Rebels eye deep postseason run

Ridgewood’s soccer team ended its regular season with some excitement with a 1-1 draw at Maine South on Oct. 13.

Senior midfielder Sam Perez netted the tying goal off a rebound on a free kick opportunity with 1:30 remaining in the game to avoid the loss.

“I was very proud of the determination and hard-nosed attitude our guys had in the second half,” said Ridgewood head coach Rob St. John. “They did not want to go down without a fight in their last game of the regular season.”

Matt Pec received a blow to the head that earned the free kick that led to the game-tying goal, but Pec had to leave the game with a severe concussion leaving his availability for the regional playoffs in doubt. Perez replaced him at that point and was there for the rebound off of Andy Mazurczak’s header that came off of a great Przemyslaw Zabielski cross from 35 yards out.

The weather played a role in both goals in the game as the field was wet from rains before the game. The rain came back just after the Rebels’ tying score. Sophomore defender Nadim Kehayov got a spot start in the line-up, but he slipped on the wet turf opening up the opportunity for the Maine South goal in the first half.

Mazurczak put the ball in the back of the net early in the second half but was ruled offside. Bart Piechota took a fine free kick that beat the wall and was headed toward goal before the Maine South goalkeeper was able to make the difficult save.

Ridgewood (11-6-1, 3-3) will host the playoffs through the sectional championship, and the Rebels’ goals are to make a deep run like they were able to do a year ago. Should they win the regional semifinal against Kelvyn Park on Oct. 18, the Rebels will face the Lakeview-Northside Prep winner at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening.

“We have high expectations of ourselves and realize it will take a contribution from everyone to advance to the lengths we did last year,” St. John said. “Many people dream of making it to the state championship, and we were able to make that dream a reality last year. This is a new year, but the goal remains the same: Play hard and advance as deep as possible.”

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