Cranford Defeats Westfield for UCT Title

Since the boys soccer program started up at Cranford High School, the Cougars have never won a Union County Championship. Westfield fought to keep that piece of history the same Saturday night at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark.

With a little help from a Pat Hartnett goal with less than four minutes remaining in the first half, the Cougars remained undefeated for the season with a final 1-0 county win.

Hartnett, one of the top scorers in the county, headed the ball past Westfield goal keeper Adam Fine.

"I saw the goalie in the corner of my eye," said Hartnett. "I didn't get all of my ball, but I knew that it was going in."

When both teams faced each other earlier this season, Cranford also emerged with a 1-0 win. Yet this victory meant much more as it signaled the first county title for the Cougars boys soccer team.

"We're on Cloud 9," said Cranford head coach Mike Curci. "It's incredibly satisfying. This is the first title and no one can take it away from us.”

Westfield started the game shorthanded without two of their best players, Ryan Heine and Evan Heroux. Heine sat out because of a recent injury inflicted when an opponent stepped on his face. Heroux received a red card two games ago and had to sit out one game.

"That Heine is the engine that runs this team," said Westfield head coach George Kapner. "To play the way we did, speaks volumes about us. To Cranford's credit it was an amazing game."

While the Blue Devils dominated for the first 30 minutes of the game, Cranford sealed off its opponent's chances with defense.

“I put our defense out there against anybody and all we need is that golden chance on offense,” said Curci.

Kapner knows that Westfield dominated the play, but gave credit to Cranford and their striker.

"The goal really hurt," said Kapner. "We created several opportunities and did not finish. I thought we dominated in the first half and Hartnett was still able to figure how to score the goal."

Westfield had plenty of opportunities in the first half, but could not get the ball past Cranford keeper Scott Boyer, who registered his 17th shutout this season.

Bauer, along with the Cranford defenders, Ryan Lopes, Rob Ghiretti and Kaskiw, kept the Blue Devils strikers, Eric Byers, Kevin Clancy and Henry Smith, from finishing off their shots in the first half.

Play was choppy in the first half as both teams, especially Cranford, accumulated yellow cards.

After a stern warning and/or a realization that this was the county title game, the yellow cards slowly dissipated with the minutes ticking away to the final whistle.

Emboldened with the goal, Cranford's offense picked up and the second half appeared to be even.

Cranford will face Millburn, the defending Group 3 title holder, in the Group 3 North 2 state sectionals on Monday. The Blue Devils were knocked out of the state runnings on Friday by Dickinson in a 2-1 heartbreaker that went to penalty kicks. Westfield finished with a 14-4-3 record while Cranford upped its mark to 22-0-2.

The Cougars are looking to win the triple crown, conference, county and a state title, preferably the Group 3 title. Cranford has two of the three right now.

"We have won the conference and now the counties and we want the states," said Cougars defender Pat Kaskiw.

“Our job is not done yet,” said Curci.