Monday, October 26, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Kristin Heaney tied a career high with five goals as defending champion Northern Highlands held off Old Tappan, 7-4, in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament.

ALLENDALE – Northern Highlands’ Kristin Heaney and Kirsten Savage of Northern Valley/Old Tappan know each other all too well. Over the past three years, they have battled numerous times and emerged this season as the top two scorers in Bergen County. Since Northern Valley/Old Tappan did not qualify for the state tournament and Heaney is a senior this year, Sunday’s Bergen County Tournament semifinal would be the last time these two standout players would go head-to-head. With that and a berth in the county final on the line, the two put on a show.

Savage netted a career-high four goals in the game, but she was not the game’s high goal scorer. Heaney tied a career-high with five goals, three of those in the first half, as top-seeded and defending Bergen County champion Northern Highlands moved onto the county final with a wild 7-4 victory at Northern Highlands High School.

“I can’t say I’ve ever been in such a high-scoring game,” said Northern Highlands head coach Rich Smith. “Both Kristin (Heaney) and Kirsten (Savage) are top-notch players and they both were unstoppable today.”

Northern Highlands grabbed a 1-0 lead when Brianna Dunn scored off of a scramble in front of the cage. From then on, Heaney and Savage played a game of ‘Can you top this?’ Twice, Heaney scored off feeds from Ashley Flynne to push the lead up to 3-0. It looked the game was out of reach, but Savage stepped up and a wild final seven minutes of the first half ensued.

Kirsten Savage had four goals to lead the Old Tappan comeback.

Savage beat a defender along the end line and snuck a shot short-side to get Old Tappan on the scoreboard. Heaney capped the hat trick minutes later, but Savage answered right back to trim the Highlanders’ lead to 4-2 at the half.

“We got some momentum going into halftime, we just had a big deficit to overcome,” said Northern Valley/Old Tappan head coach Katie Fritz. “I loved how we kept fighting when we were down three goals and made a game of it. Even though we tried hard, it was too much ground to make up. Northern Highlands is an excellent team that will make you pay for your mistakes.”

The 10-minute halftime intermission did little to slow down either Heaney or Savage. Less than three minutes into the second half, Heaney’s hard shot found the back of the cage. Once again, Savage answered quickly with her third goal to make it 5-3.

The Golden Knights never got any closer as Heaney marked a career-best by drilling home her fifth goal of the game. Caroline Marotta tacked on another to put the game on ice for Northern Highlands before Savage capped the scoring with her fourth goal of the game late.

Caroline Marrotta added the last goal for Highlands, which will play Ramsey in the county final.

“This was a really crazy game, I’ve never been in one with so many goals,” said Kristin Heaney, who will continue her career at Division 1 Lafayette College next fall. “I give my teammates all the credit for drawing the defense and giving me good passes. They put me in a good position to score and I had a few shots go in.”

Heaney’s second five-goal game of the season gave her a North Jersey-leading 28 on the season for Northern Highlands (11-6).

Jessica Yurkin and Brittany Berg each had assists for Northern Valley/Old Tappan (4-9-3). Savage was as efficient shooting the ball as it comes, taking and scoring on all four of her team’s shots. Heading into next week’s Bergen County Final against Ramsey, who they have played twice in the past two weeks with each team winning once, Highlander head coach Rich Smith knows he will need more than just a great performance by Heaney to remain county champs.

“We did our job offensively, but when the other team scores four goals on four shots, we have some things to work on,” said Smith. “Ramsey is a tough team and we need a total team effort. Unless we plan on trying to win games by scores of 7-4 or 12-10, we need to be much tighter defensively. I’m just glad we got through this one. I’m sure for a field hockey fan this was a fun one to watch.”

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