Ramapo Takes a Run at County Title

When you’re a perennial state soccer power, the tendency is to go right for the jugular. But in Sunday’s Bergen County Tournament Championship, the Ramapo boys soccer team will be asked to apply a different approach.

A freak October snowstorm forced the 14-0 boys to wait an extra week for the Bergen County Soccer Tournament championship game with Old Tappan (11-3-1). Now, their coach will ask them to wait a little longer. It will all finally come to a boil on Sunday at Indian Hills High School at 3 p.m.

After Old Tappan’s 2-1 semifinal win over Ramsey, which put them into the county finals for the first time, coach Mike Hanchar credited the play of his center defenders for shutting the door on Ramsey 30 yards out from the Golden Knights’ goal. OT’s defensive mindset will have Ramapo thinking more conservatively on offense.

“They play a low pressure game, and we’ll have to do our best to find the holes,” said 26-year Raider coach Evan Baumgarten. “They have a lot of kids down low [in the defensive third], and we’ll urge our players to be patient and not to rush or try to force things.”

Top-seeded Ramapo earned its way into the finals with a 2-0 semifinal win over Northern Highlands. Although Ramapo has been as dominant as ever over the past two seasons—reaching the county and state sectional final in a 19-2 season last year, they have been focused on unfinished business all year long.

Only one current Raider, senior co-captain Brandon Alvarado, was on the field for Ramapo as a freshman in the title game in 2008. Alvarado scored the game-winner, and his varsity career has followed a storied path since.

“We’ve gotten tremendous senior leadership from Brandon and Matt (Diezel),” said Baumgarten. “Those kind of leaders aren’t easy to replace, and they’re a big reason this group loves being a team and competing together.”

Ramapo and Old Tappan were scheduled to go head-to-head in a regular season game on October 17, but it was postponed when County Tournament games were scheduled the day before. When Ramapo won the league title—its 12^th straight—the game became inconsequential and was canceled.

They may only have two senior starters, but Baumgarten expects his team to take the field with the same steely-eyed determination they have most of the season. Their week started slowly with only unofficial “captains” workouts Monday and Tuesday, and a 7-0 state tournament game against Vernon on Wednesday, but Baumgarten expects fire in the eyes of his players Sunday afternoon.

“Our level of training and commitment is high on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “We know Old Tappan is a good team and it’s going to be a good challenge. Our guys are looking forward to it.”