Boys Lacrosse:
Northern Highlands 12, Pascack Valley 9
After their debut in the Bergen County semifinals, Pascack
Valley was looking to achieve the same result, only this time in states.
Their opponent? Northern Highlands.
These teams met earlier in the season with Northern
Highlands pulling out a hard fought 8-5 victory. Many believed that Pascack Valley
was much improved from that game and could give Northern Highlands a real run
for their money.
Unfortunately, the game couldn’t have started any worse for
Pascack Valley. On offense, they could not keep control of the ball and barely
attempted any shots on goal. On defense, they left holes open that Northern
Highlands was able to exploit, leading to easy goals. The Highlanders scored
the first four goals of the game, putting the Indians in a deep hole.
Luckily, Mike Buldo ripped one past the goalie late in the
first quarter to cut the lead to 4-1. Despite their poor play throughout the
opening period, Pascack Valley was fortunate only to be down by this margin.
Northern Highlands added two more goals in the 2nd
period and the game was looking more and more like a blowout. Brendan Morrissey
did add a goal towards the end of the half, but Pascack Valley still went into
intermission down 6-2.
I’m not sure what Coach Craig Buckley said at halftime, but
it must have been motivating. Senior Mike Buldo, potentially playing his last
game, netted two more goals to cut the Highlands lead to 6-4. All of the
sudden, the momentum was in the Indians favor.
Northern Highlands then scored one of the flukiest goals I
have seen in a lacrosse game. The ball bounced off a player, high up into the
air, over Anthony Setola’s stick, and into the net.
Even with their misfortune, Zach Beja scored at the buzzer
and Pascack Valley went into the final period only down 7-5.
When Pascack Valley failed to win the faceoff to start the
fourth quarter, the game was all but over. Northern Highlands scored the next
three goals to give them a comfortable 10-5 lead. Through the rest of the game,
Valley and Highlands continued to trade goals.
The game ended 12-9, ending Pascack Valley’s season.
This ends my coverage of the Boys Lacrosse team that has
spanned over the last two seasons. I am so grateful for the opportunity to
cover this squad and will miss it tremendously. I would like to wish the
seniors farewell as they move on in their lives to bigger things.
Looking back at my life, I will always remember that my
career started on the lacrosse field.
Record: 16-3
____________________
Softball:
Pascack
Valley 7, Paramus 5
If it
was not for Lacrosse having their state game, this is the game I would have
attended.
With
about two minutes left in the Lacrosse game, I got a text from my bud Billy
Beattie saying that the softball team was down 5-2 going into the seventh
inning. Walking back to my car from the field, it had hit me that this was the
last game I would cover as a student at Pascack Valley. As I got into my car, I
decided to check my phone one more time to see if Billy had sent me the final
score. Instead, I had gotten a text saying that Pascack Valley had scored three
runs in the 7th to tie the game at 5. For the remainder of the game,
I sat in the Northern Highlands parking lot and live tweeted the ending.
How did
the game play out you ask? Pascack Valley fell into a hole in the bottom of the
first when Paramus scored two runs against Indians’ ace Alex Pleasic. It only
got worse in the 2nd when Paramus scored three more runs to take a
commanding 5-0 lead.
In the
top of the fourth, Pascack Valley got two runs back, making the score 5-2.
Still, there was little hope that the Indians could come back with only a
couple of innings to play.
The
score remained the same until the top of the 7th. Junior Caitlin
Unger started off the rally with a pinch hit double. Pascack Valley added a run
to make it 5-3 when Alex Pleasic stepped to the plate. There were two runners
on and the opportunity to tie the game was right at their fingertips.
Pleasic
delivered, singling home two runs and tying the game at 5. The comeback was
complete, but the Indians wanted more.
Pascack
Valley took a 6-5 lead with a sac fly from Rachel Squiccimarri and added a 7th
run when Carly Parenta stole home on a past ball. By the time the inning was
over, 5 runners had crossed the plate and Pascack Valley held a 7-5 lead.
Paramus
still had their last at bat in the bottom of the 7th. After getting
two easy outs to start the inning, Michelle Orden caught a line drive to first
to end the game. In a matter of 15 minutes, Pascack Valley had gone from dead
in the water to earning the biggest win of their season.
Alex
Pleasic was huge on both sides for Pascack Valley. After giving up five runs
through the first two innings, Pleasic shutout Paramus for the final 5. At the
plate, she went 3-4 and stabilized the middle of the Indians lineup. Christina
DiBella also contributed at the plate by going 3-4.
As the
12th seed in the state tournament, this was considered a pretty big
upset for Pascack Valley. With the win, they have a date with 4th
seeded Ramapo, who defeated Wayne Hills in the opening round.
Pascack
Valley and Ramapo have split the season series. The Indians won the first game
5-2 while Ramapo took the second game 7-3.
With
their backs against the wall and their season on the line, Pascack Valley
bought themselves a few more days in their high school softball lives.
They
will be looking to buy themselves a couple of more in a game that the Indians
should definitely believe they could win.
Record: 11-12
Next Game: Thursday,
May 23rd at 4: 15 PM against Ramapo (Away)
