Golden Goal. A system some like and others despise. No matter your opinion on the rule, it all depends on one thing: if your team wins or loses. In this case, Scotch Plains-Fanwood was golden.
A sectional tournament championship was something SPF had circled from the beginning of the season as one of their goals. While the Raiders knew it was not going to be easy, the journey began Wednesday Oct. 24 at Shimme Wexler Field when they beat the Perth Amboy Panthers 1-0.
After an impressive regular season with a record of 9-4-3, SPF was awarded the fifth seed of the North Jersey Section Two Group Four tournament. Meanwhile, Perth Amboy went 6-8-3 and were given the 12 seed. Even though the Raiders were the higher seed, in the postseason, anything can happen.
“At this point of the season, regardless of who you play, regardless of what your record is, regardless of what seed you are, it’s going to be a battle. It’s never easy,” Head Coach Alex Passucci told The Fanscotian.
The first part of the game was like a ping pong match, back and forth. Freshman midfielder Massimo Passucci started the Raiders first real opportunity of the day with a cross that was intercepted by a Panther defender’s head. Shortly after, senior forward Aaron Casterlow found sophomore Jayvon Young in the box for a nice opportunity on goal.
Feeling the pressure of the opposing defenders, Young booted it well over the crossbar. Possession was back and forth throughout the first half, with both teams having their chances on the opposing side. Panther Franklin Herrera put a nice ball in the SPF box but junior defender Jack Sponheimer was able to get a head on it.
Other opportunities by senior Tim Ennis and freshman Ryder Richer were all close to making an impact but were stopped by the Panther back line and goalkeeper. Sophomore Darren Edelman was subbed into the match for Ennis and made an impact right away. After stopping a promising attack, he played the ball upfield, to create a free kick right outside the 18-yard box.
Junior midfielder Luca Passucci lined up to take the kick and surprised many by kicking the ball straight on the ground as a line drive towards the goalie. Out of nowhere, junior Devin Pearce appeared and curved it towards the goal. Everyone in the stands was disappointed, as the ball hit the post.
“We had to play harder. I think we forgot how much this game meant to us in the first half, so we had to bring it in the second half to wake up a bit,” junior forward Caden Matulonis said.
One more chance was started by the Raiders’ Sohem Rai who found senior Matt Mihanksy in the middle of the field. Taking no touch, Mihanksy softly placed the ball, barely missing the bottom left corner.
Plays like this described the first half for the Raiders. Time and time again they were close, but could never send the ball to the back of the net.
A new team came out of the half. Opportunities appeared left and right and it was evident that this goalless streak could not go one for much longer. Matulonis could not take advantage of a nice ball from Mihansky and shortly after, Massimo Passucci rocketed a ball from 30 yards out that went wide left.
“We knew we had to go and we knew we had to win,” Matulonis said. Casterlow looked more like himself as he started to put more balls into the opposing box. Following a cleared corner, he found Mihansky close to the goal but the ball skimmed his head and went out.
Perth Amboy’s Herrera and Hernan Urgiles led the counterattack but nothing got by the strong back line. For the most part, Raider Goalie Jeffrey Dietrich had a relaxing day, only making his appearance known with his loud callouts.
With the clock winding down, it was apparent overtime was around the corner. Rai made one final cross, but nobody was there to finish. In such a crucial game, any spectator could understand why the Raiders did not want to go into golden goal overtime. Anything could happen.
During the short break between the second half and overtime, parents started to stand up and the Raider Nation gathered at the fence. Everyone knew what to expect. SPF was not fazed with this task, keeping the same energy levels they had been playing with.
After two minutes of monotone play, Casterlow quickly turned the field, finding Matulonis basically unguarded. After two dribbles he winded up, launching the ball at the Panther keeper. The ball was stopped, leading to a gasp from Raider Nation. Matulonis stuck with his shot though and put the ball in the goal for the win. He ran straight to the student section, yelling in happiness.
“It was relieving that I finally got one. It was definitely nerve wracking. It’s annoying missing a couple but it felt good to get one in,” Matulonis said.
SPF will now play Saturday against Hunterdon Central to try and move on to the semifinals. After an exciting win, Coach Passucci hopes this is the fire that ignites their postseason run.
“Hopefully this is the momentum. We have quite a few new student-athletes on the team and hopefully they understand now what it takes at this time of the season to win the game,” Passucci said.
