Ridgewood ends Raiders’ run at county title

Ramapo has beaten every top Bergen County team that has crossed their path this season with only one exception, Ridgewood.  The Raiders lost to the Maroons 9-6 in early April, and once again the outcome was in Ridgewood’s favor in the Bergen County semifinals on Sunday at Indian Hills.

The Maroons got out to a big lead in the first half and rolled past the Raiders with a 12-4 win to advance to the county finals.

Ramapo Coach Tim Roy credited Ridgewood’s great fundamentals, execution, and tremendous coaching as the Maroons greatest strengths.  “If you ask me, I think they may be the best team in the state,” said Roy.

The top seeded Maroons were able to execute and take advantage of their opportunities, while Ramapo struggled to get on the scoreboard. The Raiders had trouble with some of the things they have done so well all year; throwing the ball away, dropping balls, and making some careless mistakes.  Their defense and goalkeeping, which has been a huge strongpoint as well this year, struggled to contain the talented Ridgewood attack.

“We didn’t bring our 'A' game today,” said Roy.  “The goalie had a hard time seeing the ball early, which made it different because he’s been big all year.”

Down 1-0 in the first, Ramapo got a few chances but could not notch the equalizer.  They moved the ball well, but errors kept them from capitalizing on these chances. “We were getting good looks, we just weren’t getting the ball to those looks,” said Roy.

Ridgewood added one more in the first quarter then turned it up to start the second,  scoring two within about a minute to go up 4-0.  Ramapo finally got on the board on a Chris Colaneri (2 goals) goal, but Ridgewood struck back with three unanswered scores to take a 7-1 lead into halftime.

The Maroons led by as many as ten, and went on to win by eight after a couple late goals by Dan Smith.  Sal Sassano assisted on two or the four Ramapo goals.

Ramapo will look to use this game as a learning experience to help prepare them for the state tourney.  Coach Roy believes a loss like this will them help find their weaknesses and get rid of those mistakes come tournament time.

The state tournament cutoff is May 14^th, so the Raiders are looking to get a two or three seed in the Group 2 playoffs.  They will try and solidify a spot as one of those high seeds when they take on Indian Hills and Passaic county champ, DePaul next week.

Download the movie