SPF-Union Catholic

The battle for Scotch Plains-Fanwood Girls’ soccer bragging rights was emphatically won by the Scotch Plains Fanwood Raiders who took control of a tight game and erupted for three-second half goals to defeat previously undefeated Union Catholic 4-1 Monday at Scotch Plains High School.

The victory raised the Raiders’ record to 4-1-1 and helped them bounce back from their first defeat, last Wednesday 1-0 to East Brunswick, ranked ninth in the state. Union Catholic fell to 5-1 and met defending Union County Champion Oak Knoll yesterday.

Sophomore Lisa Carmada headed in a perfectly placed cross from a corner kick by Kelly Rigano midway through the second half to provide the winning margin. “We work on that a lot in practice. Lisa’s really good in the air ” said Rigano.

Several minutes later the game was delayed ten minutes by a horrifying collision between Amanda Pitts of Union Catholic and goalie Lauren Mains of Scotch Plains. Halfback Lara Kaminski’s direct kick from 30 yards hit the goal post and bounced straight down where Pitts came rushing in a split second late and hit her head on the post while Mains was able to push the ball away from the goal.

While the crowd held its collective breath, Pitts was able to be helped off the field
and although feeling woozy after the game said she should recover. “Our feet got tangled and I fell into the post ,” said Pitts, who would not return.

Sweeper Allie Zazzali headed in another corner kick from the right side by Allie Hambleton to add an insurance goal and Sophomore Kim Appezzatto added the icing on the cake when her long shot curled under the post with three minutes left.

Union Catholic coach Jim Revel refused to use Pitts’ loss as an excuse. “They were a better team than us today. They were more aggressive in getting to loose balls. They will run through you to get a loose ball, we didn’t play that way. They deserved to win ,” said Revel.

“We cannot expect to beat the really good teams unless we increase our effort level. Scotch Plains is deeper and stronger than us so we have to compensate with effort.”

In a game that was originally supposed to be played at Union Catholic, the Vikings acted like the home team and shocked the Raiders with a goal in the first five minutes. when Kaminski ‘s direct kick deflected to Pitts, who chipped the ball over an onrushing Mains. The quick score was a reversal of sorts for the Raiders who had scored goals within the first three minutes in recent games against Westfield and Cranford but Coach Kevin Ewing was pleased by the Raiders’ recovery which resulted in an equalizing goal from Allie Hambleton just before halftime.

“”We made an early defensive mistake but the kids held their composure and came back well ,” said Ewing. “I thought for a while we played very well in the second half., too but we did too much kicking the ball when we got the two goal lead.”

Although they are based in Scotch Plains, Union Catholic only had one substitute player from either Scotch Plains or Westfield. Still, many of the players knew each other from club soccer and for many Raider players who live on the south side of town, Union Catholic is actually closer to their homes than the high school.

Ewing did not find out about the game being switched until today and thought playing at home may have helped the Raiders. “Our field is a little wider than theirs so it may have helped us with our passing game ,” said Ewing.

“It was a very intense game out there ,” said Raiders’ defender Lauren Perrotta. “ We had to keep our focus the entire game to win.” Perrotta was limping after the game from several hard collisions but said she will be ready for tomorrow’s big home tussle with undefeated Bridgewater Raritan, who handed the Raiders one of their three losses last year.

While happy that Scotch Plains won the first battle between the teams Ewing knows it may not signify ultimate bragging right.

“Union Catholic is a very good team with a lot of quality players. We expect to see them again in the county tournament .”

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