Saturday, October 1, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Sophomore Kaitlyn Pallitto scored 1:52 into overtime to give Bayonne a bounce back win, a 2-1 victory at Lyndhurst on Friday.

LYNDHURST – After losing in the Hudson County final last year to Kearny and with a good chunk of that team returning this season, Bayonne had its sights set on being a championship team. Through six games Bayonne was on cruise control with five wins and a tie on its resume. But a 6-0 thumping the other day at the hands of rival Kearny made the Bees take a good hard look in the mirror on what they needed to improve on and that was scoring goals.

The burden fell largely on the shoulders of star striker Lisa Rovatsos and speedy sophomore Kaitlyn Pallitto. Down a goal at the half against another one-loss team, Lyndhurst, Rovatsos and Pallitto kicked their game into another gear to help Bayonne get back on track.

Rovatsos scored in the second half and Pallitto made up for a miss of a shot hit that hit the post just before halftime when she chipped a shot off the framework 1:52 into overtime to give Bayonne a 2-1 victory on Friday.

“The game didn’t start off the way we wanted it, but we were able to come back this time,” said Rovatsos. “Against Kearny we got off to a slow start, they scored quickly, and we never really recovered. Today we hung in there even when we were down a goal and we kept working hard before we let the game get away from us.”

Kristen Raimo assisted on the goal that gave Lyndhurst an early lead.

Still reeling from suffering its first loss of the season (3-2) last week against rival Hasbrouck Heights/Wood-Ridge, Lyndhurst came out and took control in the first 15 minutes. The Golden Bears got on the scoreboard less than two minutes in when Kristen Raimo took a pass up the left wing and slid a pass across the top of the box into open space. Amanda Sammarone made an overlapping run and one-timed a shot into the upper right-hand corner to give them an early 1-0 lead.

Lyndhurst stayed on the attack, but the Bees held their ground until they could finally form an offensive push of their own. Rovatsos missed a breakaway with 12 minutes left in the half, then Pallitto ran onto a through ball with time winding down. She beat Lyndhurst keeper Amanda Uhlick, but the ball hit off the post with just five seconds left in the half. Although the Golden Bears were clinging to a one-goal lead at the break, they knew it was far from safe.

“We had the lead, but the momentum had definitely shifted and we never got it back,” said Lyndhurst head coach Kim Hykey. “I thought we had opportunities to make it a two-goal lead and we just didn’t finish. You have to take advantage of chances like that. Playing with a one-goal lead is a lot different than playing with a two-goal lead. We just didn’t finish the job in the first half and didn’t mount much offense in the second. Bayonne honestly just wanted it more than we did.”

Lisa Rovatsos scored the Bayonne equalizer 19 minutes into the second half.

Bayonne was slowly starting to rack up scoring chances and finally tied the game just under 19 minutes into the second half. Rovatsos, one of Bayonne’s all-time leading scorers, took a pass from Miriam Nouser took two dribbles and ripped a shot just past a diving Uhlick and into the side netting inside the right post to knot the score at 1.

The game eventually went to overtime where Bayonne made the most of its only shot of the extra session. Rovatsos played the ball into space along the right side where Pallitto tracked it down and picked her head up to see just enough daylight to get off a shot. Uhlick went to come off of her line, but quickly retreated when she saw Pallitto would get to the ball first. With Lyndhurst defender Amanda Torppey closing fast behind her, Pallitto chipped a shot over Uhlick that kissed the left post and trickled over the goal line just 1:52 into overtime to give Bayonne the 2-1 win.

“I saw (Uhlick) come out a little bit and I had room to take a shot, so I just took it,” said Pallitto. “After hitting the post in the first half, I was hoping I didn’t hit it again. Well I did hit it again, but this time it went in and we won, so I’ll take it.”

Rovatsos and Pallitto supplied all but one of the shots for Bayonne, which moved to 6-1-1 with the victory. Meghan O’Donnell made five saves in the win.

Amanda Uhlick was outstanding in net for Lyndhurst, finishing with 14 saves.

Still recovering from an ACL injury last year, Uhlick was peppered the entire second half and had her best game of the season. The senior finished with 14 saves and sweeper Nicole Baratta also had a solid effort for Lyndhurst (7-2).

With the Bees back on the winning track, they can now refocus their efforts on getting back to the confidence level they had just a week ago and eventually earning a rematch with Kearny, this time for a county title. While there is still plenty of season left to play, Friday was clearly a step in right direction.

“I think the biggest thing is that we never got down on ourselves like we did against Kearny,” added Rovatsos, who will play basketball next year at Caldwell College. “We kept battling and fought to stay in the game until we could get it going. We tied Lyndhurst last year and this was a big win for us over a good team. This should get us back to where we were and we can start preparing for the rest of the season and then the county tournament.”

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