Wednesday, November 2, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Staff Writer

Ryan Walsh scored three times in the first 28 minutes to get Old Tappan off and running on the way to a 7-0 win over Jefferson in the first round of the North 1, Group 3 state tournament.

OLD TAPPAN – There was a time, and it was not all that long ago, when the words 'State Tournament' brought about anxiety in the Old Tappan boys soccer program. From the early part of the 2000s and well toward the middle of the decade, there was a lot of math going on to try to figure out how many games the Golden Knights had left before the postseason cutoff and how many wins they needed to get to .500 in order to qualify when it arrived. Boy, how times have changed.

Nowadays the Golden Knights have not only made the state tournament for four straight years, but they are the No. 4 seed in the loaded North 1, Group 3 bracket and are guaranteed at least two home games. And when the Bergen County Tournament final is finally rescheduled, Old Tappan will be matched against Ramapo in what will be the biggest game in the program's history to date. The turning point might have been the opening round of the state playoffs in 2009 when the Knights, the No. 15 seed, knocked off second seeded Ramapo in a penalty kick shootout and it has been a steady upward climb since.

“It's been pretty exciting around here. Coming in [as the head coach] we were looking for some buy-in and we got it. It's not a 1-2-3 process, it takes a couple of years to really get it going,” said Mike Hanchar, who is in his fourth season as Old Tappan's head coach. “Has it surprised us that we are at the stage where we are now? Yeah, a little bit, but we thought last year we had one of our best teams in school history and this team has gelled, we have good chemistry. We know where we started and we are excited about where we are going.”

Old Tappan junior Paul Tierney chipped in with two goals and an assist as the Knights pulled away.

Old Tappan has never won a county or state sectional title, but took its first step toward that latter goal by throttling 13h-seeded Jefferson, 7-0, in the opening round on Tuesday afternoon.

“This year it was more about how many wins we could get, not about trying to see what teams we could beat to get to .500. This year I think we go out there thinking we could beat every team we play. It's a big difference,” said Ryan Walsh, Old Tappan's senior striker and a four-year starter. “It was good to get the win today, we have another home game on Friday and we are really looking forward to playing the county final. It's been a great season so far but we still have more to do.”

Against Jefferson, Walsh could pretty much do whatever he wanted in the offensive third. With plenty of room to operate, he was the target on two Jack Galfund crosses in the first 13 minutes that were both converted into goals. On the first one Galfund slipped a pass into the area where Walsh ran on to it and picked the left hand side for the game's first goal in the ninth minute and the second hook-up was an airborne cross that Walsh knocked high into the middle of the net in the 13th minute.

Walsh completed a natural hat trick when he first won a corner kick with his hustle, then flicked in the restart played in by Nathan Bodenstein to make it 3-0 in the 29th minute.

“Obviously [Ryan] Walsh is a big part of our program here. He is a four-year starter and it is great to see how he has evolved over the years here. He has become a complete player and he plays for the team,” said Hanchar. “He doesn't say 'I want this because I can get my name in the paper,' that comes with his natural ability, but he plays for the team. We've moved him to the midfield this year when we have needed to close out games, he's responded to that, and he is a big reason why we are where we are at.”

Vinny Capazzi and the Old Tappan defense pitched an emphatic shutout with greater challenges straight ahead.

After Walsh staked his team to a comfortable lead, the rest of the Knights joined in on the fun led by junior Paul Tierney, who ran onto a Galfund flick and knocked in through traffic to up the OT advantage to 4-0. Jae Cho scored just before halftime off a Tierney assist to make it 5-0 at the break. Tierney added an assist and a second goal in the second half and could not have been happier about contributing to the win.

“Something like this has never happened to me before. I am usually a defender and playing offense was a whole new environment for me ,” said Tierney, a junior. “I started out a freshman playing on freshman, a sophomore playing on JV and then coming up to varsity and playing striker out there with Ryan Walsh, Tyler Walsh and all of the other great players we have. It's so exciting to be able to play with that type of skill.”

While the offense was putting up gaudy numbers, the Old Tappan defense kept sending them forward. The Knights allowed just three shots on goal, none of them particularly dangerous against a Jefferson team that showed up late and was run off early.

“Getting a home game this year was very important because we had our crowd and we have a home field advantage because we have not lost on this turf yet,” said Vinny Capazzi, Old Tappan's senior sweeper. “Our defense has been solid all season and it was good again today. We communicate great with [Jonathan] Nang in front of me, [John] O'Reilly to the right and Adam [Bodenstein] to the left, we play well as a unit and that helps a lot.”

The win pushes Old Tappan's record to 13-4-1 on the season and the big games are just starting to come in bunches. The Knights will play fifth-seeded Pascack Valley, a 2-0 winner over Bergenfield on Tuesday night, on Friday in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinals and if they can get by that game, which is no given, the Knights might see Ramapo twice in row. The county final has been tentatively rescheduled for Sunday and then the teams are on the same side of the sectional tournament, meaning they could see each other in next Tuesday's semifinal round.

“We've kind of got our oars in two different sets of water here and, with the weather and all the cancellations, it makes for a tough situation here a little bit,” said Hanchar. “We've wondered if the county final will ever be played, but we want to play it. It's a great opportunity for our kids to play in big games with big crowds. That is the only way to get to the next step. It's important to us, but there is a mental aspect to. First we have to get by Pascack Valley, which is no easy task in itself and then to potentially have to play Ramapo on Sunday and Tuesday, we have our work cut out for us for sure.”

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