Saturday, October 22, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Noreen Byrne was one of two freshman to score a goal for River Dell, which knocked off Tenafly, 3-0, on Friday afternoon.

TENAFLY – With two games with scheduled start times just 22 hours apart, the River Dell girls soccer team was facing the physical test of how fast it could recover after a Thursday night victory over Westwood and the mental test of getting back into game mode on Friday afternoon against Tenafly. It took more than a half and one long distance strike for River Dell to put it all together against a determined opponent.

In a game that was scoreless for the first 62 minutes through some solid work by the respective defenses, River Dell freshman Brigid Tracy decided to bypass the traffic. Instead of going through the Tenafly defense, she went over, hitting one clean from 35 yards out that she could not have placed any better if she walked in with the ball in her hands. Tracy's shot ended up just inside the right post and just under the crossbar for the goal that finally broke the ice in the Golden Hawks' 3-0 win.

“Jamie [Woods] hit the ball forward, she chipped it to me and I just volleyed it. I was going for goal and I was just trying to get it on target and I was a little surprised that it went exactly where I wanted it to go,” said Tracy. “I fell more confident now as the season has gone on. In the beginning being a freshman I wasn't really myself. I didn't use a lot of foot skills or take a lot of shots, but the team really helped me get my confidence and now I feel like I can just out there and play.”

Senior striker Eryn Henderson generated some of Tenafly's most dangerous chances.

River Dell's defense was solid in posting the shutout for 80 minutes and Tenafly did not have a high number of scoring chances, but it seemed that every offensive opportunity the Tigers got turned into a dangerous one, including best opportunity for either side to score first.

Just one minute into the second half Tenafly's Jackie Clifford took after a knocked down clearance attempt and was in. She was 1-v-1 against River Dell keeper Toni-Ann McAndrews, who sprawled to make a diving stop with her left hand.

Tenafly keeper Nicole Simmons returned the favor eight minutes later when she robbed Woods on a point blank save. River Dell had just one a throw in on the right side and Frankie Maier played it in quickly to Woods, who was making a run up the flank. Woods won the endline, turned to the goal and hit a rip from close range on a bad angle. Simmons held her ground, knocked Woods' chest high shot into the air and then went up to avoid any rebound attempt and keep the game scoreless where it stayed until Tracy's long distance tracer.

“After playing last night I knew it was going to take at least a half to get our legs back again. When we came out of the first half at 0-0, I thought that was fine and that we would be able to do some good things in the second half. We did, but it took a while to finally score,” said River Dell head coach Steve Grenz, whose team improved to 8-5-1 on the season. “I was happy with the defense we played today because that is what we are going to need to do in the states. We beat Westwood last night, 6-2, and we scored three goals here today, but those are not the kind of games we are going to see in the states. Those games are going to be low scoring and the defense is the key because we feel like we can do some things in the middle and with our forwards.”

Jackie Woods assisted on River Dell's first goal.

The turning point in the game came in a less than one minute span and just after River Dell had taken the lead. Tenafly (5-10) made a strong bid to equalize when senior Eryn Henderson got in the left side, got her shoulders past a defender and then cut back to the middle of the field. Her last touch was a little long, so Henderson lunged to get a toe poke on net that was only kept out by a brilliant bang-bang save by McAndrews, who is just back to full speed after missing time with a concussion.

McAndrews smothered the shot, punted the ball away and started a counter attack the other way that ended with Woods in the middle of the field with the ball on her foot 20 yards from the goal. Woods stayed patient and a defender flew by then struck a dipping liner that caught the bottom of the crossbar, bounced straight down and then crossed the goal line just before Simmons could grab possession.

River Dell put the icing on the cake in the 72nd minute when Emily McGovern sent in the perfect service, a floating cross from left to right that landed right on the head of freshman Noreen Byrne, who flick it home for the game's final goal.

With two wins in two days, River Dell is on somewhat of a roll heading into a challenging week and then the state playoffs. The Golden Hawks will get to test themselves against defending Group 2 state champion Mahwah on Tuesday and then will play Ramsey on Thursday. Ramsey already has this year's Big North Conference – American Division title all locked up, but River Dell's tie against them earlier this season is the only blemish on the Rams' league record.

It's crunch time and Frankie Maier, River Dell's junior center-mid is hoping that the Hawks can keep up their momentum heading into next week and beyond.”

“We are trying new things and we are getting pumped up for states and we are going to work hard in our last few league games to get ready,” said Maier. “We have some young girls that have gotten so much better since the start of the season and we are looking forward to playing in some big games.”

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