Saturday, October 13, 2007

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

After plenty of near misses, Paramus junior Laela Brock scored the game's lone goal in the 63rd minute against Cresskill in the opening round of the Bergen County Tournament.

PARAMUS – With five freshmen in the starting lineup and playing against a rigorous NNJIL schedule during the regular season, the Paramus girls soccer team can usually play the underdog card when it is searching for some motivation. It has helped the Lady Spartans get off to a 9-3 start and helped them secure home field advantage as the No. 12 seed in Friday’s Bergen County Tournament opening round game against Cresskill.

“Normally we are the underdogs and we are the ones who are always trying to prove ourselves,” said one of those Paramus freshman starters, Megan Lannigan, who also happens to the Spartans’ leading goal scorer.

But Paramus (10-3) was without that advantage against Cresskill, a Group 1 school that only started its varsity program in 2001, plays in the small school BCSL-Olympic Division and fields a starting side that includes eight sophomores and freshmen combined.

The Cougars were the team with much to prove, at least on a countywide lever, and true to their gritty style over the past two seasons, they hung with Paramus the whole way. With a defense first approach while looking for quick counters or a lucky break against Paramus’ off-sides trap, Cresskill held the Spartans not without opportunities, but still without a goal for the first 65 minutes.

Nikki Hernandez was Cresskill's lone attacker, but still almost set up an early Cougar goal that might have changed the game.

The deadlock was finally broken shortly thereafter when Paramus junior Laela Brock got involved in a scrum inside the penalty area that was the result of a restart struck by Kim Mikiewicz. It was the one ball that eluded Cresskill keeper Patricia Clark all afternoon, it was jumped on by Brock and it resulted in the only goal of Paramus’ 1-0 win that secured it a spot in Sunday’s Round of 16 against No. 5 Pascack Valley, the defending county champion.

“It came on an indirect kick and I saw the goalie coming out for the ball,” said Brock, a junior. “One of my teammates [Stephanie Hallihan] got it before the goalie, the got past the goalie and I just went and knocked it in.”

Playing with the wind for the first 40 minutes helped Paramus control possession for large chunks of the first half and they had the higher number of quality shots, Cresskill almost snuck out in front eight minutes into the game. A ball played out from the back found the feet of Nikki Hernandez and she quickly played the ball up to her right, where Floriana Borova was running in the middle of the field.

With Paramus keeper Pam Rutishauser quick off her line, Borova pulled a quick trigger, but Rutishauser had cut the angle enough to allow her to get a hand on what was the Cougars’ first shot on goal and it came just over 11 minutes in.

Kim Mikiewicz's restart from 30 yards out led to the game's lone goal.

“If they score there it could have been a whole different game,” said Paramus head coach Vic DiPasquale. “That would have given them a lot of confidence and maybe make us get down on ourselves, but my keeper made a great play to get out and cut the angle. She is a senior, we needed her right there and she kept it scoreless.”

Cresskill used Hernandez as it lone attacker and played as many as eight girls behind the ball for much of the game. That strategy, along with the play of Clark [14 saves], a sophomore who was effective against balls in the air on a windy day and against balls played into troublesome areas, kept the Cougars very much in it until Brock finally broke the deadlock.

The loss did little to dim the optimism of Cresskill head coach John Massaro, who took over a program in its second year of existence and has it now in contention for league and sectional titles. Cresskill trails Park Ridge by just a half-game in the league standings and showed what they are capable of in the state playoffs when the got hot at the end of last season and rode it into the North 1, Group 1 state sectional final.

Sophomore Patricia Clark was outstanding in the Cresskill net and finished with 14 saves.

“I was Kelly [Jacob]’s assistant back in 2001. We won one game, we scored seven goals the whole year and we had about 16 girls on the team,” said Massaro, who team has posted a 10-3 record so far this season and expects his side to continue to improve. “Every year we have made strides and we keep pushing ourselves ahead. “We have three-sport athletes that are going to get better during the course of the season. And I am proud that we are showing what we are capable of.”

What Paramus is now capable of is sliding back into that underdog role against Pascack Valley. In a tournament that has already seen both New Milford and Park Ridge pull stunning first round upsets, the Spartans are hoping that they can make this county tournament resemble what has gone on during this college football season.

“Every game from here on in, the pressure is on the other team. We have Pascack Valley next, they are the defending champs. You win that game and it makes your season,” said DiPasquale. “I don’t think that too many people are expecting the 5 seed to drop to the 12 seed, but we’ll do our best to join the likes of New Milford and Park Ridge.”

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