Girls stun Westfield

            The Cranford High School Girls soccer team came into their semi final match on Sunday night October 25 with top seeded and undefeated Westfield looking for respect, vindication and a spot in the county finals. The Cougars got all three in spine tingling fashion, battling the Blue Devils through 100 scoreless minutes before prevailing in penalty kicks 4-3 at Johnson High School in Clark. The victory, which officially goes into the record books as a tie, ended the Cougars winning streak at 11 but propels them into their first county final since 2002, where they meet second seed and four time defending champion Scotch Plains on Saturday October 31 also at Johnson.

            The victory was sweet revenge for the Cougars, who had fallen to the Blue Devils 6-0 in the third game of the season. Since that loss, they had been on a mission to prove that game was a fluke and had not lost since. Westfield was third ranked in the state and sported a 15-0-1 record coming into the game but the Cougars showed no deference to their heavily favored rivals and played an evenly matched entertaining game. In a game of limited scoring chances, the Cougars nearly won the game in the final seconds of regulation when Taylor D’Antico’s direct kick hit a Westfield player and nearly ricocheted into the goal, falling just wide.

            In the ensuing penalty kick game decider, the Cougars fell behind twice and could have been eliminated on Westfield’s fifth kick but rode the heroics of goalie Lauren Grandal, Sara Dowzycki and D’Antico to a stirring victory. After Westfield made their first penalty kick, D’Antico struck back with perfectly placed low shot in the corner. After Cranford missed their third and fourth shot, Westfield, which had only missed once only needed to make their final shot to escape with a victory but Grandal guessed right and batted away the shot to give the Cougars hope. Dowzycki still had to make a pressure packed shot to keep the game alive which she connected with a shot to the left corner.

“I couldn’t even look at the goalie. I just tried to hit the best shot I could and make sure it was on goal,” said Dowzycki.

            Now in sudden death, Grandal came through a second straight time, blocking away another Westfield shot, which left it up to D’Antico, who was shooting for a second time. She made no mistake, hitting her second shot to almost the same spot as the first. leaving the goalie no chance of making the save and initiating a wild on field celebration of Cranford players who mobbed D’Antico and Grandal. D’Antico, an infielder, on last spring’s state championship Cranford softball team, felt no pressure at having the game on her shoulders.

“You have to have a belief in your shot and just execute it. Penalty shooting is almost all mental. I wanted so much to make those shots because we deserved to go to the finals,” said D’Antico, who led an airtight Cougar defense, which also included sophomore Madison Savulich, senior Emily McCue and senior Kristen Cecchini.

“Madison, Emily and Kristen were awesome back there. They don’t get a lot of recognition because they are not goal scorers but along with Taylor and Lauren really shut down a high powered offense,” said a hoarse coach Jen Michewicz.

            In addition to her back four, Michewicz sometimes brought up to ten players back on defense to blunt the high powered Westfield attack. Among the defenders were forward Natalie Englese, who also connected on the Cougars’ second penalty kick.

“We worked hard in practice to try and defend what they did to us in the first game. They have a multitude of ways to score on you and it was important for us to get as many players into the defense as possible. Of course Lauren made it all happen in the back,” said Michewicz.

            Grandal, who made several spectacular saves in the first 100 minutes of the game, felt vindicated after allowing all six goals in the earlier game. “I just knew we were going to win. Even when it looked we were going to lose in penalty kicks, I was determined to give us a chance to come back,” said Grandal.

“I told her before the game that sometime in the game she was going to have make a game saving save and she came through for us,” added Michewicz.

            D’Antico connected twice in the penalty kick phase, including the game clinching final shot which sent the Cranford team into a wild middle of the field celebration. Long before the final result, the Cougars had already won the small victory of getting the respect of the county soccer community, who can now view the earlier game as just one of those early season flukes that sometimes happen in high school sports.

“We have been waiting a long time to prove ourselves against them. We knew we were a better team than that,” said D’Antico.

“We still have one more hill to climb.”

Cranford Boys Soccer 2009 Week 5

When a team wins its first 12 games, moves up to tenth in the state rankings and gains the top seed in the county tournament, it is no surprise they wind up with a big target on their back. But that reputation suits the Cranford High School Boys’ Soccer team just fine and the Cougars began their quest for their first Union County championship by blanking Union Catholic 3-0 Saturday October 10 at Memorial Field in Cranford.

“It’s good to be recognized. We don’t mind being the top seed. We like the challenge,” said senior midfielder Nick Pace, who had two assists in the victory.

