Strikers High School Results/Summaries
Week Four - 10/2 - 10/7
Week Four Preview
Monday Night Football:
Cranford Under The Lights
Union Catholic Visits Pingry Friday;
Somerset Tourney Underway Saturday
A couple of night matches, a big Strikers v. Strikers encounter, and the start of county tournament action highlight Week Four of the Strikers' 2000 high school season.
Monday evening offers a chance to see Kelly Donnelly, sister Kate, and the nationally-ranked Cranford Cougars take on a bevy of Meghan DeSanto and Pam Seiple's old Union Pulsars teammates under the lights, as Cranford visits once-beaten Union for a 7:00 p.m. start at Cook Stadium. Unblemished Cranford (7-0) enters the match ranked second in the Star Ledger Top Twenty, first in Group 3, and first in Union County. The Cougars also picked up new accolades last week, tabbed as the eleventh best team in the nation by the Fox Sports Fabulous 50, to go along with their 13th spot in the NSCAA National rankings.
Sara Fedorczyk's Hillsborough side also gets some twilight action this week, travelling to Hunterdon Central for a 7:00 p.m. match on Thursday. Hillsborough, which has reeled off four straight wins after a 1-3 start, will get a shot at reversing losses in its first two matches (to North Hunterdon and Hunterdon Central), as teams begin the second journey through their conference schedules.
Unbeaten Union Catholic (8-0) will try to duplicate shutout wins over two Mountain Valley Conference foes before venturing to Pingry (6-1) on Friday for contest that will gather five Strikers teammates - U.C.'s Pam Seiple and Pingry's Meghan DeSanto, Kellen Kroll, Kristen Locke, and newcomer Leslie Hynes.
The week wraps up with the preliminary round of the Somerset County Tournament, which may ultimately produce a couple more Strikers v. Strikers skirmishes. Ridge, Pingry, and Hillsborough will find out tournament seedings and schedules on Wednesday.
Star Ledger Rankings
Poll Shows Few Changes
Cranford, UC, Ridge Stay In Top 20;
Hillsborough Jumps In County List
This week's Star Ledger rankings showed little change from last week's poll, although a couple Strikers teams
slipped as a result of picking up their first losses and one side jumped on the strength of continued winning
ways.
Cranford (2), Union Catholic (10), and Ridge (11) held their spots in the state's Top Twenty, but Millburn,
ranked 17th last week, tumbled out of the list as a result of its loss to #18 Wayne Valley.
In Group rankings,
Millburn also dropped one spot, to seventh, in Group 3, while Pingry, which also dropped its first match last
week, slipped from eighth to tenth in the Parochial Group. Cranford (first in Group 3), Ridge (first in Group 2),
UC (fourth in Parochial), and Gill St. Bernard's (third in Prep) all held their spots.
Hillsborough was the big mover in the county rankings, jumping three rungs to sixth in the Somerset poll. Kent
Place also gained a notch, stepping up to sixth in Union County, while hard luck Columbia slipped out of the
Essex County rankings for the first time. Everything else was status quo in the counties: Cranford and UC at
one and two in Union, Ridge and Pingry at one and two in Somerset, and Millburn topping Essex County.
Monday - 10/2
Roselle Catholic 0,
Union Catholic 9
Cranford 6,
Union 0
Columbia 1,
Parsippany Hills 1
Immaculata at Millburn Freshmen
10/3
Cranford Lights Up the Night
Dominates Union, Moves To 7-0;
UC Continues Shutout Streak
Union High School fans should have gotten a hint of things to come last evening when visiting Cranford pulled up to Cooke Stadium in its touring bus, a shining cruiser from the aptly named Star Shuttle Bus Line.
Cranford's stars proceeded to illuminate the scoreboard and dazzle the twilight crowd with a display of technical proficiency and off-the-ball movement that, certainly to soccer connoisseurs, was even more impressive than the final 6-0 score. The bad news for Cranford's future opponents is that it may take a radio-telescope to detect a weakness in this formidable football firmament.
