Forgive Harrison head coach Mike Rusek Jr. for feeling exhausted after the first week of the state tournament. That’s because Friday night’s North 2, Group 2 quarterfinal against Mendham was the type of game a coach won’t forget.
It took 80 minutes of regulation, a pair of scoreless overtime periods and then penalty kicks before the Blue Tide ensured their season would continue on as it outlasted Mendham squad in PKs by a 4-3 margin.
Next up for Harrison on Tuesday afternoon is another daunting challenge in Voorhees, the reigning Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament champions, who earned an impressive 3-0 victory over Lyndhurst in the quarterfinals.
If Harrison defeated Voorhees, it will host either Madison or Bernards in the final on Friday.
“We’re only two games in. It feels like five,” Rusek said. “But we’re feeling confident for the next round.
Considering Harrison’s recent, tortured history of penalty kicks in recent state tournament runs, Rusek did admit feeling a little bit of dread as the night went along.
Despite having a significant edge in shots and offensive opportunities, Harrison failed to break through against a battle-tested Mendham team that owned a win over state power Delbarton.
Mendham keeper Xavier Cresti was stellar, making 19 saves, highlighted by the save on a penalty kick late in regulation.
“You think as a coach, man, we had our opportunity and the goalie made a great save on it and now Mendham was sky high,” Rusek said. “You could almost tell in overtime that they were really just playing to get to penalty kicks. I wasn’t very confident and into penalty kicks. The past 10 years, we’ve had more losses in those situations than we’ve had wins.”
This time proved different.
Kicking second in each round, Harrison got started on the right foot with a goal by Ezequiel Soto. Mendham missed its second kick, setting the stage for the Blue Tide’s Jhowy Picon, who scored to give Harrison a 2-1 lead.
In the third round, Mendham scored to tie it before Kiandry Aban put Harrison back in front with a goal. Again Mendham tied it up by scoring in the fourth round, only for Harrison to regain the lead on a goal by Pedro Barreto Reis.
Needing a goal in the fifth round to keep the game going, Mendham’s shot drifted above the crossbar, giving Harrison the win.
“We’re really proud of how they battled,” said Rusek. “We also said to them, in the state tournament, you never know when you’re going to come across that one game where things just don’t go your way. Mendham really showed up, ready to play.”
Harrison gets to play another day, the only Observer-area team that can say that after the first week of the state tournament. This past weekend was a particularly rough one for our local soccer teams, which went a combined 1-6 in the second round.
In North 1, Group 4, Kearny saw its six game winning streak come to an end on Friday evening to state-ranked Montclair as two late goals propelled the Mounties to a 2-0 victory.
Voorhees, Harrison’s next opponent, shut out Lyndhurst, 3-0, ending the storied career of Robert Dasler Jr., who will graduate as the program’s career goals leader with 88 after scoring a single-season record 43 goals this year.
In North 2, Group 3, Nutley’s bounceback season ended with a heart-breaking penalty kick loss at Colonia.
One day later, Kearny’s girls soccer team experienced a similar penalty kick heartbreak in North 1, Group 4. The Kardinals traveled to top-seeded Ridgewood, tied the game with a goal in the second half, but ultimately fell in PKs, 6-5.
Saturday also saw Nutley fall to Middletown North, 4-0, in North 2, Group 3. While in North 2, Group 1, North Arlington was done in by a big second half and lost 5-1 to Verona.
Also, on Saturday, Belleville girls volleyball team’s surprise run in North 2, Group 3 ended with a 25-19, 25-12, 25-9 loss at Scotch Plains-Fanwood in the semifinals. Belleville, seeded 12, defeated Newark Central and Summit in the first two rounds for what was the Bucs’ best state tournament performance in recent years.
Kearny also enjoyed a first round upset in North 2, Group 3 when, as a 13 seed, it upset fourth-seeded Newark East Side in a five set thriller before falling to Elizabeth in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Learn more about the writer ...
Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)