Sunday, November 1, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Stephanie Pace scored in the sixth minute to give Kearny the lead for good in a 6-0 win over Bayonne in the Hudson County final.

KEARNY – This year’s inaugural Hudson County Girls’ Soccer Tournament had an interesting twist to its final. Although Kearny was never allowed to participate in what was formerly the HCIAA-Coviello Division Final, the closest thing that there was to a county championship game, it considered itself to be the true Hudson County champion even if it had been excluded from proving it on the field.

To make their case a fact, the Kardinals would have to dethrone the defending HCIAA-Coviello champ and leave no doubt. Bayonne lost its two regular season meetings to Kearny by close 2-1 and 3-1 scores, but hoped when they met in the Hudson County final that the final outcome would be different. It was certainly different, but not in a good way for Bayonne.

Senior captain and tournament MVP Samantha Pace opened the scoring in the 6th minute and the Kardinals rolled from there. Katie O’Neill and Stefanie Gomes each scored twice as top-seeded Kearny won the first-ever true Hudson County title in convincing fashion with a 6-0 victory in front of their home fans at Kearny High School.

Lisa Rovatsos and Bayonne had played Kearny tough in two regular season matchups.

“Our goal was to score in the first 10 minutes to set the tone and get comfortable,” said Pace. “Bayonne was the only team in this tournament that really tested us this season. We were ready and we were confident that we could come out and play the way we played today.”

Just over five minutes into the match, Pace took a pass from O’Neill and cracked a shot from the top of the box. Bayonne keeper Shannon Krand got a hand on it, but it wasn’t enough to stop the shot from going in as Kearny quickly took a 1-0 lead.

“Scoring first is important, to do it against the wind made it even more important,” said Kearny head coach Vinny Almeida. “With the wind the way it was, we had to play our game and keep the ball on the ground as much as possible. We worked the ball wide and that created a lot of space in the box where we could do some damage.”

Seven minutes later, Pace squeezed a pass between two defenders for O’Neill. The freshman collected the pass in the box and tucked it into the upper left-hand corner for a 2-0 lead. Gomes also found the back of the net on a volley to give the Kardinals a 3-0 halftime lead.

Freshman Katie O’Neill netted two goals for Kearny.

Bayonne fields one of the leading scorers in the Hudson County in sophomore Lisa Rovatsos. But thanks to a smothering Kearny defense, she was limited to just a single shot on goal.

With the wind at their back for the second half, it was just a matter of time before the Kardinals put the game away. Gomes took a pass from Janitza Aquino into wide-open space up the left flank. She carried the ball to the top corner of the box before lacing a left-footed blast just inside the far post for a 4-0 lead. O’Neill and Mercedes Lois closed out the scoring with second-half goals as Kearny made no mistake who the best team in Hudson County was on this afternoon.

“We honestly wanted to come out and make a statement,” said O’Neill. “Our regular season games were close with them, so we had to come out focused. We knew we could beat them, but it takes only one time for them to beat us and the other two wins would have meant nothing. I think once we scored the first goal, we knew that we had them.”

The Lady Kards now have set a new goal for the remainder of this season and that is to win another championship. They have that chance started tomorrow when the North 1, Group 4 state tournament begins. Kearny is the No. 3 seed and will face Bloomfield in the first round as the Kardinals hope to capture their first section crown since 2006.

“It feels great to win the county title and now we want to the states,” said Gomes, a junior. “I think we’ve gotten better with every game this season. We’re a good team and we showed it today. We came out and we got what we worked hard for. Now we want to win our section and we’re going to give it all we’ve got to get there.”

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