One who sparkled for the Cougars was our own Kelly Donnelly. Playing out of her stopper spot, Kelly left little for her fellow defenders and sister goalkeeper Katie to clean up and got forward repeatedly and effectively to add to Cranford's attacking arsenal. Several of Kelly's penetrations and long attempts at goal in the first half augmented the nearly constant Cougar pressure, and her killer pass following the break led to one of Cranford's two second half scores.
In recognition of a strong effort on the Union side, the scrappy play of continuously pressured sweeper Kim Sakowski, former teammate of Strikers Meghan DeSanto and Pam Seiple, kept the hosts in the game early and prevented an even larger margin in the final score.
Earlier, in Scotch Plains, Union Catholic extended its shutout streak to 600 minutes and its record to 9-0 with a 9-0 drubbing of Roselle Catholic. The visitors, who held UC to one goal in the first half during the previous Friday's 4-0 loss, found themselves down by six before intermission.
The Strikers' Pam Seiple accounted for the second score, in the fifteenth minute, pulling a 25-yard cross out of the air and knocking it home from six yards.
In other Strikers action on Monday, Benet Seifter's Columbia side battled to a 1-1 draw with Parsippany Hills.
Tuesday - 10/3
North Hunterdon 1, Hillsborough 6
West Milford 1,
Millburn 8
Millburn (Freshmen) 2, West Milford 1
Ridge 5,
Johnson Regional 1
Union Catholic 4,
Governor Livingston 0
Chatham 3, Pingry 2
10/4 (Updated 10/9)
Hillsborough On A Roll
Wins Fifth Straight With Fedorczyk Hat Trick;
UC Wins Tenth, Pingry Showdown Next;
Millburn Back On Track, Ridge Keeps Pace
Sara Fedorczyk struck for three goals in a 20-minute span of the second half, as Hillsborough extended its winning streak to five games with a 6-1 payback of North Hunterdon in Hillsborough on Tuesday. The visitors, 2-1 winners in the season opener, took a 1-0 lead early, but Hillsborough struck back to take a 2-1 advantage into intermission. Sara's outburst after the break sealed the win for the hosts. The Strikers newcomer had also scored the lone Hillsborough tally in the first contest.
Union Catholic will take a 10-0 mark and a 680-minute shutout streak into Friday's big showdown with Pingry, thanks to a 4-0 win Tuesday at Governor Livingston. Pam Seiple helped get UC started in the fifth minute, redirecting a corner back across the goal mouth for an easy tap in. She picked up a second assist with twelve minutes left in the match, digging out a ball in the box and leading a teammate for the fourth goal. Ridge kept pace and continued building for its rematch with UC next Thursday, pulling away from a 1-1 second half deadlock to outdistance Johnson Regional 5-1 in Clark.
Elsewhere, Millburn bounced back from its first loss last week with an early blitz against West Milford, blowing the match open in the first four minutes en route to an 8-1 pounding. Millburn's Freshmen were also victorious against West Milford, posting a 2-1 decision. Pingry came back from an early 1-0 deficit to lead unbeaten Chatham 2-1 at the half. Chatham drew even, however, early in the second half, then knocked in the game-winner in the 62nd minute to hand Pingry (5-2) its second straight one-goal loss.
Wednesday -10/4
West Morris Central at
Columbia
Cranford 9,
Elizabeth 0
Gill St. Bernard's 4,
Ranney 0
Thursday - 10/5
Hillsborough 4,
Hunterdon Central 4 (OT)
Gill St. Bernard's
at Wardlaw - PPD
Newark Academy 0,
Kent Place 4
Passaic Valley at
Millburn - PPD
Mt. St. Mary's 1,
Ridge 6
10/6
Kent Place, Cranford, Ridge,
Hillsborough Extend Streaks
A couple of postponements reduced Thursday's schedule to three matches involving Strikers teams,
all of which managed to build on successful streaks.
In Summit, Kent Place remained unbeaten, blanking Newark Academy for the second time this season.
