Wednesday, September 28, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Campbell Duffy's first half goal stood up as the game-winner as Mahwah posted a 2-0 win over Indian Hills and solidified its spot in the Bergen County Tournament.

OAKLAND – Through the first three weeks of the season, the Mahwah and Indian Hills girls soccer teams have kind of been in the same boat. Neither team has been outclassed in any of their matches, both have had games where they have rung up high numbers in measurable stats like corner kicks and shots on goal, and both teams have had trouble in the one area that counts the most: goals scored.

“The last couple of games we have had an average of like 20 shots and we just haven't put the ball in the back of the net,” said Mahwah head coach Courtney Levine. “It's been frustrating to say the least because we have been in all of our games but we really haven't seen the results we want.”

And time is already running short. Mahwah, the defending Group 2 state champion, needed a win on Tuesday to assure itself a spot in the Bergen County Tournament, which will be seeded on Thursday. Seventeen minutes into the game, Mahwah senior Campbell Duffy got involved in the traffic jam in front of the net after a free kick was played in by Katherine Gatta. Duffy found herself in possession of a loose ball and pounded it into the open net to give her team the lead. Mahwah got some insurance inside the final two minutes and grabbed a 2-0 win that gets it back to .500 on the season and into the county tournament with a 3-3 record.

Gianna DiTommaso had two of Indian Hills' better scoring chances.

Duffy is one of the few holdovers from last season's team that won the program's first state title since 1985 and she came up big on Tuesday in a game and a season where goals have been hard to come by.

“Katie [Gatta] played a good ball in and their keeper came out, but couldn't get it. I think it was tapped to me by [Kiersten] Spenc[er] and I hit it with my left foot. Getting the first goal was really important in this game and we got it,” said Duffy. “I think that in every game we have played we have proved to be the better team, but it is just that putting the ball in the net has been the problem. I think today we could have put more than two goals in, but even so, coming out here and getting a win in a game that could put us in the county tournament really shows something.”

Indian Hills had its chances and when it fell behind it did even more to try to get even. Especially in the second half, the Braves built their attack using all three levels and put some pressure on Mahwah keeper Allison Burns but were turned away every time.

“You saw it. We can be dominant at times, but we can't put a ball away. Then we make one mistake, they take the lead and that was it. This is what has been happening. This is our story this year,” said Indian Hills head coach Jim Louden, whose team fell to 2-5 with the loss. “I am proud of my girls. It was an even game at least and maybe we got the better of the second half, but we couldn't score and that is the problem.”

Mahwah keeper Allison Burns make a couple of tough saves to preserve the shutout.

An illustration of Indian Hills' trouble came just two minutes after it fell behind. Off a corner kick, Gianna DiTommaso, one of the Braves' captain, beat everyone to the spot and got her right foot up for a redirected volley that was on target and hit with pace. But Burns needed to take just one step to her right to take the ball in the belly and keep Mahwah in the lead.

Ten minutes into the second half Indian Hills resorted to a surprise tactic and it worked right up until the finish. On a 50/50 ball 30 yards from the Mahwah goal and on the left, a foul was called as two players came together. It was one of those calls that took a couple of seconds to sort out just which team the whistle was blown against, but IH's Ashley Winters didn't need that long. She quickly set the ball and played it on the diagonal to Erin Murphy, who got to within 10 yards of the goal before he shot went wide right.

Midway through the second half Indian Hills put together another organized charge. Off a Mahwah corner kick, the Braves counterattacked through the midfield and up to Molly Misovic up the left side. Misovic sent a perfect cross into the area and DiTommaso was right on the receiving end, but Burns was quick off her line and picked off the serve just before DiTommaso had a chance to volley it.

As time wound down, Indian Hills pressed forward and rather than finding the equalizer, it gave away the clincher. Mahwah junior Christina Constintino snuck through on a back side run, took a through ball at the top corner of the area and finished on the high side of the middle of the net to put the game away.

Erin Murphy and IH still have an outside shot at the county tournament.

“We knew that we just had to come out and do our job and that if we just kept working hard that we would be able to get through this game and get the win that we needed,” said Constintino. “Even when it is not clicking for us we know we just have to stick with it and the goals will come. If we stay positive we know that good things will come from it.”
This win and Mahwah is in. Now it is a matter of what it can do when it gets to the county tournament with a much different cast than the one that made a run to county quarterfinals a year ago. Duffy has been there before and sees the making of a team about ready to get on a roll, especially if senior midfielder Kristyn Tremblay (sprained MCL) can get back healthy in the next two weeks as planned.

“We won the states last year and we went to the final the year before that, so I have been through a little more than most of the girls we have here,” said Duffy. “But the girls on this team this year, I know, can be just as good as the ones that were here last year. I know that every one of them can show up and we can do the same exact things that we did last year if we put our heads to it.”

The loss does not necessarily mean that Indian Hills has been eliminated from the county tournament even if the record might suggest otherwise. The field will be expanded to fill out a 32-team draw and some other programs might decide against entering. It is not much to go on, but Louden will advocate for his side.

“I'll put the application in and we deserve to be there. All of our losses have been against teams with winning records,” said Louden. “We can turn it around. We have quality in the way we play. We overlap, we change the field, we just can't put the ball in the net.”

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