Wednesday, November 11, 2015

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

David Herrera, a four-year starter, saw Garfield on to its biggest win. He hit the final PK as the Boilermakers beat Harrison in the North 2, Group 2 state sectional semifinals on Tuesday.

HARRISON – As Garfield’s Dave Herrera walked up to the ball, he knew that the next 10 seconds would be the most important of his life. After 100 minutes of physical play and with the score tied in a penalty kick shootout with top-seeded and perennial state power Harrison, Herrera was the last shooter and he knew exactly was at stake. A make and it would be a game he would always remember. A miss and it had the potential to be one he would always wish he could forget. After playing four years on the varsity level, this was the moment he had been waiting for his entire life.

Herrera made this memory one to cherish. The do-everything senior ripped the ball into the lower left-hand corner as fourth-seeded Garfield earned the biggest victory in school history with a 3-2 (4-3 in penalty kicks) triumph over top-seeded Harrison in the North 2, Group 2 semifinals at Harrison High School.

“This is the best win we’ve had in my four years here, Harrison was in the back of our minds all week,” said Garfield sweeper Wojciech Piwowarczyk. “Harrison is a great team and they’ve won so many state championships. It’s a huge accomplishment for Garfield.”

Harrison has made its mark as the most successful boys’ soccer program ever in New Jersey by possessing the ball until it eventually wears down the opposing side. But in the first half, it was Garfield that was beating the Blue Tide at their own game. They had two quality scoring opportunity in the game’s first seven minutes, including a breakaway from Jorge Salas that Harrison goalie Chris Crespo had to charge off of his line to deter.

The Boilermakers dominated the possession game, but it was Harrison that found the back of the net first. Ney Moreno bombed a free kick from 50 yards out into the upper right-hand corner to put the Blue Tide in front, 1-0.

Garfield kept pushing forward and netted the equalizer minutes later. Herrera ripped a low shot on a 27-yard free kick right at the edge of the five-man wall and caught a huge break. The ball deflected off the foot of a leaping Harrison defender and past Crespo to tie the game at 1.

Christian Marquez and Harrison finished the season with a 19-3-1 record.

The score remained that way through the half but not much longer. Less than three minutes into the second half, Deydiry Chamba headed in a cross from Andres Villalobos putting Harrison ahead, 2-1.

Once again, Herrera answered right back on a heads-up shot. Collecting the ball near the end line off a feed from Chris Pedraza, Herrera saw Crespo cheating off of his line to cut down the angle on a potential cross. Instead, Herrera used the outside of his foot to rip a shot off the slick turf and it skipped past a surprised Crespo to knot the score at 2 in the 46th minute.

What was already a well-played, physical game continued on that path through the rest of regulation and through two overtime periods. Giving up the tying goal lit a fire under the Blue Tide, who had the Boilermakers on their heels for the rest of the second half and both overtime periods. Garfield went nearly 30 minutes between shots on net before nearly stealing a win in the final minute of the second overtime when Salas banged a shot off the crossbar. Although it was the potential ending that both teams feared, the winner was to be decided by penalty kicks.

Harrison took a 2-1 lead in the shootout on goals by Villalobos and Cristian Marquez. Garfield keeper Holman Pinzon, after nearly getting a hand on the first two Harrison PKs, did just that on the next two shots to give his team a chance to take the lead. Garfield head coach Mark Pieklo took a chance by putting his best two players at the back of the five-player shootout. After those two saves by Pinzon put the Boilermakers in position to make that move pay off. Piwowarczyk scored to put Garfield ahead and it set the stage for Herrera’s heroics.

The shootout was tied at 3 with Herrera coming up with a chance to win the biggest game of his life. He calmly walked up to the ball, placed it on the penalty spot and took a deep breath as he walked back toward the 18. Crespo guessed right but Herrera’s shot had too much pace and whistled past the diving keeper and into the lower left-hand corner.

“I just made sure not to put too much pressure on myself,” said Herrera. “It was a spot I was comfortable with and I trust that it will work for me. Harrison is always a dominant team and to beat them is amazing. It’s not winning a state championship, but it feels like it right now.”

Holman Pinzon made two saves in the shootout to help Garfield advance to the section final at Dover.

Despite taking a rare loss on his home field to end the season at 19-3-1, Harrison head coach Mike Rusek handled it with class.

“You hate to see a game come down to penalty kicks but it was a well-played game on both sides,” said Rusek. “In the first half they were the better team no doubt about it. I thought we got stronger as the game went on but we didn’t finish when we had chances in both the second half and both overtimes. Garfield was just as strong as we were and Mark (Pieklo) is a really good coach. You never like to lose in the state tournament. But if we’re going to lose on PKs, I’m glad it is to a team like this. I hope they go on to win the whole thing.”

Garfield will look to take one step further than they did last year in returning to the North 2, Group 2 final for the second straight season (they lost to Madison 2-1 in last year’s final). They will travel to Morris County again, this time to third-seeded Dover, a 1-0 winner over Fort Lee last night. With one game left to achieve the main goal they set from day one this season, the Boilermakers plan on leaving everything they have out on the field.

“I played here at Garfield and I’ve been the coach here for 19 years. This was the biggest win we’ve ever had here as long as I’ve been here,” said Pieklo. “They had us on the ropes in the second half and the overtimes, but we held on. This was a huge victory but we still have one more to go. We’ll soak up this one right now and then turn our focus to the game on Friday.”

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