TOURNEY TIME: No. 1 Clifton, No. 2 Wayne Hills, No. 3 Lakeland and No. 4 Wayne Valley are the top four teams in this year’s Passaic County Tournament. Clifton is the defending champion and has reached the final in each of the last four years.
Tournament time already? Didn’t the season just start? In any case, with the Passaic County Tournament seeds coming out Tuesday night, I decided to take a look at some of top teams expected to vie for the title, some players to keep an eye on, and what to look for during this year’s tournament. Consider it a semi-preview/semi-look-around-the-county, because the top teams won’t be playing for a few rounds. By the way, I think Byes into the quarterfinals are weird, which is what our top four teams have for the first time this year. Anyway, the prohibitive favorite is Clifton, currently undefeated and the defending county champion, but there are plenty of teams right behind them that are playing well and looking to knock the Mustangs off. So, here’s the breakdown…Â
Clifton goalie Rachel Egyed
The Favorite
Clifton, 6-0, No. 1 seed: The Mustangs have done nothing to dispute the fact that they are the team to beat in Passaic County through the first few weeks of the season. They’re undefeated, they’ve outscored their opponents, 36-2, and All-Everything goalie Rachel Egyed has posted four straight shutouts with key defenders Meghan Sekanics and Danielle Celestin getting the job done right in front of her. Junior midfielder Marisa Ale has started the year scoring at a prolific rate, already notching a team-best 10 goals and five assists, and coach Stan Lembryk said Ale’s playing with more confidence this year. “She has a great mentality and is always looking to improve her game to help the team,†Lembryk said via text Wednesday night. Ale’s not alone in the offensive production, as Mariana Jaramillo (6 goals, 2 assists), Nikki Rzekiec (5 goals, 2 assists) and Brittany Morales (3 goals, 4 assists) have been posting good numbers, too. I’ve yet to see Clifton play this year, but with upcoming games at DePaul (tonight), at Wayne Valley (10/3) and vs. Wayne Hills (10/5), in addition to the upcoming PCT, I’ll be seeing them soon enough.
Wayne Hills’ Sarah Bendl
The Contenders
Wayne Hills, 4-1, No. 2 seed: After suffering an opening day 2-1 loss to Fair Lawn, the Patriots have rattled off four straight wins (against Lakeland, Passaic Valley, Wayne Valley and West Milford) and have got back-to-back hat trick-performances from Sam Rodriguez against crosstown rival Wayne Valley and West Milford. I saw their 4-0 win over Lakeland, which is looking even more impressive now considering that’s the only game Lakeland has lost this season. Rodriguez scored in that one, too, and leads Wayne Hills in goals scored with seven. Sarah Bendl, operating at center midfield, makes the Pats go, and she, Rodriguez and sophomore Meghan Griffin make the Pats’ attack dangerous. Haley Savva and Sabrina Sirni are also both very involved in the offense, and I can only think back to preseason when coach Greg Rehberger said Hills has talent everywhere. The Pats also got a boost when junior goalie Erica Knudsen recently returned from a knee injury, though freshman Siobhan O’Sullivan played well in her absence. That game vs. Clifton on Oct. 5 should be a good one, and perhaps even a PCT final preview. The two teams met in last year’s final, with the Mustangs prevailing, 1-0.
Lakeland’s Bre Renshaw
Lakeland, 4-1, No. 3 seed: While I was at Lakeland watching the boys team defeat Wayne Valley, 4-1, on Tuesday, it was the girls who won a 1-0 double overtime thriller against the Indians. Shoutout to Kirstin Fierro for providing me the details on that one via Twitter. Senior Bre Renshaw was the hero who struck for the game-winner, connecting on a free kick in extra time to give the Lancers their fourth win in five games. Three days before that, Lakeland snapped Fair Lawn’s four-game win streak with a 3-1 win, getting a goal and assist from Danielle Stoll (who is tied with Carly Nichols for the team lead in goals scored with four), and one goal a piece from Michelle Groenendaal and Michelle Furman. So, that win vs. FL made the Big North Independence Division is pretty interesting: Lakeland, Hills and Fair Lawn are all tied at the top at 4-1… with Lakeland losing to Hills, Hills losing to Fair Lawn, and Fair Lawn losing to Lakeland (Side note: I say it every season, but Fair Lawn really needs to get into a Bergen County division). The chase for the Independence title over the second half of the season should be fun. And when I’m not in attendance, I expect Lakeland to maintain its top Twitter team status and keep me updated…
Wayne Valley’s Victoria Pugliano
Wayne Valley, 2-3, No. 4 seed: The strength of the Big North, specifically the Independence, and the respect it’s getting this season was shown with Wayne Valley nabbing the 4-seed. At 2-3, the Indians are the highest-seeded sub-.500 team in the field, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly because of their record. The one concern right now seems to be offensive production against the upper echelon teams; against Fair Lawn, Wayne Hills and Lakeland,  they’ve managed just two goals. After an early 2-0 start, the Indians are on a three-game losing streak and, perhaps, the inexperience with five new starters is starting to show. But Kelly Wieczerzak is one of the best players in the county, and WV has a strong, experienced midfield with Victoria Pugliano and Keri Wieczerzak.
