Wednesday,
November 18, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Senior David Herrera scored a free kick with 2:52 left in the second half to give Garfield a 2-1 win over Pascack Hills and a trip to the state final for the first time since 1973. |
OAKLAND – It took Garfield a long time to finally get the game to the spot from where it could be won. The Boilermakers gave away a penalty kick in the first half to fall behind could manage no better than a tie for most of the second half against Pascack Hills in Tuesday night’s Group 2 state semifinal.
In the previous meeting between these same two teams in the Round of 16 in the Bergen County Tournament, it was a one-sided affair. Garfield coasted to a three-goal victory and had the Cowboys chasing all over the pitch. It was certainly different this time around and until senior David Herrera finally got the put the ball in a stationary position about 25 yards from goal on the left with 2:52 left in regulation, the Boilermakers never really had a chance to feel truly comfortable.
Herrera, one of the best strikers of the ball in North Jersey, a left-footed maestro on restarts, has been doing it since he first stepped on a varsity field as a freshman and one more would put the Boilermakers in a state final for the first time since 1973.
“The first time we played them in the counties I had a similar free kick from almost the same spot. I hit it low and it went in,” said Herrera, who aimed for a similar outcome this time around. “I tried to look low for the corner and it worked for me this time.”
Herrera used the outside of his left foot to hit a hard skidder that found a path through the traffic in front of the net and past a screened out keeper for the winning goal in Garfield’s 2-1 victory over Pascack Hills at Indian Hills High School in Oakland. The Boilermaker’s will play for their first ever outright Group 2 state title on Sunday at Kean University against Central Jersey champion Holmdel, a 2-1 winner over Delran in Tuesday’s other semifinal.
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Evan Lazarus and the 12 Pascack Hills seniors led the Cowboys to one of the best seasons in program history. |
“This is great. I am very happy for the program, I am very happy for the school. It is the first time in 40 years that we are back to Group final and I am thrilled for everybody,” said Mark Pieklo, who is in his 19th season as Garfield’s head coach. “Pascack Hills made us work for it. They did a tremendous job getting ready for this game, they took a lot out of us in the first half, but in the second half we came out to play.”
Pascack Hills was run over the first time the two teams met, but this was a different story, a different atmosphere and a different Cowboys team, one swelling with confidence after winning the North 1, Group 2 state sectional title in a 10-round penalty kick shootout against defending champion Ramsey. The Cowboys were physical from the outset and disrupted Garfield’s favored possession game with hustle.
“The county game was one of our worst days. We came out flat, we were too busy looking at other things and there were too many distractions. We made some mistakes and, boom, we were down,” said Pascack Hills head coach Jim Soltman. “We worked a lot with the defense to make sure we were marked up and communicating and helping out and that set a tone for us tonight. We were able to come out and move the ball and make some runs at them.”
One of those runs was by Noah Rak, who got in on the right and took some hits doing it. He got his jersey pulled on his way into the penalty area and the got tipped over was one arrived inside the 18. The whistle was blown, the ball was spotted and Rak converted the penalty kick to give Pascack Hills a 1-0 lead with 12:52 left in the first half. The Cowboys almost doubled the lead just 35 seconds later when the rebound on Dylan Nikola’s shot was bouncing free, but Garfield’s Wojciech Piwowarczyk cleared it out just before it could be sent back at the open goal.
Garfield survived the half down just 1-0 and then thrived after the intermission. What did Pieklo say to his team in the halftime huddle?
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Wojciech Piwowarczyk scored early in the second for the first goal for Garfield, which will play Holmdel for the Group 2 title in Sunday at Kean University. |
"I don’t think I can repeat that, but I can paraphrase,” said Herrera. “We just had to play physical, start getting the second balls and start playing to feet. That is what we did.”
Garfield released some pressure by equalizing early in the second half. Piwowarczyk, the senior sweeper, moved up the pitch and found himself standing over a free ball that came off a deflected shot. Piwowarczyk hammered into the right corner to tie the game in the 49th minute.
The Boilermakers had regained the initiative, but Pascack Hills stood up to the pressure as keeper Evan Lazarus kept the back line organized and came up big when called upon. Herrera did get a practice try for the free kick that would win the game later when, in the 56th minute, he stood over a restart and crushed it. The ball was ticketed for the side netting inside the right post before it hit a defender and was knocked off course. The next real scoring chance again belonged to Herrera and that one went in.
Garfield had the lead for the first time all night and there was less than three minutes remaining, but Pascack Hills almost recovered. Garfield committed a foul just outside the top of the arc and, with 2:13 remaining, Rak lined up the free kick. He hit it on frame, literally, but it ricocheted off the crossbar and out of trouble. Two minutes later, Garfield was celebrating its first trip to the state final in 42 years.
“This is pretty sweet, especially because this will be my first group final, my school’s first in over 40 years and no sport at my school has ever won it,” said Herrera. “This feels so good, but now we have to go down and finish it.”
For Pascack Hills, it was a tough ending to a spectacular season, one of the best in the program’s history. This is the team that future Cowboys soccer sides will be compared to.
“You are always disappointed whenever it ends, but I am proud of them. We made such a good run. Early on I don’t think anybody gave us a chance in the league and we ended up a half-game from winning that and had a chance to win it. No one gave us much of a chance going into the states and we ended up making it through the sectionals,” said Soltman. “We have some nice youth coming up and getting this far makes the program hungrier. I am losing 12 seniors, nine of them are starters, so it is going to be a changeover, but they did such a good job lifting the program. The fans were there, the Cowboy Crazies were here to support us and really, what more can you really ask for from everyone?”
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