Thursday,
November 20, 2014
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Christian Marquez's pin-point passes were a key piece of Harrison's offensive onslaught in a 4-0 win over Waldwick in the Group 1 state semifinals. |
OAKLAND – Heading into Wednesday night's Group 1 semifinal against a strong Waldwick team, Harrison head coach Mike Rusek had plenty of concerns. The frigid weather, the hope that his team would not get off to a slow start like it did in the section final against Secaucus and and how his team would respond to its biggest game of the year were all concerns for Rusek, as they would be for any coach whose team was facing a win-or-go-home situation. With a senior-dominated side determined to win a state title, the Blue Tide made sure their head coach had little too worry about other than staying warm.
The Blue Tide was more like a tidal wave pounding shots at the Waldwick net all night long. Waldwick keeper Dan Walsh single-handedly held them off as long as he could but there was no stopping Harrison on this night. Christian Restrepo scored in the 17th minute and Ali Lahkrif found the back of the net later in the half as the Blue Tide dominated from whistle to whistle to reach the Group 1 state final with a 4-0 triumph at Indian Hills High School in Oakland.
“We wanted to control the middle and score first. Those were our main goals coming into the game,” said Harrison marking back Jose Carrera. “We won a lot of the 50-50 balls and that gave us some space for our midfielders to operate. Once we got that first goal, we were able to relax and just play our game knowing that one mistake would only tie the game not put us behind.”
Harrison has been known for decades as a team that uses the whole field and thrives when playing the ball on the ground. But that was not the case early on as they created one scoring opportunity after another on perfectly-placed chipped long balls from Leandro Gonzales onto the foot of lightning-quick striker Ali Lahkrif.
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Dan Walsh made 13 saves in net for Waldwick. |
On three different occasions over the first 15 minutes, Lahkrif was able to wiggle free for either a breakaway or a shot from well inside the box. Walsh was up to the task saving all three opportunities and he also had two impressive series of sequences during the first half. Walsh first saved a Lahkrif breakaway, then, while still lying on the ground, he blocked a pair of rebound attempts from close range. But a little over a minute later, Harrison finally broke through.
On yet another chip from Gonzales, Cristian Marquez ran on with Walsh charging out near the top corner of the box. Instead of trying to take a shot, Marquez alertly slid a pass towards the far post where Restrepo was all alone to knock it into the open for a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute.
Walsh was impressive again late in the half when he made two big saves before a third was blocked in front. Once again, the Blue Tide kept coming and found the net just over a minute later from that barrage of shots. Lahkrif harried the Warrior defense all half and finally broke through with over seven minutes to play by running onto, what else, another long chip. This one was from Marquez and it led to a breakaway that he slipped past Walsh into the lower right-hand corner that gave Harrison a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead.
There was no let up in the second half as Marquez scored just over five minutes in and Ney Moreno added another tally midway through the half. As impressive as Harrison's offensive attack was, the defense was equally as good. Goalie Nick Araujo made just one save and that was when the game was well in hand. Of Waldwick's three shots, two of them came in the final 10 minutes.
“I mean no disrespect to any team we've played this year because we've played some very good teams, but we haven't seen any team that shut us down the way they did,” said Waldwick head coach Jon Noschese. “We weren't prepared for how well they possessed the ball and how well they controlled the midfield. That second goal hurt because then we had to make some adjustments, which opened the field up even more for their midfielders. It's always tough for a season to end like this, but for us to lose as many players as we did from last year and to win a section title was a great accomplishment. Tonight we just couldn't put it together and that had everything to do with how well Harrison played.”
Walsh finished with 13 saves, most of them coming on breakaways or point-blank shots for Waldwick (16-4-1). Chris Cameron had the only true scoring chance for the Warriors when his 25-yard shot bent over the crossbar in the 72nd minute.
Harrison will playHaddon Township for the Group 1 state title at Kean University in Union on Sunday with a scheduled 3:00 P.M. Kickoff. A win would be the program's eye-popping 25th state title. Just 80 minutes away, Rusek now has a new set of concerns with the entire season on the line.
“This was a great win for us but we can't rest now that the finish line is right in front of us,” said Rusek. “Waldwick is a very good team and I think if we played this game tomorrow it wouldn't be 4-0. Our kids really came out to play and used some different ways to create scoring opportunities. When 50-50 balls go your way, the game is generally going your way. We just rode that wave and kept it going for the full eighty minutes. We're excited for Sunday. I hope it's 20 degrees then too and we play the same way we played tonight.”
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