“Getting recognized is what you strive for in a program. Our team knows that everybody will be coming after us but I think they are ready for the challenge,” said Coach Mike Curci.

The Cougars came out a little overanxious against a Viking team that had given the Cougars a major scare before succumbing 2-1 earlier in the season. But leading scorer Pat Hartnett took a long clearing pass from fullback Eric Walano just before midfield and outran the defense before feinting the goalie and hitting an accurately placed right footed shot into the corner.

“I knew it couldn’t be offsides because I took it before midfield. The goalie made it easy for me by committing too early, but I still had to make sure I put it on goal,” said Hartnett.

The 1-0 lead held through the end of the first half but the Cougars could not feel comfortable until Alex Porter headed in Pace’s corner kick with 21:30 left in the contest.

“They were much better than their seeding. They played very well and we had to be on our game to win,” said Senior Goalie Scott Boyer, who earned his ninth shutout and 51st career win,

Boyer initiated the final goal when his long punt was headed by Pace to junior Ray El Khoury who buried a hard right footed shot with 11:30 left.

“This wasn’t one of our better performances. I thought we came out a little bit tight and were trying to make perfect plays. They were packing their defense back, trying to look for a counterattack and it wasn’t until Porter’s goal that we finally started playing our style of soccer,” said Curci.

The victory moved the Cougars into the quarterfinals where they will host defending county champion and eight seed Elizabeth at Memorial Field at 2 pm Saturday October 17. It will be their second game in five days with the Minutemen. The teams also met on Monday October 12 and the 13th game did not prove to be unlucky as the Cougars escaped Elizabeth with a 2-1 victory. After a scoreless first half, senior Josh Barrera scored off a header 15 minutes into the second half to make it 1-0. DeMars made it 2-0 with 17 minutes left on a header off a long throw-in from Lopes. Elizabeth was awarded a penalty kick two minutes later and scored to cut the margin but the Cougars held on for their 13th straight win and second road victory over a Group IV county power. Earlier in the season they had defeated Westfield 1-0.

“It was an intense, very physical game, but we played tough. They're a good team. They use the size of their field well to spread the game. It was a great win for our boys, but of course we have to win the next time we play them, too,” said Curci.

Cranford Girls Soccer 2009 Week 5

The Cranford Girls’ Soccer team continues to fly under the radar, overshadowed in its own town by an undefeated boy’s team and in the county by Westfield, the state’s third rated girl’s team. But the Cougars seem content to go about their business and have now compiled an impressive seven game winning streak that has raised their record to 8-1-1, following a 4-0 victory over Kent Place in the first round of the Union County Tournament, Saturday October 10 at Memorial Field.

Under brilliant autumn sunshine, the girls made quick work of a team that they had defeated 3-0 earlier in the season. Junior forward Natalie Englese took a perfectly placed pass from Victoria Labrutto and used her speed to hit a strong right footed shot into the corner of the goal from ten yards with 32:13 left. “It was a well set up play. I had space and all I had to do was kick it,” said Englese.

Senior forward Jamie Webb made it 2-0 with a left footed shot with 21 minutes left. “I am normally a right footed shooter but the play made sense to use my left,” said Webb.

Michelle Gargiuolo added a third goal before halftime and the Cougars were content to play a possession game in the second half to limit their opponents from many good scoring chances. Junior Julianne Salerno provided the only second half scoring when her right footed shot found the mark with 23:40 left. Seniors Lauren Grandal and Genevieve Chaleff, who have shared time in goal most of the year, each played a half to share the shutout. Coach Jen Michewicz was pleased with the way the team kept the pressure through the entire game.

“The girls have really started to come together as a team. Each player has elevated their individual level of play which has had quite an impact on the entire team. In previous years, the team had difficulty playing consistently for 80 minutes. This year’s team has proven that they are able to do that.” said Michewicz, who is fortunate to have senior leadership at nearly every part of the field.

Senior midfielder Jen Folger does not score many goals but she is invaluable as a distributor and controlled the game against Kent Place. “My job is to get everybody involved and keep the ball moving. As long as we score goals, I am happy to let other players score. We have a lot of talented offensive players,” said Folger.

Senior forward Sarah Dowzycki leads the balanced attack with six goals. Senior central defender Taylor D'Antico leads the stingy defensive unit along with senior Kristen Cecchini. Webb, Englese and Gargiulo form a solid midfield.

