Monday, October 27, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Avery Jackson (left) scored the game's lone goal in the 17th minute as Ramapo handed Northern Highlands its first loss of the season, 1-0, in the Bergen County Tournament semifinals.

ORADELL -- Making a run up the right sideline with possession of the ball, Ramapo junior Avery Jackson was tripped up from behind before she could get off a cross. A foul was called and what came next, courtesy of a quick tip from her head coach and her own deft touch, Jackson turned the ensuing restart into the defining play of the first Bergen County Tournament semifinal played on Sunday at River Dell High School.

The restart was granted just ahead of the Ramapo bench from a tough angle to the far left of Northern Highlands goal keeper Caroline Broder and Jackson was well within earshot of Ramapo head coach Paul Heenehan.

“The girl took me out and I was ready to take the free kick because the keeper wasn’t ready at first,” said Jackson. “My coach was telling me to shoot it upper left and he was yelling ‘Go! Go! Go!”

Following directions to a tee, Jackson played the ball quickly and hit a perfectly placed twister that bent into the side netting for the lone goal of Ramapo’s 1-0 win.

Stacy Kadell (top) colliding with Ramapo keeper Emma Giegerich during one of Highlands' last scoring chances.

“Avery was, fortunately, right in front of us so we didn’t have to say it too loud and we gave her the idea to get it far post as quick as you can,” said Heenehan. “But that wasn’t about us telling her, that was about Avery putting the ball [in the perfect spot]. If [national team keeper] Hope Solo is in net that thing is going in.”

With that goal and with a defense that stood up to Northern Highlands’ relentless push to equalize in the final minutes, the Green Raiders, the No. 6 seed, made up for two regular season losses to the Highlanders, handed them their first loss of the season and reached next weekend’s Bergen County final where they will take on top-seeded IHA, which knocked off Paramus, 5-1, in the other semifinal.

Jackson’s goal in the 17th minute was the only tangible result of Ramapo’s dominant first half as it had the better of play for most of the first 40 minutes. Ana Drehwing knocked down a cross from the corner in the 23rd minute and Becca Cooke jumped onto the loose ball, forcing Broder to go low to keep her team within a goal. With eight minutes to go in the first half Amy Van Dyk made a slicing run through the midfield and ripped a shot from 30 yards that made contact with the crossbar before going over the end line.

That it was only down 1-0 at the break was actually a positive for Highlands.

Claire Whiteman and the Ramapo defense held off Highlands for the full 80 minutes.

“I thought Ramapo played very well against us. They came out hungry, they came out ready to play and they took it to us in the first half,” said Highlands head coach Tara Madigan. “It’s a matter of which team shows up ready to play that day and today that was Ramapo.”

But Highlands looked more like itself in the second half as it regained some of the midfield play that it had been giving away in the first half and as the reality of the one-goal deficit set in inside the final 15 minutes, the Highlanders went for broke and put a ton of pressure on.

With 13 minutes to play, Leah Taylor got in deep and tried a volley from in deep where her swing got half of the ball and half of the arm of Ramapo goal keeper Emma Giegerich. The ricochet rolled out to the corner where Taylor chased it and was taken down near the end line just outside the penalty area. Stacy Kadell’s restart was cleared out by Cooke and the two would meet up again just over a minute later in a physical encounter.

Chasing a high bounce toward the top the penalty area, Kadell was running full speed as Giegerich came out low and Cooke from the side. The three of them came together in a collision and it was Cooke who got to her feet first and cleared it out of trouble. That was one of just two saves that Giegerich was credited with, but that did not mean that she had an easy time of it as Highlands pushed forward down the stretch.

Highlands' Tara Corbett chasing the ball into the corner.

Giegerich, who as taken over as the Raiders’ No. 1 keeper in the last week, was steady throughout and better than that when called upon.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking because they were really starting to push it down our throats, but the girls really stepped up and we just kind of held on and kicked it out,” said Giegerich, a junior. “It’s tough to just be thrown into it, but I just hoped that I could step up for the team and just do what I have to do.”

Ramapo is now one win away from its first county championship since 2003 and it will go through IHA, the top seed that knocked the Raiders out last season in a semifinal penalty kick shootout. For Ramapo’s seniors, next Saturday’s 3:00 p.m. start on their own home field represents their last shot at a county title.

“We really want it,” said senior Taylor Schulte, Ramapo’s sweeper and a four-year starter. “For us seniors, we have never won a county championship. We’ve been to the finals once and the semis, so it is a great feeling [to be going back to the county final]. We are really excited.”

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