Daily Recap: Tuesday, May 21st

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 2^nd 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

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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 7^th 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 2^nd 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 7^th. 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 7^th 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 7^th. 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 12^th seed in the state tournament, this was considered a pretty big upset for Pascack Valley. With the win, they have a date with 4^th 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 23^rd at 4: 15 PM against Ramapo (Away)