SP-F Boys Soccer Team Defeats Plainfield, Moves on to Challenge Westfield

To show you how balanced boys’ soccer is in Union County this season, all four of Saturday’s Union County Tournament quarterfinal matchups were decided by one goal.

But while top-seeded Cranford, second-seeded Westfield and fourth-seeded Union had already won their matches at home, third-seeded Scotch Plains and 11th-seeded Plainfield were involved in a match that went beyond regulation time and then past two 10-minute sudden death overtime periods.

The visiting Cardinals and home team Raiders battled back and forth for 100 minutes and nothing was yet decided at Shimme A.Wexler Field as the score remained 2-2.

That meant a penalty kick shootout was going to decide who would play Westfield in next Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal at Johnson High School in Clark.

With the penalty kick shootout score tied 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh, up stepped Scotch Plains senior Joe D’Annunzio, who earlier this fall announced that he will attend Rutgers University on a baseball scholarship.

At 6:05 p.m. and with it getting colder, darker and with the rain coming down harder, D’Annunzio — who scored Scotch Plains’ second goal earlier in the shootout — blasted a shot past the Plainfield goalkeeper and into the net to lift his team to a 3-2 UCT win over upstart Plainfield.

Scotch Plains won the penalty kick shootout 7-6 and made all seven of its penalty kicks.

Like many times on the baseball diamond, D’Annunzio came through with the money on the line – this time scoring a walk-off, game-winning soccer goal.

“I just try to stay relaxed,” said D’Annunzio, who is one of the top defenders in Union County. “We take a lot of penalty kicks in practice to prepare for this.”

“For years and years we’ve been practicing penalty kicks for these shootouts,” said longtime and highly-successful Scotch Plains head coach Tom Breznitsky.

Scotch Plains failed to reach the final last year for the first time since 1996, so this really would have been a devastating loss for the Raiders, for them not to have reached the semifinals.

From 1997-2007 – 11 seasons – Scotch Plains went 8-3 in the championship game, losing only to Union in 1999, Linden in 2003 and Elizabeth in 2005. For Linden and Elizabeth those years, it was their first championship. It was Union’s fourth and last in 1999.

“Thank God we came out with the win,” D’Annunzio said.

The Raiders are seeking their record 15th title and 13th under Breznitsky’s guidance.

“We beat Plainfield 1-0 at our place and 4-0 at theirs and they came to play today, so you have to give them credit,” Breznitsky said.

Scotch Plains improved to 13-1-1 and will now face Westfield in the semifinals. The Blue Devils last reached the final in 1996, which was the last year they won the championship.

So far in regular season play, Westfield owns a 2-1 win over Scotch Plains at home. That’s what got the Blue Devils the No. 2 seed and Scotch Plains the No. 3 seed, so next Friday at Johnson the Raiders will play as the visiting team.

Plainfield fell to 5-8 and will need to go 3-0 this week to qualify in North 2, Group 4. The state playoff cutoff date is Friday.

A goal by Plainfield forward Kevin Veliz with 10:10 left in the second half tied the game at 2-2. Veliz lined up for a free kick just outside the penalty box at left and curved a strong and high shot past Scotch Plains goalkeeper Anthony Zukofsky and in the upper left corner of the goal.

Scotch Plains led 2-1 at halftime after senior Mike DelSordi tied the game at 1-1 with penalty kick goal at 26:20 and then gave his team a one-goal lead with just one minute remaining before halftime.

Plainfield jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Walter Guardado scored in the 12th minute.

Zukofsky finished with three saves and Jonathan Arias four for Plainfield.

With 18 minutes left in the second half, Scotch Plains took a shot in the penalty box that hit the left post.

“For the first 80 minutes (regulation time) it was a pretty good match,” Breznitsky said. “In the second half we had no rhythm offensively and were unlucky when the ball hit the crossbar. That changed the complexion of the game.”

Had that goal gone in, Scotch Plains would have had a huge 3-1 lead. Instead, it didn’t and Plainfield came back to tie the game at 2-2 some eight minutes later. By scoring that tying goal, the Cardinals ended up making the match one that will be remembered for a long time.

Neither team really had a super dangerous chance in either 10-minute sudden death overtime period.

