Wednesday, October 5, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Rachel Cole scored with 27 seconds left in regulation and again three minutes into the second overtime as Dwight-Englewood knocked off Emerson, 3-2, on Tuesday afternoon.

ENGLEWOOD – Emerson was so close to pulling off a feat that few other girls soccer teams have been able to do over the last four years. For 79 minutes and 33 seconds out of a possible 80 minutes of regulation, the Cavos held Rachel Cole, the Rutgers-bound senior who had 104 career goals heading into the game, scoreless. But there were still 27 seconds left in the game and, trailing by one, all Cole needed was the ball and the small crack between two defenders that she turned into a path to the goal.

The referee had already checked his watch a couple of times when Cole let a ball ride over her shoulder as the defense closed in and then she turned on the jets. Cole sprinted into the penalty area, took one last dribble to gain some extra space and then tied the game with one touch of her right foot. One full overtime followed and and three minutes into the second OT, Cole struck again as her second goal of the game gave Dwight-Englewood a thrilling 2-1 win on Tuesday afternoon at Solomon Field.

“Rachel came through for us again. She always comes through for us and two goals again today when we could easily have lost this game...she is incredible,” said Dwight-Englewood head coach Eddie Dallas. “Emerson is a good team and probably they are technically better than us, but we kept fighting and Rachel found a way to score in the final minute. From there it was anyone's game.”

Juliana Lacey scored Emerson's first goal and nearly gave her team the win in the first overtime.

A game that was decided in the 94th minute by the 106th goal of Cole's career.

“My girls played hard, but [Cole] is a great player. That is why she is who she is; she made a great goal at the end of regulation,” said Emerson head coach Matt Lachman. “We covered her for 79 minutes and 30 seconds, but it wasn't long enough.”

The last 14 minutes of the game were full of end to end action, so near misses to go with a couple of great saves and Cole's heroics, but the first 79 were not too shabby either.

Dwight-Englewood, which saw its county tournament run end in the opening round on Sunday when Pascack Hills scored in the final six minutes of regulation, showed no sign of any lingering disappointment as it took the lead in the 15th minute courtesy of its other Division 1 player, senior Jessica Lee, who will play next year at Princeton. Lee stood of a free kick forty yards from the goal and on the left side just in front of the Emerson bench. Lee put a parachute on the restart and it floated across the goal before falling in just under the crossbar in the right hand corner for the 1-0 lead.

Emerson, which fell to Westwood, 3-1, in the opening round of the county tournament, then settle in. The Cavos started to win possession and their pressure finally paid off at the midway point of the first half. Nicole Johnston chased a serve from the right in across the goal mouth and finally caught up to it near the six yard line in the middle of the field. Johnston cut a shot back on net, but Bulldog defender Haley Brescia, hustling in from behind, was able to change the potential goal for a corner kick.

Dwight-Englewood keeper Austen Tozone made a brilliant save in the first overtime to keep the game tied.

The reprieve was short lived however, as Hayley Riker struck the corner kick hard into the pile in front of the net. It bounced off D-E keeper Austen Tosone, Juliana Lacey was right there to clean up the rebound and the game was tied at 1 where it would stay for the rest of the first half and through the first 12 minutes of the second despite plenty of chances for each side.

Emerson keeper Lea Georgatos was outstanding throughout. She got in front of a turning rip to rob Cole at the left post 7:38 into the second half, and came off her line to break up another opportunity two minutes later. On that sequence, Cole carried the ball into the left corner and slid a pass across to Alexandra De Los Reyes, who flicked ball into a dangerous spot before Georgatos slid out to take it away from Dwight-Englewood's Zoe Oz and Vanessa Pike, who had both converged.

Georgatos' work meant that the game's next goal who give her team the lead. In the 53rd minute, Ashley Johnston sent a corner kick into the scrum only to see it spit right back out to where it came from. Instead of trying to reserve, Ashley Johnston chose to skip the middle man and dropped a arcing shot inside the opposite post for the 2-1 Emerson lead that nearly stood up.

But the Bulldogs kept pushing for the equalizer undeterred and almost found it with two minutes left in regulation when Laurie Temiz sent a roller on the diagonal that almost found the foot of Kelly Goodfellow, who was running to the far post. The pass was about six inches too long and skidded out of bounds before it could be redirected, but Cole then tied the game on what was likely Dwight-Englewood's final chance.

Ashley Johnston's goal in the 53rd minute gave Emerson a 2-1 lead.

Cole, who had her ankle stepped on by a trailing defender without a foul being called just two minutes before forcing overtime, was determined to go hard until the final whistle.

“I think getting stepped on really [made me angry]. It hurt and it just made me want to go after it a little harder. I really didn't want to lose this game and I just started yelling trying to get everyone pumped up,” said Cole. “This was so important to me. We haven't beaten this team in any year since I have been here, so this is huge. When we won my teammates were running up and down the sidelines, they were going crazy and it was just so much fun.”

But before the Bulldogs could win, they needed Tosone to make what turned out to be the play of the game. Midway through the first overtime snuck in behind the Dwight-Englewood defense and found herself inside the 18 with the ball on her dominant left foot and with Tosone stuck on her line. Lacey took her time and chose the far post for the potential game-winner. Lacey made all the right decisions, but Tosone was up to it as she dove to her left in a do-or-die chance that ended with the ball between her gloves and no rebound given.

“Sometimes it is hard to keep track of all the things that go on in a game, but that one I remember. It was kind of one of those moments that I knew if I could cut off the angle right that I would have a shot to get it. It worked out,” said Tosone. “I kind of beat myself up a lot when a shot goes in and I felt bad after I let that first one in, but I have some many great people with me back there on defense, I just wanted to forget about it and keep playing hard for them.”

Jessica Lee gave Dwight-Englewood the early lead with a free kick from 40 yards out.

With Emerson's best shot snuffed out in the first overtime, it was Dwight-Englewood's turn in the second and when Cole ran onto a ball near midfield, cut toward the middle and got her shoulders in front of the last two defenders, nobody even had to watch the final 20 yards of her run to know the game was over. She left the last defender flat-footed and Georgatos (10 saves) didn't have a chance and Cole finished in the lower right to give Dwight-Englewood a win and keep it in a tie for first place in the race for a league title, which would be a major accomplishment for the small private school.

Cole, a Teaneck resident who could not only start, but star at any other school in New Jersey, parochial powerhouses included, chose Dwight-Englewood for its academics, but has lifted its athletics in the process.

“I feel like over the years at Dwight that girls soccer has not really been a big thing, but for the girls coming up to see that we could maybe get a league title, it can only help get more people wanting to play here,” said Cole. “Days like today are a lot of fun.”

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