Friday, November 11, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Ramsey's seniors and head coach George Wright posing with the state sectional trophy that the Rams brough home for the first time since 2002 with a 3-2 win over Glen Rock.

HILLSDALE – Ramsey has been one of the most consistent girls soccer programs over the past decade, a gatekeeper of sorts. When an opponent could get past the Rams it was stamped as contender for league, county or state sectional titles while Ramsey, always in it until the end of big games, was left with impressive won/loss records but little to show for it in the trophy case. In a couple of the most recent examples, last year it was Mahwah that ended Ramsey’s state tournament run and earlier this season Glen Rock stopped the Rams in overtime in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament. Mahwah went on to win the outright Group 2 state championship in 2010, while Glen Rock had a strong showing in the county semifinals against eventual champion Northern Highlands.
 
It was time for Ramsey to put old disappointments to bed and it got its chance on Thursday in a rematch with Glen Rock in the North 1, Group 2 state sectional final.
 
“We lost last year to Mahwah by one goal, 3-2, and Glen Rock is a great team that beat us in counties and this was really my last shot,” said Ramsey senior Lexi Knief, one of Bergen County’s best all-around athletes who will play softball next year at Penn State. “We have been working hard toward this all year and we were just waiting for our chance to win a sectional title. This was it.”
 

Grace Taylor scored just over 6 minutes in to put Glen Rock in front.

There was no stopping Ramsey this time. After Knief wiped out a one-goal deficit in the 19th minute, Addie Jensen, the missing piece to the Ramsey offensive puzzle in the previous two seasons, scored twice in a less than four minutes span late in the first half to give the Rams all the goals they needed to post a 3-2 victory and win a state sectional championship for the first time since 2002.
 
“It’s been quite a few years [since we’ve won a sectional title]. We’ve had very good teams but it always seemed like there was somebody we just couldn’t get by,” said Ramsey head coach George Wright. “This group is a bunch of gamers. They go all out, they never quit. Sometimes it might not be the prettiest soccer you’ve ever seen, but I will tell you they have the biggest hearts in the world and it paid off for us this year.”
 

If there was a here-we-go-again moment for Ramsey it came just over six minutes in when Glen Rock’s Grace Taylor got her hips around a service into the area and volleyed it into the lower right hand corner to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
 
But it was only a matter of time before the offensive pressure that Ramsey can apply with Jensen manning the midfield and Knief making tireless runs up top turned into goals. Eighteen minutes in, Courtney Dadinos sent a diagonal ball to Knief, who was moving up the left flank. She took control of the ball and of the situation when she stopped, surveyed her options and decided to make a jab step toward the middle to freeze the last defender. Knief then pushed the ball back out to her left and, with enough room to bring the whole goal into play, chose the lower right to tie the game at 1-1.

Lexi Knief celebrating the goal that got Ramsey back even at 1-1.

Ramsey barely avoided falling behind again three minutes later when its keeper, Nicole Cirilli, was sheilded from getting to a serve played in from the left side. There was a scrum and Glen Rock’s Sarah Fiorino got a toe on the loose ball Ramsey sweeper Kelly Redl could knock the ball out of trouble.
 
And then it was right back on the offensive for the Rams, who kept looking for the feet of Jansen and Knief. It was Jeanne Pirro who did the dirty work on the game-winning dug a ball out from a defender and nudged it forward into open space about 25 yards from the goal. That was where Jensen ran on to it, held off a defender and buried a shot into the upper right to put Ramsey ahead 2-1 with 7:09 left to play in the first half. Less than four minutes later, Knief bodied down a long ball and found Jensen moving left to right. Jensen did not have to break stride as she continued on her path and, once clear of her defender, finished with her left foot to give Ramsey the 3-1 lead it took into halftime.
 

Jensen had left the Ramsey program for the last two seasons in favor of the club circuit and she, as a practicing Mormon, does not play in Sunday games. Since the county tournament, from the Round of 16 forward, plays on Sundays, Jensen did not play against Glen Rock earlier this season and her decision to opt for the exposure of club soccer resulted in her recruitment and subsequent signing by Columbia University.
 

Kendall Daly was in the combo that got Glen Rock back to with 3-2 late in the game.

But she is a Ram now, she was on the field on a beautiful late autumn afternoon and she was happy to be there.
 
“Honestly, I think just being here and being able to play in this game is a blessing. I loved it and I am glad I got to play high school soccer this year,” said Jensen. “I haven’t played since my freshman year because I was playing just for my club team and in college showcases. I just think it was such a blessing to be here against such a great team and to come out victorious, we just really played well today.”
 
Ramsey could have put the game away on more than a few occasions in the second half and could not have come closer to doing so than on two set pieces that ended with the same result. In the 50th minute, Kneif got up above the crowd on a free kick sent a header from the back post across the goal only to see it bounce off the opposite post. Four minutes after that it was a corner kick sent in by Riley Schmitt that Knief headed down at the back post only to see it boing of the first post once again before Glen Rock keeper Margi Rivera could corral the loose ball.
 
Even without the extra cushion Ramsey looked comfortable. It had the possession advantage and was even starting to employ some time wasting tactics as the clock ran under seven minutes then six, then five and then four. But Glen Rock never kept hustling despite the long odds and with one well executed possession, the Panthers got right back in the game.

After two years away from the program, Addie Jensen scored twice in the section final.

Kendall Daly won a ball in the midfield and sent it up the right to Caroline Taylor, who showed on the sideline and played the ball back the way she was facing back to Jocelyn Kaselow, who then found Sophoe Lederer moving toward the middle of the field. Lederer took two dribbles to draw the defense before she slipped a pass to Grace Taylor, who evidently timed her run in behind the defense perfectly. With the last Ramsey defender reduced to calling for the offside whistle, Grace Taylor found the lower left hand corner to get Glen Rock within 3-2 with 3:58 left.
 
Ramsey had to defend right to the final whistle as, inside the final 30 seconds, Lederer was fouled near the left boundary and quickly took the restart, putting it in a dangerous spot at the back post and forcing Cirilli off her feet to knock it off line. Glen Rock got two corner kicks in the final 15 seconds, but fell short of finding the equalizing goal.

“When we get some time to absorb the game, I think we will find reason to take pride in the effort. We certainly didn’t give up until the last whistle and that was a great show of our character,” said Glen Rock head coach Tracy Trobiano. “I have tremendous respect for George Wright and the Ramsey squad, they are an incredibly talented group and you had to be impressed with their offense today. I am not disappointed in the way our defense played, they scored three goals that  I don’t think anyway was going to make saves on shots of that quality. The credit goes to Ramsey.”
 
The credit and a spot in the Group 2 state semifinals where Ramsey will play North 2, Group 2 champion Madison, a 1-0 winner over Parsippany in that section’s final on Thursday.
 
“It just feels really great to bring this title home to Ramsey,” said Kneif. “And we’ll try to keep going as far as we can.”

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