Then when the game went to penalty kicks, both teams scored their first five, which rarely happens. Then both teams scored their sixth goal as well, with the pressure on Scotch Plains, which shot second in the shootout.

DelSordi, like D’Annunzio, made both of his penalty kicks in the shootout. He made the first and sixth ones.

The only penalty kick that was missed in the shootout was by the Plainfield backup goalie, whose shot in the top of the seventh went high over the crossbar. He scored earlier in the shootout for the Cardinals.

In last year’s North 2, Group 3 semifinals, Scotch Plains defeated Summit by a 2-1 score after winning a penalty kick shootout.

“We scored all five and then Anthony (Zukofsky) saved their fifth shot,” Breznitsky said.

Zukofsky and Arias made saves during the penalty kick shootout that were not allowed because the ref said both goalies moved off the goal line too quickly.

Zukofsky saved Plainfield’s third shot, but the Cardinals came back to score that third shot after the ref said no save.

Arias saved Scotch Plains’ fifth shot and then the Plainfield coaches and players ran on the field in celebration.

However, the ref – again and showing some justice – ruled no save. Scotch Plains then scored on the re-try and the penalty kick shootout went to a sixth round.

“We take pride in every game we play,” D’Annunzio said. “Every game is a big one for us and one we want to win badly.”

The only other game Scotch Plains has not won so far was a 0-0 draw at home against Bridgewater-Raritan on Sept. 29.

NOTES: Westfield’s win this season over Scotch Plains was its sixth straight in the regular season over the Raiders.

Scotch Plains last defeated Westfield in the 2007 UCT.

Scotch Plains had an 11-5 edge in shots in the regular season meeting, with Travis McEvoy tying the game for the Raiders and Ryan Heine of Westfield scoring the winning goal on a header in the second half. Joe Greenspan scored in the first half for the Blue Devils.

Zukofsky made seven saves and Westfield keeper Adam Fine five.

All four UCT semifinalists are also ranked among the Top 20 teams in the state by The Star-Ledger, showing that Union County is having a pretty good season statewide.

Westfield and Union will vie for the North 2, Group 4 crown and Cranford and Scotch Plains will be going for the North 2, Group 3 title.

Cranford defeated Elizabeth by a 2-1 score for the second time ths week after falling at eventual champion Elizabeth 1-0 in last year’s quarterfinals.

The Cougars are now 15-0 and have outscored the opposition 56-6, never allowing more than one goal in any game so far this season.  

2009 BOYS' SOCCER 
UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT 
 
SEEDS: 
1-Cranford. 2-Westfield. 3-Scotch Plains. 4-Union. 
5-Governor Livingston. 6-New Providence. 7-Johnson. 8-Elizabeth. 
9-Summit. 10-Linden. 11-Plainfield. 12-Rahway. 
13-Oratory Prep. 14-Dayton. 15-Brearley. 16-Union Catholic. 
17-Roselle Catholic. 
 
PRELIMINARY ROUND: 
Tuesday, Oct. 6 
Union Catholic 2, Roselle Catholic 1 (OT) - at Roselle Catholic 
 
FIRST ROUND: 
Wednesday, Oct. 7 
Linden 3, Johnson 2 - at Johnson 
Thursday, Oct. 8 
Elizabeth 2, Summit 1 (OT) - at Elizabeth 
Saturday, Oct. 10

Rahway 3, Governor Livingston 0 – at Governor Livingston

Union 6, Oratory Prep 1 – at Union

Cranford 3, Union Catholic 0 – at Cranford

Plainfield 1, New Providence 0 (OT) – at New Providence

Scotch Plains 4, Dayton 0 – at Scotch Plains

Westfield 6, Brearley 1 – at Westfield

 
QUARTERFINALS: 
Saturday, Oct. 17

TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET:

Union 2, Rahway 1 – at Union

Cranford 2, Elizabeth 1 – at Cranford

BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET:

Scotch Plains 3, Plainfield 2 (PKs 7-6) – at Scotch Plains

Westfield 1, Linden 0 – at Westfield  

SEMIFINALS: 
Friday, Oct. 23 at Johnson 
3-Scotch Plains vs. 2-Westfield, 5 p.m 
4-Union vs. 1-Cranford, 7 p.m. 
 
FINAL: 
Saturday, Oct. 31 at Johnson 
Semifinal winners, 5:30 p.m.