Wednesday, September 14, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Camille Didio scored twice in the first half for IHA, which won its first game of the season, 4-1, over Paramus Catholic on Tuesday.

PARAMUS – After the winningest senior class in school history and one of the most dominant in the history of Bergen County girls soccer walked out of the Immaculate Heart Academy as graduate at the end of the last school year, it figured that the gap between the county's top program and those nipping at its heels had narrowed considerably. Gone were 14 players from the Class of 2011, 12 of whom went on to play in college. All they left in the trophy rack were four straight Bergen County championships, three straight Non-Public A state championships and four straight state sectional titles.

Throw in the loss of junior standout Samantha Wilkes to season ending shoulder surgery and the Blue Eagles are just about an entirely different squad then the one that walked off the turf at The College of New Jersey last November.

“It's like starting all over and that can be fun in its own way. We graduated 14, and we have four kids hurt that were a big part of what we did last year,” said IHA head coach Steve Silver, who has built the IHA program into one of the top handful in the state on a year-in, year-out basis. “We knew things were going to be different this year anyway, but now they are even more different that they were just three weeks ago when Sam [Wilkes] went to the orthopedist and found out she needed shoulder surgery.”

PC keeper Amanda Bakunas had a busy day and made one of her best saves on this first half sequence.

So the roster is filled with new names as only two returning starters, senior goalkeeper KC Nunez and sophomore outside back Jacqueline St. John, were on the pitch for the opening whistle on Tuesday at Paramus Catholic. But this being IHA, the cavalry has already arrived with fresh reinforcements.

Freshman Alexandra Mesropyan scored the first goal of the game and the first of her varsity career in the first half to put IHA in control on the way to a 4-1 win, its first of the season after an opening game draw against Clifton.

“At the beginning walking into IHA as a freshman was really tough, but all the girls are really nice and they welcome you as a part of the team and make you feel comfortable. They look at me as a teammate, not like a freshman and all of us are friends,” said Mesropyan. “I've been working really hard trying to get that first goal and it felt good to get it. Now I want to keep them coming.”

Mesropyan showed that she is not afraid on contact on the varsity level as her first goal came at the end of a bull rush up the middle. She shed two defenders and pushed into the box where she scored with her left foot into the right corner from a tough angle to give IHA the lead for good in the 13th minute. With the possession advantage, IHA kept the pressure on and only some quality work by Paramus Catholic keeper Amanda Bakunas kept the game from getting away from the Paladins early.

IHA freshman Alexandra Mesropyan scored the first two goals of her high school career.

She went low to stop a blast by Tiffany Weisbecker in the 29th minute and then robbed Weisbecker again on a quick rip off a corner kick played into the middle less than one minute later. But even Bakunas' best effort was not enough to stop IHA's second goal, which was pretty. Standing over a direct kick from nearly 40 yards out, Camille Didio struck the restart clean and it knuckled its way on a straight line directly into the upper 90 on the right side. Bakunas got over to the post, but the shot was struck perfectly and with such pace that there was little she could do as it whistled just under the crossbar to give IHA a 2-0 lead with nine minutes to play in the first half.

“With all of the new players coming in we have been doing a lot of team bonding to try to get the chemistry going. The chemistry was there in this game, so it shows that the work we are doing is paying off,” said Didio, a sophomore. “This win feels really good because it was our first one and Paramus Catholic is a good team, but there are a lot of games left to play. We know we have a big, big target on our backs because we have won four straight county championships, [three] state championships and it leaves a lot for us to live up to.”

PC was playing its season opener as its first scheduled game against Eastside was canceled due to the massive flooding in Paterson. That left the Paladins with the unenviable task of opening against IHA four days after the rest of the teams in the state had kicked off their seasons.

Jenny DiBlasio scored to get PC to within 3-1 with 19 minutes to play.

“We didn't get a chance to measure ourselves against anybody else. Out last scrimmage got canceled, our first game got canceled and we got to open four days later against these guys, as we have in at least five of the eight years that I have been here. Maybe six,” said PC head coach Bill McPartland. “It was a tough way to start, but what I am going to take out of this game is the fact that we fought them all the way. [Silver] didn't pull his starters out in the second half, we kept fighting and we played them to 1-1 in the second half.”

Paramus Catholic nearly got out of the first 40 minutes with a two-goal deficit, but in the final 10 seconds of the first half, Didio struck again. She made a hard run up the right, beat two defenders and then got in close enough to slot the ball past the sliding keeper to give IHA a 3-0 lead at the intermission.

Had IHA not built the three-goal advantage, things might have gotten a little more interesting after PC scored its first goal of the season. Jami Blackston sent in Jenny DiBlasio up the left, she cut back toward the middle and rolled in the goal past Nunez with 19 minutes to play in the game. But instead of being able to build on the momentum, PC saw IHA answer right back when Erin Butwin was taken down in the box, setting up a penalty kick that Mesropyan buried into the upper right for the final margin in the 66th minute.

Jacqueline St. John is one of IHA's two returning starters.

“This was a good win but in my mind we are still trying a lot of things out. We have a lot of kids and we are going to see who catches on a little bit. We are young and inexperienced, but I think that we are talented,” said Silver, who has not burdened this year's team with the legacy of those that came before it. “Our goal never is a county or state final or championship. Those things are the product of our other goals like making this group the best that we can make them, putting them in spots where they can be successful and seeing how they intermingle with each other. I never worry about the other part, the championships, because why should you, every year, set yourself up for failure because there is only one team that is going to win it.”

Silver saw quality play from his side, but on the other side McPartland was anything but disappointed in PC's effort.

“Days like today are key for us. Yeah we didn't win and yeah we put up a good fight, but nobody wants to hear about moral victories. But what we came out of here with was the knowledge that we can fight for a whole game against a team like IHA,” said McPartland, whose team opens the season with a grinder of a schedule that includes IHA, Northern Highlands and Ramapo -- Bergen County royalty -- in three of its first four games. “Not that it lightens up after that, but it can't get much tougher and we are going to be able to test ourselves early. We made it to the semifinals of the states last year and our goal this year is to get one more game, which would put us in the final. The loss here today doesn't change that goal.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.