Wednesday,
November 2, 2016
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Lauren Azzolino scored Ramapo's second goal early in the first half as the Green Raiders opened defense of their Group 2 state title with a 4-0 win over Demarest in the opening round of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament. |
FRANKLIN LAKES – It was going to be hard enough for Ramapo to find room to work in the final third against a Northern Valley/Demarest team dead-set on packing the box in an attempt to stay close in the opening round of the North 1, Group 2 state sectional playoff. There was enough traffic in front of the net already and then Ramapo brought three more defenders into the mix just to make its job that much more difficult.
The Green Raiders hit the post twice and the crossbar once in the midst of the steady pressure it applied on the goal and was dominating possession while having nothing to show for it as Demarest nearly got off the field at halftime while still locked in a scoreless draw.
“We were creating wonderful opportunities. I think we played the ball in the mid third beautifully, but give Demarest credit,” said Ramapo head coach Paul Heenehan. “They got numbers behind the ball, they made it difficult to put the ball in the back of the net and their keeper [Emma Miller] played well.”
The breakthrough did not come until Ramapo was able to by-pass the traffic in front of the net by going over it. Off a corner kick by Tori Muller, Nikki Butler got up above the crowd and flicked a header over the fray and freshman Danielle Zerbo helped it in to give Ramapo, the defending Group 2 state champion, the lead less than two minutes before halftime. The Green Raiders added another goal just two-and-a-half minutes into the second half to break the game open on the way to a 4-0 Round of 16 win on Tuesday in Franklin Lakes.
“I think that we just kept attacking the goalie until we were finally able to get one in,” said Butler. “It was important that we didn’t get frustrated. We just had to keep playing until we saw the ball finally go into the net.”
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Demarest keeper Emma Miller had a busy day and held up well against the relentless pressure that Ramapo applied. |
Ramapo’s early second half goal came off the right foot of Lauren Azzolino, who pressed toward the top of the box and, rather than leaving the work to someone else, hit a hard skidder that ended up inside the right post for the 2-0 lead in the 43rd minute.
“We played 0-0 almost to halftime. We obviously held it back, that was part of our strategy, but in the second half we had to open it up and got stretched around the field a little bit,” said Demarest head coach Chris Eftychiou, whose team finished the season at 8-7-2 after a 6-10 campaign last year. “Again, it was a great effort and I am proud of the girls.”
Ramapo dominated possession in the second half as well, but again could not absolutely pull away until the final couple of minutes. Demarest never quit hustling as the back line including Jamie Cottrell, Meredith Gioia, Carly Rotile and others all putting out fires in front of Miller, who stood up (and often dove) well under the constant pressure.
The Raiders hit another crossbar when Mary Claire Langdan hit the frame flush with just over two minutes left to play, but this time Erin Stagg was able to head home the rebound to make it 3-0. Cami Pecore closed the scoring with just under one minute to play when she tapped in a low cross sent across by Lauren Goodrich.
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Cami Pecore closed the scoring for Ramapo, which will visit Mahwah on Friday for what should be one of the state's most competitive quarterfinals. |
The win sets up what has to be one of the most competitive state sectional quarterfinal matches in the state as Ramapo, the No. 5 seed, will visit No. 4 Mahwah on Friday in a rematch of last season’s section final won by Ramapo, which opened a big lead and then held off a furious Mahwah comeback. Ramapo turned the momentum from that win into the program’s 13th overall state title and its first since 2008.
The winner of Friday’s match will certainly be amongst the favorites to win the outright state title, while the loser will see its season end at least a couple of matches too soon.
“It’s a classic rivalry and it is one that we always look forward to. They are a competitive group and they always give us a run for our money. It is really a matchup that should be later in the tournament, but we play them next and one of us is going to keep moving forward,” said Heenehan, who is in his 39th year as the Ramapo head coach. “It very well could be [a section final] at least because you are going to have three, four or maybe five Division 1 players out there on the field. So yes, I would say it is a pretty good quarterfinal matchup.”
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