The 4-0 shutout left KPS with a 6-0-1 mark. Ridge (10-1) kept pace in the Mountain Valley Conference,
pulling away from Mt. St. Mary's early for a 6-1 decision and its sixth straight win. Hillsborough stretched its
unbeaten streak to six, battling Hunterdon Central to a 4-4 draw through overtime in a fog-influenced affair under the lights
in Hunterdon. The Strikers' Sara
Fedorczyk scored her team-leading thirteenth goal for 'Boro, which moved to 6-3-1 on the season.
Wednesday's light schedule produced a pair of shutouts for Strikers sides. Cranford stayed unbeaten at 8-0
with a 9-0 whitewash of overmatched Elizabeth. Gill St. Bernard's bounced back from its loss to Kent Place
with a 4-0 win over Ranney.
Friday - 10/6
Glen Ridge 1, Millburn Freshmen 4
Union Catholic 7, Pingry 2
Columbia 1, Morristown 1
10/9
Kroll Ends U.C. Shutout Streak,
But Vikings Remain Unbeaten
Top Pingry 7-2 , Up Record To 11-0;
Leitner Scores Two in Millburn Win
Union Catholic's shutout streak came to an end on Friday, thanks to a first half goal by Pingry's Kellen Kroll. The U.C. win streak remained intact, however, as the Vikings scored a critical goal just prior to intermission, then pulled away after the break for a 7-2 win, their eleventh in a row.
Kellen's score, slotted home from inside the box following a Pingry corner, pulled the hosts within a goal, at 2-1, in the 29th minute. It was only the second goal surrendered this year by U.C. and the first in over 700 minutes of play. More importantly, it got Pingry back into the match with halftime approaching.
Unfortunately for the home side, that was a close as they would come. In the last minute of the half, U.C.'s Pam Seiple initiated a counter attack on the right side, finding All-State midfielder Jess Ballweg and putting her in one-on-one with a Pingry defender. Ballweg, who had scored the Vikings' first two goals, carried the ball deep and crossed it back to the edge of the penalty box, where it was nicely finished to provide a 3-1 margin and the turning point of the match.
Stellar goalkeeping by Meghan DeSanto staved off a U.C. blitz at the start of the second half, but the final result was assured in the 53rd minute when Pam volleyed a corner kick off the last Pingry defender and a U.C. teammate knocked the rebound into the back of the net for a 4-1 bulge.
The two other Strikers representatives in the match also made big impacts. Leslie Hynes created a number of opportunities for Pingry with effective passing up front, working especially well with a constantly active Kellen. Kristen Locke, assertive as always from her fullback position, shut out U.C.'s (and Central New Jersey's) leading scorer. Meghan, under pressure from all angles and distances for eighty minutes, was credited with 17 saves, a number of them of the spectacular variety.
The match attracted a good Strikers crowd on the sidelines. Besides the players' families, the fans included Coach Brendan and a very active Paddy Doyle, as well as Annika Head's parents, Tim and Ylva.
In other action on Friday, the Millburn Freshman side, led by Nicki Leitner's two goals and Pam Kalmus'
unyielding sweeper play, topped Glen Ridge 4-1. Nicki reports that she knocked one of her scores in with her
abdominals. Elsewhere, Benet Seifter's Columbia side registered its second consecutive 1-1 draw, this one
against Morristown.
Saturday - 10/7
Cranford 3,
New Providence 0
Somerset County Tournament Prelims:
Franklin 1,
Gill St. Bernard's 0
10/9
Cranford Storms The Bunker;
Gill Falls In County Opener
Nationally-ranked Cranford ran into a wall in New Providence on Saturday, but found enough cracks in the
mortar to construct a 3-0 win. Playing before a Homecoming Weekend
crowd, New Providence banked on a bunker and counter strategy that put eleven players behind the ball
through large stretches of the match. The Cranford pressure was too much, however, and the Cougars
easily registered their third shutout of the week and extended their season's record to 9-0.
Saturday also marked the beginning of county tournament action, with Ashley Babilonia's Gill St. Bernard's
side taking on Franklin in a preliminary Somerset County match. Unfortunately, Franklin was able to take
advantage of a Gill team depleted by the annual WAGS Tournament and fashioned a 1-0 upset, sending
Gill out of the tournament early.
