SPF-Westfield 2-0

When two stingy defensive teams like those of the Scotch Plains Fanwood High School and Westfield High School girls square off, goals are usually at a premium and are gladly accepted no matter how unusual the circumstances. In as bizarre a first half as any in recent memory, the Raiders scored in the first and last minutes of the opening stanza, and made them stand up to improve their record to 3-0-1 with a 2-0 victory Monday at Roosevelt Middle School in Westfield. In yet another odd twist, Scotch Plains’ second goal, which both winning coach Kevin Ewing and losing coach Katie Egan agreed was the back breaker, was scored by a freshman substitute Lana Bencivengo who had just entered the game for the first time and would not play at all in the second half.

Bencivengo outmaneuvered Westfield goalie Tara O’Donahue, who had ventured outside the penalty box to try and snare Allie Hambleton’s long pass and put a well placed left footed shot into the empty net for her second goal of the season. Ewing had inserted
Bencivengo to give senior tri-captain Jessie Sapienza a breather at the end of the first half.
“Lana has a lot of energy. I thought she might give us a spark,” said Ewing.

“I didn’t know how much time was left when I came in,” said Bencivengo, a superbly conditioned athlete who trained all summer with the cross-country team and has a twin brother Greg who is one of the top five runners for coach Jeff Koegel. Despite O’Donahue being closer to the ball, Bencivengo never gave up on the play.

“I never stop running. When I saw I had a chance for the ball I thought to myself, it’s there I just have to hit it.”

“That was a very big play in the game,” added Egan. “With our trouble finishing plays and scoring goals, two goals down against a good team like Scotch Plains is a lot to make up.”

Still, the Blue Devils played a strong second half and led by sophomore Erin McCarthy
put good offensive pressure on Raider goalie Lauren Mains who had to battle a strong sun. “We just can’t seem to finish anything. It’s almost like a Westfield curse ” said Egan, now 1-2-1 in her first year with the state’s number one team Ridge, looming next on the schedule.

The Raiders took advantage of a revamped Blue Devil defense to score in the game’s first minute on a Hambleton header off a Kelly Rigano corner kick. It was the second time in the last three games the Raiders had converted a corner kick in the game’s opening minutes. Unlike the last time, a disappointing 1-1 tie at Cranford, the Raiders
kept the pressure up for the entire 90 minutes.

“ It was good overall game. We played hard for the entire game. Our defense was very solid ,” said Ewing. “I think the Cranford game was a good learning experience for us. We have to keep our intensity and not let down.”

Ewing was effusive in his praise of defenders Allie Zazzali, and Lauren Perrotta, who played their usual solid games in front of Mains.
“We came into this game knowing they wanted badly to beat us to make up for last year ,” said Perrotta, a senior tri-captain. “The second goal was really big because it helped
give us some breathing room.”

Last October the teams had battled 100 minutes through two overtimes to a scoreless tie after Scotch Plains had won the earlier game 2-1. The schedule gets extremely challenging for the Raiders, who battled 10th ranked East Brunswick Wednesday and play cross-town rival Union Catholic on Monday. Also looming is matches with unbeatens Kearny and Bridgewater Raritan, number 10 in the state.

The Blue Devils were playing their first full game without standout junior defender Allison Bridgman, who tore her Anterior Cruciate Ligament and is out for the season.
“It was an incredible setback losing Allison for the season. She was a big part of our team and we’re still trying to replace her. ,” said Egan.

2004 Preview

Third year Scotch Plains Fanwood Girls’ Soccer coach Kevin Ewing is a strong believer that there is strength in numbers and the resilience of last years’ team accentuated his beliefs. Exhibiting amazing depth and interchangeability of players allowed the Raiders to withstand the loss of six injured starters to continue winning through a rugged schedule on their way to a 13-3-3 season.

And to quote Sonny and Cher “The beat goes on.” On Monday August 23, Ewing welcomed almost 60 girls eager to endure grueling double practice sessions in hopes of making this years’ team. Included among the total were 21 freshmen
With such an abundance of talent Ewing unfortunately had to cut some players, although he admitted that many removed themselves by not showing up at practices.

With nine starters returning it would seem most of this year’s team would be set but the injuries a year ago gave so many extra players a chance to contribute that the team actually has fourteen or fifteen girls who started games a year ago.
Also pushing the veterans are improved members of a strong junior varsity team and several freshmen. With such a set lineup, Ewing does not expect to start five freshmen as he sometimes did last year.

“It was surprising to have five or six key injuries during a difficult part of our schedule and still win most of the games, “
said Ewing. The Raiders’ three losses came against some stellar opposition including Group IV finalist Bridgewater Raritan; top twenty-power Millburn and county finalist Governor Livingston.
“Soccer is a game of skill, endurance and strategy...however a little luck never can hurt. I think we have the ability to do better against those teams but we need to get a little lucky,” said Ewing.

“Our depth pulled us through,” added Ewing.
“ The kids have been playing a lot and have learned to adjust when certain kids go down.”

Although there are some clear standouts on this team like first team all Union County fullback Lauren Perrotta and second team all county midfielders Jenna Balestriere and sophomore Allie Hambleton, Ewing stresses the team’s unity and closeness.

“ There are no stars on this team. Everybody knows this is a team game ,” said Ewing.
“They’re a very close bunch that likes to do almost everything together .” Luckily for the girls the United States Olympic Girls Soccer teams’ semi-final game against Germany and championship match against Brazil were held in between the morning and evening practices so much of the team watched the games together. In the Germany game, the winning goal was scored in overtime by New Jerseyan Heather O’Reilly, who graduated high school in 2003. Another key contributor was another former New Jersey high school star Christine Pearce Rampone .

“It was great watching two New Jersey high school players contribute to the gold medal. They were really excited at practice that night after seeing the team win ,” said Ewing. The coach credits players like Mia Hamm,Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain and Joy Fawcett for enhancing soccer’s popularity and contributing to the prodigious number of players he has to choose from. Of course, soccers’ overwhelming popularity among girls have made for very few easy games.

Among the tough out of conference games Ewing has scheduled is an away game at O’Reilly’s alma mater East Brunswick High School. “To be the best you have to play against the best ,” said Ewing. And having numbers on your side never hurt either.