Ramapo’s Varela Does It To PV Again by Cory Doviak of northjerseysports.com
FRANKLIN LAKES – There were so many similarities to the Bergen County Tournament final played just over a week ago. It was the same two teams playing at the same high level and high speed, it was a win-or-go-home tournament setting, Ramapo was undefeated and wearing the white jerseys of the higher seed and even the pattern of scoring was the same.
Pascack Valley, the No. 3 seed that had lost only one all season and that was to Ramapo in that classic county final, scored first. It was also the same Ramapo player that provided the moment of brilliance that made the difference in the end. After converting a penalty kick to get the game tied, junior Sebastian Varela raised the degree of difficulty.
Taking the spin off a redirected throw-in with a right-footed volley in traffic, Varela squeezed a low line-drive knuckler that snuck inside the right post for the decisive goal two-and-a-half minutes into the second half. There were dangerous chances both ways down the stretch, but Varela’s magical strike was the last ball over the line in a 2-1 Ramapo win that puts the Green Raiders into Thursday’s section final against a surging rival, ninth-seeded Northern Highlands, which pulled another state tournament upset with a late goal on the road at No. 5 Cliffside Park.
“It was a long throw-in from the Andrew Furman and their defense tried to clear it. I was just there to pick up the volley and score again. It was very similar to the one in the county final,” said Varela, the attacking midfielder. “We were expecting another great game and we knew they were going to come out hard looking for revenge, but we knew that if we stayed together as a team that we would be successful and in the end we were.”
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| Mike Lin’s goal in the fifth minute gave Pascack Valley a 1-0 lead. |
Varela has just been too much to handle for every opponent in a big game setting. He scored the game-winner in the county final this year and as a freshman in 2014 and he did it again to PV on Monday. He is the man to mark, but planning it and doing it are two different sets of equations.
“Hats off to Varela again. We had him marked, the ball goes up, it comes out, you lose sight of him and he finds a way on to it. Just a clean hit through a maze of people that finds its way into the back of the net,” said Pascack Valley head coach Roy Nygren. “I’ll be remembering him a little bit in my nightmares I guess and he still has another year.”
But it was a dream start for a mentally tough PV side. After losing in the county final last Saturday night, the Indians pulled themselves together in time to overcome 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in its state tournament opener against West Essex last Monday and then shutout Wayne Valley to earn its rightful rematch with Ramapo.
And then Michael Lin pounded a ball off the bottom of the crossbar and in after a scrum in front of the net to give Pascack Valley a 1-0 lead just over four minutes into the game. That lead did not even last for a full seven minutes as Dylan Zane got free up the left side, charged into the box and was taken down in the area. Varela went left and equalized from the spot to tie the game at 1 in the 12th minute.
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| Ramapo keeper Conor Young stood up to some heavy pressure down the stretch. |
There were chances both ways for the remainder of the first half, but no more goals. Zane cleared a PV shot off the line in the 14th minute, Noah Kilday’s header off a well-placed serve from Furman finished just wide of the PV net in the 28th minute and Carson Weis nodded a John Dinnell cross over Ramapo keeper Conor Young and the crossbar in the 30th minute.
Ryan Miller really tested the Ramapo keeper in the 34th minute. One of the best in the county at attacking at the posts, Miller mixed in a change-up. He took a step inside with possession and hit a low rip that was ticketed from the bottom left corner before Young sprawled to get his gloves on it and the score remained deadlocked heading into the break.
In the county final, the first matchup between the two teams who were both undefeated then, Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten was imploring his players to stay wide. This time that strategy was employed from the beginning and there was lots of action down the flanks, but it was from the inside out where the Raiders almost padded their lead in the 52nd minute. Varela kept a ball moving on a diagonal to Furman making a left-post run and he got off a shot only to be stoned at pointblank range by Josh Ulin, the PV keeper who was once again outstanding between the pipes
As the situation grew more dire for the Indians, Ramapo was well aware of the dangers it was facing.
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| Josh Ulin made his usual handful of quality stops for Pascack Valley, which finished the season at 18-0-2. |
“They do a good job. They try to be creative getting Lin open and they try to be creative with Miller coming around the back. They try to play into Lin’s feet up top and then Miller comes around looking for the back post,” said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. “In the second half I think we did a better job of limiting their counter attacks.”
Ramapo might have had the slight edge in possession overall, but there was no long stretch of game time where either team had the other hopelessly pinned in its defensive third. Young, Ramapo’s senior keeper, spent much of the last 15 minutes inserting himself into the middle of piles or rising above them to pick of long balls and direct passes as the Indians threw everything they had at the Ramapo net.
“They have some big bodies, big guys. There are two of them [the Lin brothers] that are taller than me and the sun was right there every time you look up, but we did a good job at the end of the game,” said Young. “I picked out the ones that I was going to go for and my defense cleared out the rest. It was a good game plan that worked.”
The only thing that would have made this game better was if it had been a sectional final instead of a semifinal as they have proven to be the two best public school sides in North Jersey. That being said, it is Ramapo that is moving on to the championship round while the reflection on what was an outstanding season could begin on the bus ride home to Hillsdale.
“I just told them when we got together that I could not be prouder of them and the effort that they put out there today. They got up and down the field, they played hard, there was some good combination play,” said Nygren, whose team finished 0-2 against Ramapo, but 18-0-1 against all other competition. “A penalty kick and a great Varela shot; that was the difference today. We played a championship level team today and I think that we are right in that same mix. The result of this game is not going to take away the way I feel about my guys. We are a championship team in my eyes and I got to coach a bunch of champions.”
Ramapo is one game away from adding a sectional championship to the league and county titles it has already won and they will host it against a Northern Highlands team that is on a state tournament roll. Ramapo swept the regular season series and needs to do nothing more than just stay the course.
“You can’t change anything. That is what makes soccer so much different than other sports, you can’t do too much coaching,” said Baumgarten, whose team is now a perfect 19-0. “Less is more and you just let the kids go out there and play.”