Friday, November 11, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Verona won four straight postseason road games with the last one a 1-0 victory over Midland Park that brought the Hillbillies their first-ever state sectional championship.

MIDLAND PARK – The fairytale ending was set up so nicely for Midland Park. No school, bright sunshine, and coming all the way from the No. 6 seed to host a section final in front of a packed house. The only thing standing in the way was an upstart Verona team that had only won one state tournament game in the program’s history before its run this year. But the ending to the season that the Panthers had hoped for turned out to be anything but as it was the Hillbillies who were celebrating when the final whistle sounded.

Colleen Farrell took a cross from Jill Sprong at the back post and scored with 22:51 to play as ninth-seeded Verona capped in improbable run by winning its fourth road state tournament game in a row and the first section title in the program’s history with a 1-0 upset over Midland Park in the North 1, Group 1 state sectional final on Thursday at Midland Park High School.

“This is a huge, huge step forward for this program and I’m proud of what we have accomplished,” said Verona head coach Tony Scorciolla. “We knew Midland Park was physical and they were going to give us a tough time and the grass field did not help matters. But when you are playing for a championship, you have to adjust and hold on until you can figure out what it working for you. Fortunately, we figured it out at the right time and made the most of our opportunity.”

Midland Park keeper Gabby Spatucci clearing out a ball from the far post.

Neither team was able to get into an offensive flow throughout as the teams combined for just one shot in the first 28 minutes of play. Each team had one true scoring chance in the first half. Midland Park’s came in the 29th minute when, off a deflected corner kick, Kajal Patel’s volley went wide of the left post. Verona’s only shot came on a mishit cross from the endline which fluttered just inside the right post. Verona’s Olivia Marino went up to challenge, but Midland Park goaltender Gabby Spatucci was able to bat the ball up in the air and then corral the rebound as the game remained scoreless heading into the second half.

“I thought we had the better of play in that first half, we just couldn’t put one away,” said Midland Park head coach Steve Ferro. “Kasey Damiano being out for us today hurt us because that would have given us an extra speed option up top. But no excuses, we just didn’t get enough shots on net and finish when we had chances to.”

After getting off just one shot and having not taken a single corner kick in the first half, Verona started to make a push 10 minutes into the second half before taking the lead in the 59th minute.

Off of a failed clearing attempt, Verona freshman Julia Ashley, who was the best player on the field for either side second half, chipped a ball back into the corner where Jill Sprong ran it down. She sent a low cross in along the six-yard box past a diving Spatucci. Outside mid Colleen Farrell was sitting there all alone on the far post, only for the ball to take a last-second skip on the bumpy pitch. She was able to adjust and get a knee on it to knock it home and give Verona a 1-0 lead.

“I just got my body in front of it and put it in. It wasn’t pretty, but it went in and that’s all that matters,” said Farrell. “The ball popped up at the last second and I couldn’t let it get by me. We didn’t have a lot of chances to score, to we had to make the few that we did have count. We felt confident that if we got one goal that it’s all we would need with how well our defense has been playing lately.”

Colleen Farrell scored the lone goal for Verona, which came from the No. 9 seed to win a section title.

From that point, Midland Park tried to move numbers forward in an attempt to tie the game. However, the Hillbillies defense did a tremendous job in turning them away each an every time. So much so that they only allowed no shots on net and only one shot overall during the final 20 minutes when a volley from Midland Park’s Amanda Parker went wide with seven minutes to go.

“It always hurts when you lose your last game of the season and especially in this way,” said Ferro, who last took Midland Park to a section final in 2005. “But we came into this game at peace with what we accomplished and if you told me after a (1-4) start to the season that we would host a section final, I’d sign off on that in a second.”

Allison Sprong for Verona (14-8), who won its fourth straight road state game despite being outshot in all four of them (7-4 against Midland Park), and Spatucci for Midland Park (14-7-1) each made one save.

As the final whistle blew, the Verona players jumped all over each other with bewildered looks on their faces. For a team that, after a 4-14 campaign last year, was just hoping to qualify for the state tournament and possibly win a game, the Hillbillies turned out to be the team who created a fairytale ending of their own; which they will look to continue on Tuesday night when they face off against North 2, Group 1 champ New Providence, a 2-0 winner over Glen Ridge.

While the odds will be stacked against with New Providence being a heavy favorite to win a Group 1 state title this season, the Hillbillies have given everyone plenty of reason to never count them out.

“To get this far, you have to believe in yourself and believe in your teammates to realize your goals,” added Farrell, who scored her fifth goal of the season yesterday. “It’s been an amazing run and an incredible feeling to do what we’ve done the past two weeks. It’s like a fairytale, I can’t even believe this is all happening.”

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