Tuesday, November 3, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Rachel Cole needed just one late opening to provide Dwight-Englewood the only goal it needed in a 1-0 win over St. Mary in the first round of the Non-Public B state tournament.

RUTHERFORD – Before this season, only teams with a .500 record at the cutoff date were allowed entry into the state tournament, but the NJSIAA instituted a rule this year to try fill out the brackets, allowing in as many under .500 teams as necessary to make first-round byes a thing of the past.

The rule change hurts top-seeded teams that could have used the first-round bye and the rest, but there are plenty of other teams that welcome the opportunity to say it played in the state tournament. With their regular-season records, neither the St. Mary of Rutherford nor the Dwight-Englewood girls soccer teams would not have qualified for the states in years past, but on Monday they met in the postseason with the winner defining its season and giving the program something to build off of for the future.

Dwight-Englewood’s Rachel Cole has been the best kept secret in Bergen County this season, but through 75 minutes, she was bottled up by a stern St. Mary’s defense. So much so, that Cole did not have a shot on net the entire game to that point. But the sophomore kept coming and one small opening to get off her shot was all she needed to give her team the goal it desperately needed.

St. Mary's Alana Lopez nearly tied the game in the final minute.

Cole scored her 39th goal of the year, and by far her biggest, with 4:57 to play as Dwight-Englewood won its first state tournament game in nearly a decade with a 1-0 triumph over St. Mary at Memorial Field in a first-round Non-Public North B tilt.

“We felt we could win this game if we played our game,” said Dwight-Englewood head coach Eddie Ballas. “Rachel Cole has been fantastic all year and she came through for us again. I thought our defense had the best game we had all year and that was a key to us winning.”

Dwight-Englewood had several chances to score throughout the contest, starting with one just seconds after the opening kickoff. Cole carried the ball up the field and laid it off for Sydney Hertz. Her shot hit off the post and was cleared away by St. Mary’s Jill Mulrain.

That appeared to wake up the Gaels, who had the better of play for the rest of the first half. They controlled the possession game and had several scoring chances. The best one came with two minutes left in the half on a 25-yard direct kick from Meghan Bohan. Her shot was headed towards the upper left-hand corner, but it was punched away by Dwight-Englewood netminder Phoebe Torchia and there was still no score heading into the second half.

Dwight-Englewood keeper Phoebe Torchia (left) held her ground and hung on for the shutout.

The intensity picked up on both ends, but neither team was able to get much on net. As the game wound down, it was evident that it was going to come down to one break either way.

It looked like the break was heading St. Mary’s way with just over nine minutes to play. Amy Iturburo’s long centering pass took a high bounce in the box and went over the head of Torchia, who was late coming off of her line. Just before the ball crossed the goal line, Torchia turned around and grabbed it to keep the game scoreless and give the Bulldogs a chance to win it in regulation.

“Being only 5’3”, sometimes I have problems with shots like that,” said Torchia. “As soon as I came out to get it, I knew it was going over my head. I felt like I was about to cry because I thought I lost us the game for a second. I quickly turned around and was able to grab it just in time. I knew if I kept them from scoring, we would find a way to win this game.”

The game-winning goal started with Cole simply settling a St. Mary’s goal kick in open space 35 yards from the net. She dribbled in and beat two defenders up the left, then cut back to her right just inside the top of the box. When she finally got enough space to shoot, she ripped a shot past St. Mary’s goalie Brianna Coyle and into the lower left-hand corner for the game’s only goal and a 1-0 lead.

Dwight-Englewood will play top-seeded Eastern Christian in the next round.

“I really didn’t have a lot of opportunities and I had to step up and get a good shot off,” said Cole. “I was aiming for that spot and I hit it well. For most of the game, I was really frustrated. St. Mary’s was playing really well defensively and I had a tough time getting space. On the goal, I got just enough room to get a good shot. I’m just happy I got it on net and that it went in.”

The Gaels’ pressed for the tying goal and had a last shot in the waning moments. Torchia corralled a left-footed shot from Alana Lopez with a minute to play and the Bulldogs hung on for a long overdue state tournament win.

“We had our chances, as did they, we just didn’t finish one,” said St. Mary’s head coach Maria Fagan. “As well as we played today, the bottom line is they finished once and we didn’t score. It’s tough for our kids because we were right there. (Cole) is an exceptional player and it took just one shot for her to change the game. I thought we did a great job this entire season battling injuries and adversity. It speaks volumes of the character of our kids and what kind of team we have.”

Dwight-Englewood has a much taller task in the Non-Public North B quarterfinal round on Thursday when it faces top-seeded Eastern Christian. But to even get this far after a rough start to the season, the Bulldogs feel anything can happen moving forward.

“I think we’ve become a lot closer and we have more confidence in ourselves and each other,” said Cole. “We have five freshmen that start and we’re a really young team overall. Right now we have nothing to lose since we’ve already achieved a goal we set for the season. We’re just going to play our hardest and try to keep going as far as we can.”

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