Wednesday, October 12, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Nick Rocha and Cliffside Park wore pink jersey in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month then found themselves settling for a 1-1 tie against River Dell on Tuesday.

CLIFFSIDE PARK – As rivals from the old BCSL-American Division, Cliffside Park and River Dell, two programs with winning traditions, have had their share of battles on the pitch over the last decade. But there was something different this time around, something that was bigger than a boys soccer game. Instead of the home whites that the Red Raiders normally wear on their turf field behind Cliffside Park High School, there were pink jerseys and pink soccer balls in place of the standard white. Instead of referees' instructions being given at the midfield circle before the game, there was a touching presentation instead.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and those close to the programs who have been touched by the disease, Cliffside Park head coach Jim Fucci spoke from the heart and to the hearts of the young men gathered around. And that took precedence over a match that both teams needed to stay in the hunt for their respective league titles.

The Cliffside Park players presented bouquets of flowers to River Dell parents Laurie Marrulis and John Sorkenn, who was standing in for his wife Jody. The breast cancer survivors recognized on the Cliffside Park side were Lucy Schmitt, the wife of CPHS assistant principal Ken Schmitt, and Ann Preston, who just so happens to be the mother of the head coach.

Sophomore Jose Apiricio (left) gave River Dell a lead by volleying home the game's first goal.

“My mom was given a short amount of time to live with radical breast cancer when I was a freshman in college 19 years ago. I thought it would be a fitting gesture to honor the women closet to our program for their courage, their character and their determination. So it was cool to have my mom and Lucy Schmitt as an example of all three of those things,” said Fucci. “Those are traits that we can pass on to our student-athletes, especially because we have them every day for two-and-a-half, three months. There is so much negativity going around high school sports some times with parents going crazy, with budget cuts now and with all of this focus on bullying, this kinds of keeps it all in perspective. There is a difference between high school sports and real life.”

Once the game began, the difference between the two teams was nil. Each scored once in the first half, neither scored in the second half or the first overtime and the second overtime was canceled due to darkness and the two teams walked off with a 1-1 draw. For River Dell (5-3-1) it was their first tie of the season, while for Cliffside Park (6-2-5) it represented their seventh overtime game and their fifth tie.

River Dell struck first when Anthony Sare hit a short cross into the traffic in front of the net from the left side. Jose Aparicio volley it home with the outside of his right foot to give the Golden Hawks a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute. Cliffside got even with just under six minutes to play in the first half when Chris Lobo used the same approach that was successful for Aparicio. Lobo used the outside of his right foot to redirect Alex Hernandez's cross into the net and tie the game at 1.

Cliffiside keeper Louis Olivares finished with 7 saves.

Play was pretty much even through the first 30-plus minutes of the second half but that changed drastically with just over seven minutes to play in regulation. That was when Cliffside's Nick Rocha and River Dell sweeper Chris Bascomb met in the middle of the field just outside the penalty area in pursuit of a 50/50 ball. Rocha won the race by a step and when Bascomb got there, a collision ensued. Rocha was upended, but it was Bascomb who got the worst of it, a straight red card that was whipped out rather quickly by the referee.

That left River Dell down a man for the final 17 minutes of the game but also had wider implications. Bascomb, a senior who just recently received his appointment to the United State Military Academy at West Point, will now have to serve a two game suspension and next up for the Hawks, who are already without three starters due to injury, is Ramsey, which leads the Big North Patriot Division by one game over River Dell, Mahwah and Pascack Valley.

With Bascomb sent off, Cliffside found more room to operate and had most of the dangerous chances over the final seven minutes of regulation and all 10 of the overtime minutes.

“We've been hit by the injury bug and we've had to move some guys around into positions that they are not necessarily used to playing. What we have been trying to do is stay close in these games and then try to pull them out in the end,” said River Dell head coach Kevin Sabella. “Obviously we were just trying to hang on there at the end, but overall I thought we played well. I thought both teams played well and it was the typical River Dell-Cliffside Park kind of a game.”

Brett Lubben had River Dell's best chance in the overtime.

River Dell had one good chance in the extra session and it was created by Brett Lubben, whose one-touch of a cross sailed just high of the mark. Cliffside nearly netted the game-winner in the 87th minute when Omar Ventura put a charge into one from just outside the area. The ball was deflected by a defender on its way through and seemed ticketed for the lower left before River Dell keeper David Sorkenn made an all out dive that ended with just enough glove on the ball to steer it wide. When Lobo's low right went just wide in the final minute, it represented the last chance for either team to salvage more than an anticlimactic tie.

“Seven overtimes games this year, five of them are ties and one is a loss and I am tired of it. I am tired of it and my boys are tired of it. I thought this was the best that we have played in our final third in the last two weeks and we were just unlucky,” said Fucci, whose team is the defending Group 2 state champion and has won five straight league championships without losing a single game on its home field over that span. “We have been high on the horse for the last five years so I am not complaining, so if we are going to be unlucky this year starting six sophomores, I'll take it. But 6-2-5? What kind of record is that. Five ties? I only had four in my career in my first 11 seasons. I look at the MLS standings and I see the Red Bulls with 16 ties, so maybe we should play them. Why not?”

With both teams eliminated from the Bergen County Tournament by Glen Rock, River Dell in the play-in round and Cliffside in the Round of 16, by identical 1-0 scores, both teams are left with league title chases and playing for home games in the state sectional tournament.

“We are going to see what we can do against Ramsey on Friday and then I hope we can start getting some guys back and get fit for the state tournament,” said Sabella. “I think we have played well for the most part and one thing about this team is that it has played hard all season. I didn't work out against Glen Rock [in the county tournament], but I am telling you that if we can get healthy and get through the growing pains, we will be able to give a lot of teams trouble.”

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