Monday, October 10, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Kevin Gendron scored on a 30-yard blast less than 11 minutes in to get Ramsey off and running on the way to a 4-0 win over Leonia in the Bergen County Tournament Round of 16.

ORADELL – It is hard to imagine the second seed in any county tournament being considered a dark horse pick to win the whole thing when the seeds suggest that they are at least expected to get to the final. With powerhouse teams like top-seeded Ramapo and defending champ Northern Highlands in the mix, it is almost easy to omit Ramsey from the elite teams in the Bergen County Boys Soccer Tournament. That is until you watch the Rams play.

Despite just one loss on the season nearly a month ago to Pascack Valley, Ramsey has methodically picked apart opponents all year and did so again on Sunday against upstart Leonia.

Kevin Gendron scored on a 30-yard blast less than 11 minutes in and Taylor Kammerer scored twice in the final 12 minutes of the first half as Ramsey cruised to a 4-0 victory over Leonia, the No. 15 seed, at River Dell High School.

“We wanted to come out and set a tone, which I think we did a pretty good job of doing,” said Ramsey head coach Jaime Phillips. “Crazy things have been happened in this tournament in this round. I remember when Englewood was a (number 15) seed and knocked off Ramapo. So it could have just as easily happened to us. The key was simply coming out hard and not letting Leonia’s players gain any confidence as the game went on.”

Leonia goalkeeper Anthony Reinosa faced 24 shots against Ramsey's attack.

The Rams established control right from the opening whistle and only a pair of saves from point-blank range a minute into the game by Leonia keeper Anthony Reinosa kept them off the scoreboard. It was apparent early that it was only a matter of time before Ramsey got on the board. A loose ball rolled out to Kevin Gendron about 35 yards from net and no opposing player anywhere near him. He teed up a shot and ripped a beauty into the upper left-hand corner to give the Rams a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.

“The ball popped out to me and I was wide open, so I just took the shot,” said Gendron. “As soon as I hit it, I felt like it had a chance to go in. I thought we did a good job of playing the ball wide early and that opened up the middle of the field for some opportunities to get good shots.”

Leonia only had one true scoring opportunity on a counterattack off of a corner kick in the 28th minute. Fitzroy Walsh ran down a long ball up the left wing and fed Nikola Nikoloski on a 2-on-1 break. Ramsey keeper Taylor Vozeh snuffed it out though and met Nikoloski just when he about to take the shot for the save. The Rams then went on a counterattack of their own and cashed in. Brendan Kretschmer slipped a through ball to Kammerer, who touched the ball around Reinosa and scored to make it a 2-0.

With just over four minutes left in the half, Kammerer took advantage of a miscue in the back to put the game away. A failed clearing attempt on a free kick allowed James Tesoriero to feed the streaking Kammerer, who scored in nearly the exact same fashion to make it a 3-0 halftime lead.

Chuckie Slater was a force in the midfield for Ramsey, which improved to 8-1 on the season.

“We really stressed on making our chances count early,” added Phillips. “We didn’t want to have to sweat out a second half where maybe Leonia packed it in a little bit because we saw they were capable of countering, (Vozeh) making the save and then coming right down and scoring I think gave us the breathing room that we needed.”

Tesoriero scored in the second half for Ramsey (8-1), which has now won seven in a row. The Rams also got their usual solid performance from midfielder Chuckie Slater, who was hustling to make plays all over the field. Vozeh needed to make just two saves to earn the shutout for Ramsey, which outshot Leonia, 24-4, and had an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Next up in the quarterfinals, Ramsey get a semi-familiar foe in Glen Rock, which is also in the Rams’ section for the state tournament. Despite having such an impressive resume and a high seed, it appears the Rams are finally opening some eyes this season and making their case that they are already among a handful of serious contenders for the county crown.

“We know we have a legitimate shot this year of winning counties,” said Gendron, whose older brother Nick, a former all-stater for Ramsey’s 2008 state championship team, plays at Northwestern. “There are still some things we can improve on and we’ll work hard to do that. But I feel like we’re in a pretty good position where we are right now and hopefully we’ll keep that going next week.”

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