In a back-and-forth affair that lasted nearly three hours and had Scotch Plains and Westfield fans on the edge of their seats, Saturday’s first boys’ soccer Union County Tournament semifinal had to be decided by a penalty kick shootout.
That competition was just as hotly contested as the first 100 minutes of the match and went beyond the initial mandated five rounds, with the score tied 2-2.
In the sixth round, Mike Delsordi scored for Scotch Plains and then Evan Heroux kept Westfield alive by scoring his penalty kick.
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In the seventh round, senior Joe D’Annunzio — who made the game-winning penalty kick against Plainfield two weeks ago in the quarterfinals and who made his first attempt earlier in the penalty kick shootout — uncharacteristically missed wide left.
That meant that Westfield could win the match if junior Ryan Heine would make his kick. He stepped up, took a strong shot with his left foot, and buried it into the right corner of the goal, sending Westfield to the final for the first time in 13 years.
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Westfield won the game contested at Johnson High School’s Nolan Field in Clark by the score of 4-3, also winning the penalty kick shootout 4-3.
Westfield will now be in the championship game for the first time since 1996, when it defeated Rahway 1-0 for its last UCT title.
Heine also scored the game-winning goal when Westfield handed Scotch Plains its only other defeat, which was 2-1 Blue Devil win in Westfield back on Sept. 23. Heine snapped a 1-1 tie in the first half of that game by scoring on a header.
Second-seeded Westfield improved to 14-3-1 and will play in next Saturday’s championship game at Nolan Field at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils are also the third seed for the upcoming North 2, Group 4 playoffs.
Westfield will face top-seeded and unbeaten Cranford in next week’s championship game. The Cougars improved to 19-0-2 and are in the final for the first time since 2002. Cranford, which set the school record for wins this season once it captured its 17th, has never won the UCT championship.
Cranford eliminated fourth-seeded Union 2-0 in Saturday’s second semifinal at Johnson. The Cougars have now outscored their first 21 foes by an impressive 65-7 margin and have not allowed more than one goal in any game so far this year.
Cranford defeated Westfield 1-0 on Sept. 17 at Westfield on a Ray El-Kouhry goal off a pass from Josh Barrera 17 minutes in. It was Cranford’s first win over Westfield since 2004.
Third-seeded Scotch Plains fell to 16-2-2 and will look forward to competing in the North 2, Group 3 playoffs, where it is the second seed.
It was also announced Saturday that the Westfield-at-Scotch Plains regular season game that has to be made up will decide who wins the Union County Conference-Watchung Division title.
Scotch Plains stormed out to a 2-0 lead, with Delsordi scoring on a shot inside the penalty box with his right foot just three minutes in and then Brian Kahn scored unassisted 12 minutes later. Kahn’s goal came after a fine two-handed save by Westfield senior goalie Adam Fine on a strong shot taken by Zak Flanzmann.
It took Westfield a little more than 10 minutes in the second half, but the Blue Devils finally got on the board when junior Eric Beyers scored off an assist from tall junior Joe Greenspan, who received a pass from Heine. Beyers scored on a right-footed shot from inside the penalty box after receiving a header pass from Greenspan.
Only three minutes later, Westfield had a long throw-in that led to a goal by Heine inside the penalty box.
Now, it was anybody’s game, but Westfield clearly had the momentum.
Westfield, clamping down on Scotch Plains defensively, managed to take the lead for the first time with 11:32 left when Greenspan got past D’Annunzio at the top of the penalty box and left-footed a shot into the right corner of the goal past Zukofsky.
"The difference was the strength they hahave with head balls off throw-ins and corner kicks,” Scotch Plains head coach Tom Breznitsky said. “Once they got it to 2-1, they got back in the game. We got a little bit out of our game and a little into theirs in the second half.”
Scotch Plains reached the final 11 years in a row from 1997-2007 and has not been eliminated before the championship game for the second straight season. The Raiders have won the most titles with 14, with Breztnitsky leading Scotch Plains to their last 12.
To Scotch Plains’ credit, the Raiders never relented and kept on attacking, hoping to tie the game. Getting inside the penalty box in the last minute, Greenspan first cleared a ball with his head, but Scotch Plains came right back to gain possession.
D’Annunzio then got the ball to senior Steven Bello, who headed it home from the center of the box to tie the game at 3-3 with just 12 seconds left.
“Give our kids credit, we fought until the end and tied it up and, unfortunately, it’s a tough way to lose,” Breznitsky said.
Neither team really had an outstanding chance to score in either 10-minute sudden death overtime period.
“A 2-0 lead very often is misleading because when somebody then gets one, now it becomes 2-1 and the momentum changes and they’re back in the game,” Breznitsky said.
Scotch Plains will now seek to get some momentum back in the north 2, Group 3 playoffs. The Raiders reached the final last year, losing to Millburn, and begin play this season with a home game against Morristown this week.
UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL AT JOHNSON’S NOLAN FIELD
3-SCOTCH PLAINS (16-2-2) 2 1 0 0 0 - 3
2-WESTFIELD (14-3-1) 0 3 0 0 1 – 4
FIRST HALF:
SCOTCH PLAINS - Goal: Mike Delsordi. Assist: Matt Greaney. Time: 37:53.
SCOTCH PLAINS LEADS 1-0
SCOTCH PLAINS – Goal: Brian Kahn. Assist: None. Time: 25:47.
SCOTCH PLAINS LEADS 2-0
SECOND HALF:
WESTFIELD – Goal: Eric Beyers. Assist: Joseph Greenspan. Time: 29:45.
SCOTCH PLAINS LEADS 2-1
WESTFIELD – Goal: Ryan Heine. Assist: None. Time: 26:34.
GAME TIED 2-2
WESTFIELD – Goal: Joseph Greenspan. Assist: Matt Daly. Time: 11:32.
WESTFIELD LEADS 3-2
SCOTCH PLAINS – Goal: Steven Bello. Assist: Joe D’Annunzio. Time: :12.
GAME TIED 3-3
FIRST 10-MINIUTE SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME PERIOD:
NO SCORING
SECOND 10-MINUTE SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME PERIOD:
NO SCORING
PENALTY KICK SHOOTOUT:
WESTFIELD WINS 4-3 IN SEVEN ROUNDS, WITH
WESTFIELD JUNIOR RYAN HEINE SCORING
THE WINNING GOAL AFTER SCOTCH PLAINS SENIOR
JOE D’ANNUNZIO MISSED.
SHOTS IN REGULATION: Scotch Plains 10, Westfield 9.
SAVES IN REGULATION: Scotch Plains senior goalie Anthony Zukofsky 7.
Westfield senior goalie Adam Fine 4.
SAVES IN PENALTY KICK SHOOTOUT: Zukofsky 2, Fine 3.
