Familiar Foes Square Off Again in Soccer Championship

Paul Heenehan let his team enjoy a state tournament win over Indian Hills for all of 90 seconds Wednesday afternoon before he lined the girls up along the sideline and told them that their preparation for the next round of the state tournament—less than 24 hours later—had officially begun.

And just so they knew he wasn’t kidding, Heenehan then launched them into a series of calisthenics. Such is life in the green and white, when you’re one of the odds-on favorites to win a county championship and a state title year-in and year-out.

Not so fast, says the 33-year coach.

“I was actually concerned heading into this [Wednesday’s] game,” said Heenehan. “This weather has everyone behind the eight-ball. We’re used to playing a game every third day, and prior to today we hadn’t played in over a week and hadn’t practiced in four or five days.”

True to their championship pedigree, Ramapo shook off the early cobwebs and steamrolled to a 7-0 win. That set up a Thursday game with Demarest, which Ramapo took, 4-1.

Now, Ramapo (15-1) is solely fixed on what every season seems to come down to: a match with archrival Northern Highlands. This one—for a Bergen County Championship Saturday at 3 p.m. at Indian Hills High School—will be high value for your entertainment dollar.

One game at a time, said the coach.

“Today was about getting our bodies back into soccer,” said Heenehan. “We’re bumped and we’re bruised and we’re sore now, like we should be at this time of year. Playing back-to-back state tournament games is certainly not an ideal situation, but we’ve all had games weathered out and we’re out of our rhythm.”

A rainout last Thursday was to pit Ramapo and Northern Highlands. Top-seeded Highlands handed (No. 2) Ramapo its only loss of the season, a 6-2 drubbing at Highlands in September, and the Raiders were determined to balance the books—especially considering the county final loomed just 48 hours later.

Don’t think for a second that a week’s worth of turbulent weather has done anything to calm the storm of this classic high school rivalry. Highlands remains unbeaten, is averaging six goals per game, and has eight county crowns to their credit—but none since a shared title with IHA in 2005. Ramapo has won 12 county titles, but surprisingly none since 2003.

“We certainly respect Highlands’ ability to put the ball in the back of the net,” said Heenehan. “They’ve got multiple scoring threats and tremendous speed. But we also know we’re a different team than when we played them the first time.”

Ramapo is fresh off a semifinal win over IHA, the four-time defending Bergen County champs. By preventing IHA from a fifth straight championship, Ramapo preserved their own record as the only girls program to win five consecutive crowns. As many moons ago as that was (1981-85), Ramapo’s slaying of a dragon had to provide a mental boost.

“We have a lot of confidence coming off the IHA game,” said Heenehan. “If we can execute our game plan against Highlands we’ll give ourselves the greatest opportunity to come out on top. IHA brought the best outin us, and I know Highlands will bring out the best in us as well.”