Pompton Lakes, 5-1, No. 5 seed: The first NJIC team, and an interesting one at that. In preseason, first-year coach Tom Clark said the Cardinals would definitely be able to create some scoring opportunities, it was “just a matter of what we do with themâ€. Well, through their first six games, they’ve scored 28 goals — or 4.7 per game Senior Jenn Pezzuti has picked up right where she left off last season (when she scored 22 goals), already striking for 9 goals and 5 assists. But she’s not alone in the offensive production, as Christina Cottrell has 5 goals, 5 assists, Sierra Rose has 5 goals and 3 assists, and sophomore Danielle Jenkin has added 4 goals. Defensively, they’ve been just as strong, allowing just four goals in six games, anchored by goalie Danielle Lucca, who has posted three shutouts. They’re chasing undefeated Lodi (lost to them, 2-1, last Friday) and defending Group 2 champion Glen Rock (who they’ll face today) in the NJIC Colonial.
Darkhorses
DePaul, 2-1, No. 6 seed: The Spartans haven’t played much, but they have won two of their first three games, most recently defeating Holy Angels, 1-0, on a first-half goal from senior Melissa Kelly and a shutout performance from goalie Tiffany Martinez, who made 10 saves. Kelly, who has two goals this season and is playing in her first full season with DePaul after transferring from Parsippany, will be heading to Rider next season and coach Mark White called her “one of the best players in the state†during a preseason interview. Teammate Colette Hamblin also has scored twice in three games, while sophomore Laura Kachidurian has dished out three assists. This a young team with plenty of new starters, but since a 2-5 start last year, DePaul is 8-5-1 in its last 14 games. A huge game looms for the Spartans, as they’ll play host to Clifton tonight at 7 p.m.Â
Eastern Christian, 5-1, No. 7 seed: Winners of five of its first six games, Eastern Christian is another interesting NJIC Colonial team, currently one game back of both Glen Rock and Lodi (who it will see today) in the loss column. The story here is freshman Erin VanderPlatt, who has burst on to the high school scene with 13 goals and 8 assists in EC’s first six games. Longtime coach Barry Veenstra said this preseason he’d be relying on a slew of freshmen to help make an immediate impact, but he didn’t give any names. But VanderPlatt is quickly making a name for herself, already recording three hat tricks, including a four-goal performance against Midland Park on Sept. 21. There are some big shoes to fill in replacing career 100-goal scorer Carly Veenstra, but VanderPlatt couldn’t have gotten off to a better start to her own career. In addition to VanderPlatt, senior Jenna Struyk has been nearly as impressive, tallying 9 goals and 6 assists in six games. EC has outscored its opponents, 27-4, suffering its only loss to Pompton Lakes, 2-1, on Sept. 18.
Hawthorne, 1-3-1, No. 8 seed: No, the record might be what the Bears what, but it’s that tie that opened some eyes. Last Friday, Hawthorne and Glen Rock played to a scoreless tie and Mallory Noodeloos made 12 saves to preserve the shutout. The performance came against the defending Group 2 champions — a team that went 23-1 last season and didn’t lose or tie against anyone aside from Northern Highlands.
The Rest
No. 9 Passaic Tech vs. No. 16 Passaic
No. 10 West Milford vs. No. 15 Mary Help
No. 11 Passaic Valley vs. No. 14 Eastside
No. 12 Manchester vs. No. 13 Hawthorne Christian
*Note: Most stats, records and numbers that were used were from our database, JerseySports.com, or from other outside sources. If anything is wrong, feel free to e-mail me at conrad@northjersey.com or tweet at me, @VarsityAces. *