Friday, September 28, 2007

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Senior Allie Maresca headed home a corner kick with 7:38 left in regulation to give Ramapo a 1-0 win over Pascack Hills on Thursday afternoon.

MONTVALE -- In her three years as a varsity soccer player, Ramapo senior Allie Maresca has had a clearly defined role. She is the defensive stopper, the physical marking back whose sole job it is to shut down the opposing team's top scorer. She has gone up against most of Bergen County's best scorers over the past few years -- she has the bumps and bruises to prove it -- so it had to be sweet for the Green Raiders' captain on Thursday afternoon at Pascack Hills when she got to return the favor.

With 7:38 left in what was a scoreless game to that point, Ramapo’s Janelle Biagini won a corner kick and Avery Jackson took the restart from the right of Pascack Hills keeper Meredith Schlussel. The serve came in high, over the pile gathered at the 6-yard line and took a high bounce near the far post. It was from there that Maresca headed home the lone goal in Ramapo’s 1-0 win in Montvale on Thursday afternoon.

The goal gave the Green Raiders a 5-0-2 record on the season and gave Maresca her fourth goal in three years as a varsity player.

Pascack Hills's junior keeper Meredith Schlussel making one of her five saves against Ramapo.

“We always try on restarts and corner kicks to win that first touch in the air. I had my opening so I just went for my shot,” said Maresca. “JoJo [Pisani] made an amazing effort to get a head ball but it just went over her head and I think my [defender] recovered to the ball. So when the ball went over I had a little gap in front of me just to squeeze it in.”

And that is the way a goal was going to have to be scored because there was little room to operate in either offensive end. There were no dangerous chances either way over the first 15 minutes of the game and only a couple that could be classified as dangerous through the first half.

Ramapo’s first chance was a direct kick from just above the arc that sailed high of the crossbar in the in the 19th minute, while Pascack Hills put together two coordinated first half attacks that ended in almosts. The first came in the 27th minute when Leigh Birnbaum sent Amanda Villafranco up the right and she sent a cross that was punched away by Ramapo keeper Caroline Shiel just ahead of the post-crashing Monica Zurich. With less than five minutes to go in the opening half, Zurich put a serve in that bounced through the goal mouth untouched.

Avery Jackson hit the corner kick that led to Ramapo's goal.

Put two talented sides that understand the concept of team defense on a small grass pitch and scoring opportunities were predictably scarce.

“Communication is the big key, making sure everyone is marked and that everyone has their mark,” said Taylor Schulte, Ramapo’s junior sweeper. “Allie [Maresca] had the toughest job today, marking Monica [Zurich], and she did a great job. For the rest of us it was a matter of playing the angles and making sure we didn’t leave anybody unmarked.”

The second half was more of the same as there was not a shot put on either keeper until Schlussel pulled down Pisani’s header off a cross from Nicole Pecoraro 12 minutes in. But with depth on its side and a bench full of capable players, Ramapo started to assert itself by winning restarts in the offensive third.

Katie Wiederhold won the Raiders a corner kick in the 61st minute and just one minute later they were awarded a direct kick that ended in another Schlussel save of a Pisani header. All of that laid the groundwork for Maresca’s game-winner off another set piece.

Pascack Hills standout Monica Zurich was the target of the Ramapo defense all game long.

“What is important for our kids to understand, and if you can learn this lesson early in the season it is huge, is the importance of restarts,” said Ramapo head coach Paul Heenehan. “Any time two teams are evenly matched, and Pascack Hills on their field is a real formidable opponent, restarts play a huge role. They got the corner kicks that we asked them to get, we really emphasized it at halftime and we reaped the benefits of it.”

So it is business as usual for the defending Group 3 State co-champion Raiders as they have yet to lose in seven outings this season despite playing against a rugged NBIL schedule full of teams that come with that something extra in an attempt to knock off the perennial powerhouse.

“What I like is that we are being tested hard early. Our league is outstanding,” said Heenehan, whose team has tied Northern Highlands and Wayne Hills while posting wins over Old Tappan, Demarest, Fair Lawn, Indian Hills and now Pascack Hills. “We are going to be as prepared as we can possibly be come county and state tournament based upon the competitive level of our schedule.”

Pascack Hills head coach Scott Ernest could have given the same quote were it a lock that his talented side, a small Group 2 school in with the NBIL heavyweights, will make the state and county playoffs. The Cowgirls started the season with four straight wins, but fell to 4-3 after a brutal stretch that included losses to Northern Highlands, Pascack Valley and now Ramapo.

Ramapo keeper Caroline Shiel was not called upon often, but responded when necessary.

Playing without three starters due to a combination of injury and illness on Thursday certainly didn’t help as it lessened the offensive options for the Cowgirls and increased the attention paid to Zurich, the talented junior forward who found herself marked full time by Maresca with help coming quickly behind when necessary.

The Cowgirls’ have run such a gauntlet that Ernest scheduled an independent game for Friday against Bloomfield, a Group 4 school from the NNJIL, just to get some relief and hopefully a fifth win, the one that would lock up a spot in the Bergen County Tournament. After that, it is road games against Ramsey and Wayne Hills next week.

“We just played Northern Highlands to 2-1 with 40-something seconds left and we ended up losing 4-1. We played Northern Highlands very tough, we just played these guys [Ramapo] very tough and I just told the girls ‘All I ask of you is to get us to the county tournament,” said Ernest. “Tomorrow we have Bloomfield and we hope to get that win, it would be our fifth one and would put us in. If we get that we are 5-3 with two to play next week.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.