Monday, October 29, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

ORADELL – Facing the prospect of overtime and possibly penalty kicks against upstart Mahwah, the Northern Highlands girls soccer team needed an offensive spark in the worst way. It was a situation that was tailor-made for speedy striker Danielle Schulmann. But with the senior out with a stress fracture in her foot, someone else needed to fill that role if the Highlanders had any hopes of staying alive in the Bergen County Tournament.

It was a role that Leah Taylor accepted and she single-handedly made the most decisive play of the match. She took on a defender and got a step before ripping a lefty blast into the upper corner with 15:55 to play. Despite a furious rally over the final 10 minutes, second-seeded Northern Highlands denied Mahwah a third straight upset and its first-ever county final berth by earning a 1-0 triumph.

“It was a hard-fought game and (Taylor) came up with a great shot,” said Mahwah head coach Michael Wright. “It certainly wasn’t our best game, but I’m sure Northern Highlands would say the same thing. Both teams played hard, it just didn’t go our way today.”

Katrina Battle nearly put Northern Highlands on top early when her header on a free kick hit off the crossbar in the 8th minute. From that point on, the wind and both defenses dominated play. The ball was often played in the air by both squads and the swirling wind reeked havoc in a sloppy first half.

“I thought we dominated the first half, but it didn’t matter,” said Northern Highlands head coach Tara Madigan. “The fact was that the score was still (0-0) and one break could change the outcome one way or the other.”

That trend continued in the second half until the Highlanders started to play the ball on the ground and gain some momentum offensively. Taylor took a pass from Alex Hubelbank about 25 yards from goal at the top of the box and turned to face up against a defender. She cut hard to her left to create enough space to get off a shot. The junior midfielder’s shot was struck perfectly and got past Mahwah goaltender Kelsi Jacob and into the upper-right hand corner for a 1-0 lead.

“I saw some open space in the corner and I went for it,” said Taylor. “I was happy to see it go in because we were having a tough time putting something together. This was a much more physical game than the first time we played each other in the league. We didn’t want this game going to overtime or to penalty kicks.”

After creating virtually no offense for the first 70 minutes, the Thunderbirds bounced back with several quality scoring chances in the final minute with their two best chances came in the final 3:30.

The first came off of a loose ball on a corner kick where Amanda Soto’s shot was blocked and cleared out by Hubelbank. Two minutes later, Claire Magnolia’s shot was redirected by Brittney Albrecht. The ball hit the inside of the far post and bounced out as the Highlanders held on for the win.

“We definitely had our chances in the closing minutes,” said Wright. “I thought the shot by Brittney
(Albrecht) was going in. But it bounced out and we never got another crack at the tying goal. We just didn’t capitalize on the chances we had. The good thing is that we have a state tournament game tomorrow, so we don’t have any time to think about this. I hope this will only fuel our fire for the state tournament.”

Northern Highlands held a slim 7-5 edge in shots and 4-2 in corner kicks in this defensive-minded battle. Michelle Toher had three saves and Jacob had one for Mahwah. Morgan Cocherl made just one save to earn the shutout for the Highlanders.

In next Sunday’s Bergen County final, Northern Highlands will take on a familiar foe in top-seeded
IHA. It will be the third time in as many years that the two teams will meet in the county tournament. They met in the 2005 final and finished as co-champs after a scoreless draw. Last year, Northern Highlands pulled off the huge upset as the eighth seed in beating
top-seeded IHA, 2-0.

“You gotta love it, you gotta love being in this situation,” added Madigan. “We know what a test IHA is going to be and we have to be ready to face that test. We come in as the underdogs and there’s nothing with having that role in a big game. There are things we still need to work on, but we’re excited to have the chance to play for a county title.”

TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.