“The team has found composure with the ball at their feet. They have been working on combination play and recognizing when to play to feet and when to play to space. We had many fine sequences where we connected on numerous passes in a row. We have the ability to be a very good possession team,” said Michewicz.

The victory advanced the Cougars to the quarterfinal round where they will travel to Union on Saturday October 17 to face the fourth seeded Farmers. A victory would likely give the Cougars the rematch they have sought with top seeded Westfield, which handed the Cougars their only defeat, but Michewicz realizes there is plenty of work to be done before that would transpire.

“In order to win the county, the team needs to continue to play consistently with that urgency to put the ball in the back of the net. So far we have been improving each and every game,” said Michewicz.

The Cougars ran their winning streak to eight and their record to 9-1-1 with a 6-0 home victory over Elizabeth on Monday October 12. Folger, Gargiulo, Danielle Jakubik, Labrutto, Emily Lupin and Rebecca Shafer each scored

Cranford Girls Soccer 2009 Week 4

For the Cranford Girls’ Soccer team, an early season 6-0 home loss to Westfield has proven to be a rallying point for the senior dominated team instead of a demoralizing defeat. (This next sentence will change based on the Summit result) The Cougars have won four straight games and now stand 5-1-1.

The Cougars had begun their season with a trio of difficult opponents, starting with a 0-0 tie at state number four ranked Montclair and won a 3-1 home decision over perennial power Governor Livingston, before losing to Westfield, currently the state’s third ranked team. But since then, the Cougars have been on a roll, utilizing their precision passing game and tenacious defense their last four opponents 19-1.

On Tuesday September 29, the Cougars exploded with their highest offensive outburst of the season when they won 8-1 at Roselle Catholic. .Overall, five different Cranford players scored in the contest with Natalie Englese, Danielle Jakubik and Sara Gugliucci, kicking in a pair of goals. Julianne Salerno and Jamie Webb also added goals and Webb also had a pair of assists.
Senior forward Sarah Dowzycki scored in the game’s opening minutes to provide the only goal the Cougars would need when they won 5-0 at Union Catholic Friday, September 25. Dowzycki added another tally twenty minutes into the game and senior Michelle Gargiulo also pierced the nets in the first half. Gargiulo and Salerno each added a goal in the second half to complete the scoring and Englese chipped in with two assists as the Cougars outshot the hosts 25-5. Genevieve Chaleff stopped two shots for the shutout. The victory was impressive because the Cougars were playing their second game in two days.
On Thursday September 24, the team took a hard fought 3-0 victory over Kent Place High School at Memorial Field. The Cougars used crisp passing to control possession and create scoring opportunities. Dowzycki led the way with a goal in each half. Salerno also scored and Lauren Grandal made three saves in the shutout
In their initial victory over Governor Livingston in September 15, senior midfielder Jen Folger sparkled with two assists. Rebecca Shafer and Webb were the beneficiaries of Folger’s passes. Chaleff made five saves in goal. After falling behind 1-0 Jakubik evened the score in the first half.
The Cougar girls were given the fifth seed in the Union County Tournament and will open this weekend by hosting 12th seed Kent Place. Cranford will try and improve on their 2008 performance when they reached the semi finals before losing to eventual champion Scotch Plains Fanwood.

The area’s other team, Brearley, has also had a fine season, going 6-1 with their latest success being a 3-0 home victory over Dayton on Friday October 2. Amanda Filippone connected on a pass from Samantha Hoag 1:30 into the game as Brearley took a 1-0 halftime lead. Filippone had two goals in the game and Hoag collected a goal and an assist for the Bears. Goalie Krissy Pinho excelled with seven saves.




On Friday September 25, Brearley had one of its biggest victories when they edged Kent Place 2-1 in overtime in Summit. Janine Casale scored both goals and Hoag assisted on both goals. Casale’s overtime goal came on a 25 yard shot seven minutes into the frame. Brearley trailed 1-0 at the half, before Casale evened the game in the 61st minute. Pinho had five saves in the victory.
Brearley had its biggest scoring outburst of the season when they defeated Roselle Catholic 8-1 on Tuesday September 22 in Kenilworth. Stephanie Hand scored two goals and Casale, Vienna Conde, Filippone, Hoag. Tania Miranda and Brittany Santos also scored. Filippone opened the scoring when she converted Samantha Hoag’s cross in the 14th minute for the Bears. Hand added two assists and Hoag assisted on three goals as the Bears took a 5-1 halftime lead.
On Tuesday October the Bears traveled to New Providence. Brearley was awarded the tenth seed and will open the county tournament on the road at Johnson.