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.
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