Cougars Kick Past Hillside In Overtime

Tommy Paparatto had no experience taking direct kicks. Fortunately for the Cranford boys’ soccer team that didn’t matter one bit.

The junior center midfielder, playing in only his second game of the season after coming back from an ACL injury, blasted in the first direct kick he ever took to lift the 10th-seeded Cougars past 15th-seeded Hillside 1-0 in overtime in a Union County Tournament preliminary round game Thursday night at Memorial Field.
Paparatto’s first goal of the season, unassisted and from 18 yards away, came in the 87th minute as there was only 2:38 left in the first 10-minute sudden death overtime period.

“I saw the keeper was on the wrong side and that their wall was not
set up properly,” Paparatto said.

Paparatto’s right-footed blast from the left side of the field blistered past Hillside goalie Godswill Akuwudike and into the right corner of the goal. Akuwudike might have gotten a hand on it, but it was not enough to prevent the ball from going in.

“I wanted to get it on net and struck it pretty hard,” Paparatto said. “The goalie was sort of hanging in the middle, so I drove it in the back post. I was praying it would go in.”

Cranford improved to 4-6-3, while Hillside fell to 4-6-1. The Cougars will next play at seventh-seeded Linden Saturday in a first round matchup. The winner of that game will play at second-seeded Governor Livingston Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Berkeley Heights. Linden blanked 18th-seeded Oratory Prep of Summit 6-0 Thursday at home in its preliminary round match. Cranford lost at Linden 5-4 in overtime in Union County Conference- Watchung Division play back on Sept. 30. It was a game the Cougars led 4- 2 in the second half only to see Linden come back and tie it and then win it with a goal one minute into overtime.
The teams are scheduled to play once more in division competition Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field.

Paparatto’s first game this season was Tuesday’s 1-0 division setback
at Elizabeth.

“Tommy was out for awhile,” Cranford seventh-year head coach Mike Curci said. “In my 30 years of coaching I’ve never seen anyone work harder at trying to get back on the field than Tommy. He was cleared to play last week and got his first taste against Elizabeth. He’s an important part of our team and we missed him all season.”

In a game that play was pretty evenly matched, Curci had faith that a quality shot by Paparatto in that situation could end it before a second sudden death overtime period loomed.

“I had confidence in him in that spot,” Curci said. “He placed it perfectly.”

In the first half, Cranford had the better of the field position, but Hillside had the two best chances. Cougar freshman goalkeeper Zach Hoffman made outstanding diving saves of point-blank shots taken by Hillside’s Marlon Silva with 18:55 left and by Rasheed Amilcar with 11 minutes to go before halftime. On Silva’s shot, which came from the middle inside the penalty box, Hoffman made a nice, one-hand save. On Amilcar’s shot, which was also from inside the penalty box, Hoffman dove to his left to make a one-handed stop.

Moments later Hoffman made another save diving to his left again and then teammate Ryan Wright, one of Cranford’s defenders, did well to clear the ball away from further harm.

“Zach is now 3-2-1 since he became the starter and he’s been tremendous,” Curci said. “He kept us in the game in the first half.”

The best chance in the second half belonged to Cranford senior George El-Khoury. In the middle of the field he fired a left-footed shot from 20 yards away that banged hard off the middle of the crossbar. Later in the half when the Cougars were attacking, Akuwudike came out to punch the ball away with 13 minutes remaining.

“Both teams worked hard and had chances,” Paparatto said. “In overtime we were pumped up to come out and score.”

Cranford is now 2-2 in overtime games this season including a 1- 0 double overtime loss at West Essex on Sept. 24, a 5-4 single overtime setback at Linden on Sept. 30 and a 3-2 single overtime triumph at Plainfield on Oct. 6.

“Hillside really pushed us and they could have won,” Curci said. “As the game was going on I was thinking about penalty kicks and looking at the list I had in my pocket.”

If neither team had scored through the two 10-minute sudden death overtime periods then the game would have been decided in a penalty kick shootout because a winner had to advance. The only time there are no penalty kicks in the UCT is the championship game, with both teams declared co-champions.

“This was a game that was neck and neck,” Curci said. “I thought our defense, led by Jake Waleski, Ryan Wright and Dan Van Ostenbridge, did a nice job in the second half.”

NOTES: Almost four minutes into overtime, Hillside’s No. 3, Nick Carre, and Cranford’s Wright collided, bumping heads. Wright was down on the field longer, while Carre walked back to his bench. However, after the game ended four minutes later, Carre was still in pain and an ambulance had to be called. He was taken to St. Barnabus Medical Center in Livingston. Curci said that Wright will also receive medical attention for his injury.

“It was just one of those plays that happened so fast,” Curci said.