HARDYSTON TWP. -- Score one for the Wallkill Valley field hockey team's offense. Make that four.
Sophomore forward Leah Struble knocked in a pair of second-half goals to put the finishing touches on the Rangers' 4-0 victory over Pequannock on Thursday in the opening round of the NJSIAA North 1, Group 1 playoffs at Sisco Field.
Wallkill Valley (9-11), the No. 5 seed, advances to meet No. 4 Mountain Lakes in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The Rangers have won three in a row following a six-game losing skid, including wins over Hackettstown (1-0 on Oct. 22) and Lenape Valley (2-0 on Oct. 24).
Lenape Valley (14-5-1), which is the top seed in this section, dropped both regular-season meetings against Wallkill Valley, which also earned a 1-0 win in Stanhope on Sept. 30 in an NJAC Freedom Division clash. The Rangers would love a third meeting in the sectional semifinals.
"We really want to play Lenape Valley again," said senior forward Casey Pustelniak, who gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead against No. 12 seed Pequannock (2-15) with the first of the team's three second-half goals.
Wallkill Valley, which has won four of its last five opening-round playoff games and last reached the semifinals in 2010, is the last team from Sussex County to win a sectional title -- capturing its seventh in 2006. Scoring goals has been a major issue for coach Irene Chernati's teams the last few years as it entered Thursday with a season total of 23 in 19 games.
Senior forward Barbara Hannan gave the Rangers an early lead with her fourth goal off a feed from Erica McNulty with 20:26 left in the first half. That's all a stout defense, led by backs Casey Murphy and Megan Good, needed in pitching its eighth shutout and third straight. First-year goalie Merinda Gruszecki faced just one shot-on-goal.
Pustelniak, who leads Wallkill with 14 goals, made it a two-goal advantage by flicking in a perfect pass from senior midfielder Emma Chick at the left post during one of the Rangers' 14 second-half penalty corners. Struble connected off another corner just over five minutes later on a nice redirect from Hannan and for all intents and purposes the game was over.
It was the fourth time this season that Wallkill collected four goals in a game -- the others in wins over Mount Olive (4-0 on Sept. 9), Jefferson (4-1 on Sept. 18) and North Warren (4-0 on Sept. 24).
"It felt good [to score]. Once we get them in, they keep coming," Hannan said. "We have a lot of games where we can't get them in."
Wallkill Valley had some great opportunities to put this one out of reach in the first half. But credit Pequannock's tenacious circle defense and goalie Kaitlin Natoli for keeping the game within reach until Pustelniak triggered a three-goal run. The Rangers finished with lopsided edges in shots (18-1) and corners (19-4).
Pequannock (2-15) 0 0 -- 0
Wallkill Valley (9-11) 1 3 -- 4
Scoring
First half -- WV, Barbara Hannan, 4th, (Erica McNulty), 20:26.
Second half -- WV, Casey Pustelniak, 14th, (Emma Chick), 20:07; WV, Leah Struble, 3rd, (Hannan), 14:43; WV, Struble, 4th, 9:32.
Shots -- Pequannock 1; Wallkill Valley 18.
Saves -- Kaitlin Natoli 14, Alyson McMahon 0 (P); Merinda Gruszecki 1 (WV).
Penalty corners -- Pequannock 4; Wallkill Valley 19.
Officials -- Laura McCarthy and Sherry Shortway.
Elsewhere in playoff action involving Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex teams:
Voorhees 2, Hackettstown 0 -- Sophomore Kathryn Roncoroni and senior Ashley Kerekgyarto scored to lift fourth-seeded Voorhees in a North 2, Group 2 quarterfinal in Lebanon Township. The Vikings (16-4), who have won three in a row and seven of their last eight, advance to meet either top-seeded Parsippany or No. 8 Summit in next Thursday's semifinals. Roncoroni leads Voorhees with 29 goals and is four shy of matching the school record set by Colleen Boyce (33 in 2010). Goalie Lauren Pianucci made two saves for the Hunterdon County school's ninth shutout. The fifth-seeded Tigers, who made their third straight first-round exit, finish their season at 12-8. Sophomore goalie Rose Bishop made 14 saves in the loss. The Warren County school, now 1-4 in sectional games during fourth-year coach Stephen Speirs' tenure, last earned a postseason win -- 4-1 at River Dell -- in the first round of the 2010 North 1, Group 2 playoffs.
Newton 6, North Warren 0 -- Sophomore forward Emily Weiss scored three goals and junior goalie Jenna Zawislak recorded her fifth shutout as the seventh-seeded Braves (7-12-1) snapped a three-game skid and advanced in the North 1, Group 1 playoffs to face No. 2 Westwood on Tuesday. Senior forward Katherine Kellenberger scored two goals -- her team-leading 11th and 12th. The 10th-seeded Patriots finish 4-14-2, including three losses to Newton, which posted wins of 4-1 and 1-0 in two NJAC Freedom Division contests. North Warren is now 0-5 against the Sussex County school since joining the conference in 2012 and has been outscored 19-1 in those meetings.
Boonton 4, Belvidere 0 -- Goalie Maddie Beaumont made 14 saves as the ninth-seeded County Seaters fell in the opening round of the North 1, Group 1 playoffs in Boonton. Belvidere ends its season at 6-10-3. Maddy Leva scored a pair of goals for No. 8 Boonton (10-9), which advances to meet No. 1 Lenape Valley in Tuesday's quarterfinals. Belvidere is now 0-5 in sectional games under fifth-year coach Kristin Gaitan and the Warren County school has not won a state playoff game since capturing a sectional title in 1996 -- going 0-8 from 2003-13 and missing the postseason from 1997-02 when teams needed a .500 record to qualify.
Rumson 2, Delaware Valley 0 -- Goalie Morgan Davies made 13 saves for No. 8 seed Delaware Valley in a North 2, Group 2 quarterfinal loss. Del Val saw its four-game win streak end as it finished the season at 9-10-1, its most wins since going 9-12 in 2009 after the program's last 10-win season in '08. No. 1 Rumson (17-1-1) advances to meet either No. 5 Matawan or No. 4 Johnson in next Thursday's semifinals.
No comments:
Post a Comment