Monday, October 10, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Vassiliki Kanaris was outstanding in the penalty stroke shootout as Demarest pulled the upset of River Dell in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Field Hockey Tournament.

ORADELL – The art of blocking penalty strokes is something that is relatively unknown to Northern Valley/Demarest goaltender Vassiliki Kanaris. Although she practices defending against them every single practice, Kanaris was curious as to why it was so focused upon when it was such a rare occurrence in live game action. But all of that time in practice paid off in a huge way that breathed new life into the Norsewomen on Sunday and also gave them a new outlook for the remainder of the season.

Kanaris stopped the final two shots she faced as sixth-seeded Demarest pulled the upset with a 1-0 (2-1 in penalty strokes) upset over third-seeded River Dell in the first round of the Bergen County Tournament at River Dell High School.

“I knew once it got to strokes that I had to step up because the game was on my shoulders,” said Kanaris. “I was just so focused and when we got to strokes, we really had nothing to lose then.”

River Dell had handily beaten the Norsewomen in a regular-season meeting, 4-1, and kept the pressure on in this meeting as well. Only this time Kanaris was up to the task. She stonewalled River Dell’s best scoring chances in front by Meghan Ennis in the first half and Catherine Antonelli in the second.

Catherine Antonelli converted her stroke for River Dell.

While the Norsewomen were unable to mount much offense throughout the game, a stern defensive effort and the stellar play of Kanaris in between the pipes kept them locked in a scoreless battle as the teams played through overtime and into a penalty-stroke shootout. The Hawks kept the pressure on Kanaris all game long, but when the game went to strokes, the tables had turned; as the team with the hot goaltender always becomes more dangerous.

“We know with (Kanaris) back there in net that if you can get to strokes, it’s anyone’s game,” said Northern Valley/Demarest head coach Meghan Fetterly. “We didn’t have as many scoring chances as we would have liked today, but our defense as a whole kept us in it. We have a team with a lot of seniors and they took a lot of pride in coming out of here with a win.”

Demarest’s Stephanie Choi struck first by beating River Dell netminder Erin Smith, but Antonelli answered right back for the Hawks. After misses and saves by each team. Arielle Sorkin stepped up and put in the back of the cage for the go-ahead goal. Kanaris made it stand up as on the Hawks’ final shot, she took a quick step to her left and booted the ball away then waited for her teammates to mob her.

Demarest will play 3-time defending champion Northern Highlands in the semifinals.

“To watch everyone running at me smiling and screaming because we won was amazing,” said the elated, yet shocked Kanaris. “I think it’s the first time I’ve ever cried tears of joy on the field like this, it was just amazing.”

Kanaris was outstanding from start to finish in net, finishing with 21 saves for Northern Valley/Demarest (3-10-1). Her counterpart, Erin Smith, finished with 14 saves for River Dell (5-5-1).

Demarest moved onto next weekend’s semifinals, where it will face the three-time defending Bergen County champion Northern Highlands. Although the Highlanders breezed to a 5-0 victory in their regular-season meeting, the Norsewomen feel they are a different team now and they have even less to lose than they did yesterday.

“We’re playing so much better than we did earlier in the year and that confidence is carrying us,” added Kanaris. “This is such a great win and it’s easy to give it everything you have when you have nothing to lose. We have so many seniors on this team and we want to go out with a bang. I think this could be the turning point for us.”

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