Wednesday, November 9, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Jason Cunha capped the scoring for Harrison, which posted a a 3-1 win over Whippany Park in the North 2, Group 1 sectional semifinals.

HARRISON – A coach never likes to see his team allow a goal just before halftime. However, sometimes that gives more motivation to his players than any halftime speech ever could. Having Whippany Park tie the game in the final minute of the first half proved to be the best thing that happened to Harrison head coach Mike Rusek. With nine senior starters possibly playing their last game and ending their season without a county or state championship, not much needed to be said.

Harrison did some fine-tuning and came out much more aggressive to start the second half. Joao Conceicao scored the go-ahead goal eight minutes into the second half and Jason Cunha capped the scoring late as top-seeded Harrison controlled the second half en route to a 3-1 win over No. 4 seed Whippany Park in the North 2, Group 1 semifinals on Wednesday at Harrison High School.

“This was a real nice win over a skilled team that was bigger and stronger than we are,” said Rusek. “We started winning balls in the midfield, which allowed us to get our attack going out wide. Winning the possession battle gave us an advantage and they started to wear down in the back during the second half.”

Harrison had the better of play throughout the first half, but the Wildcats’ defense hung tough before nearly getting on the board first. Off of a misplay in the back in the 28th minute, Tyler Raff sent a cross for a header by Jade Waddon at the far post. Harrison’s 6-foot-6, 250-pound keeper Matt Muchowski was able to get a glove on the header from point-blank range.

Tyler Raff after scoring the goal just before the half that brought Whippany Park into a 1-1 tie.

The Blue Tide finally struck first late in the half from an unlikely source. Not able to penetrate through the Wildcats’ defense in the offensive third of the field, the Blue Tide had to settle for longer shots than they are accustomed to. That suited senior fullback Jair Torres just fine. From 35 yards out he cracked a laserbeam from near the left sideline into the upper right-hand corner of the net in the 36th minute to put Harrison ahead, 1-0.

“We weren’t getting enough shots and I had some space, so I took it,” said Torres. “I didn’t know it was going to in, but I knew it was on net and I hit it hard.”

It looked like the score would stay that way until the Wildcats took advantage of another miscue in the back by Harrison. Whippany Park’s leading scorer, Raff, was left unmarked in the box with a cross coming right to him. He settled the ball and volleyed a shot past Muchowski with 48 seconds left in the half to knot the score at 1 and take away any momentum the Blue Tide had from the Torres strike minutes earlier.

“That surprised us, but it really woke us up,” added Torres. “We had to fight harder than we did in the first half on every single play or our season was done and we don’t want it to end without a state title.”

The second half was much different than the first with the Blue Tide being more like a tidal wave of offense and attacking the flanks relentlessly. On a counterattack, Terry Gutierrez chipped a cross towards the top of the box. With a defender right with him, Joao Conceicao anticipated that the ball would bounce by the defender and it did. With Whippany Park goaltender Anil Vesegna charging out, Conceicao flicked the ball over the top and into the net just over eight minutes into the second half for a 2-1 lead.

Joao Conceicao scored the go-ahead goal eight minutes into the second half to give Harrison the lead for good.

Whippany Park’s only scoring chance of the second half came with seven minutes to go off another nice pass from Raff. He floated a pass into space for streaking teammate Ricky Tango. Muchowski and Tango got to the ball at the same time and it trickled deep into the box before Jose Rodriguez was there to clear it away.

Harrison’s Jason Cunha put to rest any hopes of a comeback scoring with less than three minutes to play for the final 3-1 margin. Muchowski had six saves and Leandro Gonzalez assisted on the third goal for Harrison (20-3). Vesegna had eight saves for Whippany Park (14-7-2).

Harrison will get a rare day off on Wednesday and get a chance to both get healthy and scout the other North 2, Group 1 semifinal when third-seeded Dayton Regional plays at second-seeded Glen Ridge.

After a tough 1-0 loss to St. Peter’s Prep in the Hudson County tournament semifinals over the weekend, the Harrison seniors know that this is it for them. It is state title or bust. With that comes a lot of pressure, but Rusek feels his experienced team is up to the task.

“We’ve wanted to be in this position all year and now we’re 80 minutes away,” said Rusek. “We have to play a full 80 minutes from here on out. It heightened our senses after they scored today and that worked, but we can’t wait for the opposing team to score a goal to wake us up. We have worked hard for this the entire season and hopefully we can get it done on Friday.”

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