Thursday, October 11, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Anna Jensen scored late in the first half and late in the second as Ramsey improved to 11-1-1 with a 3-1 win over Pascack Hills on Wednesday.

MONTVALE – Last season the Ramsey girls soccer team got to show off two of the best goal scorers to ever come up through the ranks. The Rams rode Lexi Knief and Addie Jensen all the way to the Group 2 state championship. But with both of them now Division 1 collegiate athletes, Ramsey has used this season to show off the depth of program, not only on the high school level, but on the lower rungs of the ladder that is now consistently delivering varsity ready players. Its why, in the year after Knief and Jensen have moved on, the Rams have barely given any ground.

They are still alive for a league championship, they are still alive in the Bergen County Tournament heading into this weekend's quarterfinal round and they will be the defending Group 2 state champions until some one finds away to beat them, which has happened just once so far this season. After Wednesday's come-from-behind, 3-1 win on the road against Pascack Hills, Ramsey's record stood at 11-1-1.

“We lost a lot of scoring, but I think these girls all believe in themselves. We explained that they all have to step up and they all have skill,” said Ramsey head coach George Wright. “We have a great feeder system. There is no comparison to back in the '90s when my daughter played. The skill level today is incredible. It's not like we have to spend two days teaching them to do a throw-in and that is because of the incredible feeder system.”

Lindsay Morella's goal in the 26th minute gave Pascack Hills a lead that lasted until there were five seconds left in the first half.

The continuation on the winning tradition is also a family affair as sophomore Anna Jensen has helped make up some of the goals lost when her sister, Addie, moved on to Columbia University.

Pascack Hills had taken a lead in the 26th minute when Brianna Musco led Lindsay Morella in on a diagonal run and Morella chipped the keeper to make it 1-0 for the home team and the Cowgirls looked like they were set to take that advantage into halftime as the clock ticked under one minute and then under 10 seconds as Kailey O'Keefe took on a defender on the left side and drove toward the endline. O'Keefe sent in a hard cross that made its way all the way to the keeper and Anna Jensen pounded home the rebound to give Ramsey a clean slate and some momentum heading into halftime.

Anna Jensen, who also scored the Rams' final goal that slammed the door with less than one minute to play in the game, is one of six sophomores on the Ramsey roster who were expected to come in and hit the ground running. The group has come through and Jensen is living up to the standard set by her older sister. Also like her sister, Anna Jensen does not take part in county tournament games that are played on Sundays in deference to her religious beliefs. It hasn't affected her assimilation into the team concept.

“I was a little awkward at first but we are getting used to it. Kailey [O'Keefe] usually starts when I am not there and she does great, she is a great player,” said Anna Jensen. “I feel like I knew what to expect from watching [Addie], so I am just trying to come in as a forward and copy what she did and do the best I can to support the team.”

Nicole Moor's goal just 3:11 after halftime gave Ramsey the lead for good.

After coming within a whisker of having a lead to carry into the second half, Pascack Hills found itself trailing not long after the second 40 minutes got underway. Three minutes after the break, Nicole Moor put herself in a dangerous position as a long ball played in by Jeanne Piro looped in on a bounce to the top of the box. With defenders on all sides, Moor took an opportunistic rip that found its way into the left side of the frame and gave Ramsey the lead for good at 2-1.

“Once I saw Jeanne had the ball I knew I had to make that run, to come in and get that ball. I just had to look up, stay calm and shoot it in,” said Moor, a junior. “It was perfect. Right as I ran on the ball came through and landed perfectly right in front of me. I took a touch and shot it in with my left.”

Still trailing 2-1 inside the final 10 minutes, Pascack Hills started to move numbers forward in search of the equalizer and nearly found it on at least two occasions. With just over minutes to play, Jackie Bardes kept possession while fighting off a defender on the left side. Bardes got to within 15 yards, but with a recovering challenge from Kelly Redl gaining steam behind her, Bardes had to hurry her left footed shot and Ramsey keeper Nicole Cirilli made a sure-handed save.

With just under two minutes to play, Musco got her head into the fight for a front post corner kick. She was able to keep the ball out of the hands Cirilli briefly, but the Ramsey keeper scrambled back to pounce on the loose ball before it created any further trouble.

Brianna Musco assisted on the Pascack Hills goal.

And with the Cowgirls still flooding the offensive third, Gabrielle Montone, another of Ramsey's talented sophomores, made a good step into a rush and, after winning possession, she needed just to send the ball forward toward Jensen, who ran alone for 30 yards before banging a shot off the keeper's glove for the game-clinching goal.

The win kept Ramsey just a half game behind River Dell in the league standings. River Dell has two ties against its league record, while the Ramsey has one loss and one tie. That means the Rams will go from playing against Pascack Hills to rooting for it when it takes on River Dell on Friday. A River Dell loss and a Ramsey win over Fort Lee would give the Rams the league title.

But no matter what happens on Friday, its already been a successful season for Ramsey, which will play third-seeded IHA in the Bergen County Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday and then look forward to defending its state sectional title.

For a team that lost so much from last year, the Rams have lost so very little.

“We had a solid lineup coming back, it was just that we lost the two forwards that we always tried to get the ball to. We had to work on actually passing to get around and knowing what to do with the ball instead of playing kick-and-run. We are more technical,” said Moor. “George [Wright] is a good coach, his drills get us ready for games and he told us [at the beginning of the season] that each player had to score six goals instead of a couple of us getting a bunch. We have to rely on each other and play as a team fully this year.”

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