Ramsey, Highlands win in Bergen County semis by Greg Mattura of The Record
ORADELL – The first tournament victory was in regulation, the second came in overtime, and the latest battle extended all the way to penalty kicks.
Ramsey is headed to the final of the Bergen County Girls Soccer Tournament for the first time in 15 years after advancing past Ramapo in Sunday’s semifinal via penalty kicks, 4-3, at River Dell.
Alexa Correa, Chloe Gavalakis, Corinne Kropas and Caroline Schwanewede converted PKs for No. 6 Ramsey. Ramapo, seeded No. 2, knocked two off the crossbar, after the teams finished tied, 1-1.
“It’s surreal,” said Kevin Sabella, in his first season as Ramsey’s coach. “We knew we had a good team, we knew what we were up against, but we certainly weren’t scared of the moment.”
Ramsey (10-1-4) will face Northern Highlands, the unbeaten No. 1 seed and two-time defending champ, in Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. final at River Dell.
In a semifinal that featured plenty of end-to-end action, Ramapo (13-1-2) had taken a 1-0 lead at 20:44 of the second half on a 25-yard liner by junior Danielle Zerbo. Less than five minutes later, Correa scored from 15 yards, seconds after a shot hit off the post and the Green Raiders cleared it out of the 6-yard box.
“We really pushed through,” said Correa, a junior who also scored in last week’s 2-1 overtime win over No. 14 Glen Rock. “And even though we went down, we stayed together, which is what we did last week, too. And we were able to find a way to score.”
“Our plan all along was not to sit back,” Sabella said. “With these good teams, you sit back and you get in a little bit of trouble – not that we were sitting back. But [the Ramapo goal] kind of woke us up a little bit. We started to get some numbers up – we had some chances, too, early in the game, hitting the crossbar.”
Northern Highlands 5, Pascack Valley 1
Northern Highlands (15-0) dominated early and exploded for four goals in the first half to hand the first loss of the season to No. 4 Pascack Valley (14-1-1). Freshman Reagan Klarmann sandwiched goals around scores from juniors Elizabeth Peeples and Katie Murray.
“We played a lot of high-pressure defense to start off the game and by doing that I think it created opportunities for us,” said Highlanders coach Tara Madigan, whose team had only totaled three goals in its previous three games. “And we executed early and I think that gave us more confidence to build on.”
Lakeland, Wayne Hills win in OT in Passaic semis
WAYNE – Senior Sammy Jost has a chance to win the Passaic County title in uniform after an injury reduced her to a spectator during Lakeland’s drive to last year’s championship.
Jost converted a loose ball at 3:34 of the second overtime to lift top-seeded Lakeland (15-2) to a 1-0 victory over No. 4 Wayne Valley (10-4-2) in Saturday’s semifinals at Passaic Tech.
“This was her ‘coming out,’ because she missed this last year,” Lakeland coach Rick Capozzi said, “and now she actually has a chance to win a title on the field.”
Wayne Hills, seeded No. 2, booked the first trip to Saturday afternoon’s final at Wayne Valley with a 1-0 win in overtime over No. 3 DePaul (8-5-1). Junior Marisa Cuciti scored off a pass from sophomore Abigail Weltman. A freshman, Courtney Ruedt, was stellar on defense for Wayne Hills (9-5-1).
“We knew that they were a very good team and a very technical team,” Wayne Hills coach Gregg Rehberger said, “and we had a game plan, and our girls stuck to it perfectly, and we got the result in overtime that we were looking for.”