Boys soccer falls in county semifinals
October 27, 2017
After a controversial call in the game on Oct. 22, the Glen Rock boys soccer team fell to Ramapo 4-2 at Ramapo High School’s field.
The Glen Rock boys soccer team was waiting all season to show everyone that they belonged in the semi-finals of the Bergen County tournament this past Sunday. The Panthers took on the No. 7 team Ramapo High School. Glen Rock was not favored throughout most of the tournament, but they had upset wins over No. 2 Pascack Valley and No. 7 Fort Lee.
With under 3 minutes to play Ramapo’s Andrew Furman took a throw-in and stepped over the line, which prompted the sideline official to raise his flag. However, the field referee did not see the linesman’s call and Ramapo played on, scoring on Glen Rock. Ramapo’s fans celebrated with joy, while Glen Rock’s pointed angrily at the missed call for the thrown in-violation.
The referees deliberated while fans were debated it hotly. The main referee stood by his call and said the goal stood. Ramapo took a 3-2 lead with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game.
Glen Rock played strong in the second half, but Sebastian Varela of Ramapo scored with 34 minutes left in the second half to give Ramapo a 2-0 lead.
After the controversial call, Ramapo tacked on an additional goal to make it 4-2, ending Glen Rock’s hopes of the county tournament finals.
Glen Rock started off slowly in the first half, with Ramapo getting most of the chances to score with the ball in Glen Rock’s backfield. Rampo took advantage of Glen Rock’s slow start and Ramapo’s Liam Nelson scored the first goal with eleven minutes left in the first half.
With about 10 seconds left in the half, Glen Rock’s Nick Rodgers hit the post. The Panther fans got excited with hopes of a change in the momentum of the game to favor Glen Rock as they were going into halftime.
Glen Rock never gave up all season long no matter what the score was or who they were playing, The fans believed that Glen Rock could come back and pull off a win.
Ben Zakowski took advantage of Ramapo’s goalie came out of net and scored Glen Rock’s first goal of the game with 31 minutes left.
Justin Kochman then got fouled as he was inside Ramapo’s goalie box and awarded a penalty kick. Mark Buckel took the kick for Glen Rock and delivered on it, tying the score 2-2.