein ran on and pounded it home.

Alec Cobb sent in the cross that led to the game-winner for Ridgewood.

The game was even in terms of possession, it came down to Ridgewood finishing one more chance and making that one save in a key moment.

“We are disappointed. We've had a tough week as far as the schedule goes. We just went to overtime and tied [Northern Highlands] on Monday and here it is Wednesday and we were right back at it against another good team. But a loss and a tie heading into the [county] tournament, we have to right ourselves here a little bit,” said Old Tappan head coach Mike Hanchar, whose team is now 5-3-1 on the season. “We are still a work in progress and we are not going to stress over this. We are going to give the kids the day off tomorrow and try to regenerate for Sunday.”

One area that Old Tappan has buttoned up in recent days is in the goal, but it was a twisting road to get this far. The Golden Knights started the season with Anthony Vitale as their No. 1 keeper, but he was injured in warm-ups for the Ramapo game on September 24. [Vitale] played the full 80 minutes in that game (a 1-0 loss) before learning the extent of his injury. Aidan Lucas, the No. 2 keeper, was already out with a broken foot and No. 3 on the depth chart? There really was none and that led to an open tryout and the return to the program of Frank Favato.

Favato made six saves against Ridgewood and neither goal allowed could be hung on him. He controlled his area and has stabilized the Knights back line as it heads to the county tournament.

Frank Favoto returned to the roster to stabilize Old Tappan's goal-keeping situation.

Ridgewood has no such problems and it is on a roll heading into the weekend. After a four year absence from the county tournament, Ridgewood has come roaring back and its 6-1-1 start includes a 4-1 dismantling of Don Bosco Prep. The Maroons have gone from a team with few outside preseason expectations to one with a real chance at postseason success.

“We've been real happy with the progress we have been making. We knew coming into this year that we could surprise some people because we felt real good about the kids that we have here. The kids are playing well right now and we are getting the results that we are looking for,” said Mahler, whose team will play the winner of Thursday's play-in game between the Pascack Valley and Rutherford in its county tournament opener. “It feels real good to be back in this position. We haven't been here for four years and we made it a goal from the end of last year. This is where we talked about wanting to be, we are here now and we are going to continue to work hard and enjoy it.”

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