Girls Soccer Looking to Reload

Coming off a season in which its went 17-4-1–and took trips to the State and County tournaments to boot–the Ridgewood Girls soccer team is back in full swing to prepare for the 2010 season.

With a new season comes new obstacles, and perhaps none is more daunting than finding away to replace the very talented departing senior class.

"It's hard to replace girls like Samantha Cermack, Kim Porfido, Paige Pearson and Abbey Van Horne," said head coach Jeff Yearing. "But we feel we have some players with great skill sets and ability that will help to make the transition a little easier."

Still, that already difficult transition will be a bigger challenge now without last year's second-leading goal scorer Sally Jentis, who decided to skip the soccer season altogether in favor of lacrosse.

Looking to fill the void will be a number of experienced standouts, including All-State honorees goal keeper Michele Savuto and midfielder Julie Campbell. Both players were recently named captains for the 2010 season along with fellow seniors Tara Porfido and Katie Garbarini, who was elected to the Tri-County Conference All-League team last year.

"Garbarini, Campbell and Porfido are outstanding positional players, while Savuto does a great job leading the defense from the goalkeeper position," said Yearing.

The Maroons will once again be operating from the 4-4-2 formation with an emphasis on ball possession. It's a style that helps the maroons control the game's tempo while also spreading out the opposing team's defense with crisp, accurate ball movement.

Up front at the forward position will be Christine Reynolds, the team's leading returning goal scorer. Reynolds put seven shots in the back of the net as a junior. However, the question remains: who will be joining her on the attack? At the moment the second forward has not been named, but Yearing insists there's enough talent to choose from.

"We actually have a very talented group of freshman coming into the program, and I fully expect some of them to compete for starting positions right away," Yearing said. "Not only that but we also have some girls with game experience looking to take advantage, so the practice battles should be interesting to watch."

Lining up in the midfield will be Campbell and Garbarini, who will be looked upon heavily to replace the gaping hole left by All-State performer and leading goal scorer Cermack, who is now attending Johns Hopkins University on a lacrosse scholarship.

The back line will feature Porfido and Samantha Giordano, and it has potential to be a good one. One thing to keep an eye on will be Porfido's mobility after damaging her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the 2008 season. It's the type of injury that usually takes two years to fully recover from, so the Maroons hope she'll be back at 100% when they kick their season off.

The season opener will be Sept. 11 at Hackensack as the Maroons begin their quest for three titles.

"Every year our goal remains the same and that's to contend for league, county and state titles, and this season's no different," said Yearing.

"The talent is there; I look forward to seeing what this group can do."