Tartaglia’s OT penalty lifts Hopewell over Lawrence
LAWRENCE » In the rough and tumble world of Colonial Valley Conference boys soccer, it is difficult to see two teams go at each other hard for 80 minutes with neither coming away with a win.
But when those games go an extra 10 or 20 minutes, it is even more difficult to see the decisive golden goal come because of a penalty kick.
Hopewell Valley High and Lawrence High had to deal with such an outcome Wednesday when 93 minutes of tight soccer came down to a ruling with 6:27 left in the second 10 minutes of overtime that gave the visiting Bulldogs a 2-1 win over the Cardinals.
The exhausted Hopewell players, who defeated Bridgewater-Raritan, 3-1, Tuesday night, came away with the result they desired when a foul near the side of the box resulted in a penalty. Senior midfielder Luke Tartaglia stepped up to convert the kick and put head coach Ed Gola’s team at .500 (4-4-1) for the first time this season.
Like the Bulldogs, Lawrence’s backs had put forth a tremendous effort to hold Hopewell in check after senior forward Eric Goldberg knocked in a pass from Tartaglia 6:15 into the second half. Cardinals senior goalkeeper Chris Sullivan came off his line and got a piece of Goldberg’s shot, but neither he nor a defender could get back to keep the ball from bouncing into the vacated goal.
“We knew coming into this week that we were going to have to work hard to get wins,” said Goldberg, who scored his fourth goal of the season. “After playing last night, we knew it would be a grind today, so we had to play hard.”
Head coach Keith Fithen’s squad had a similar approach after having a four-game unbeaten streak stopped versus Hightstown Monday when Lawrence surrendered two goals in a 30-second span.
This time, Cardinals backs Alex Hatfield, Jack Schloesser, Ryan Sargent and Alex Everman worked just as hard in front of Sullivan (10 saves) as Bulldogs backs Luke Harrison, Pat Mormile, Lucas Fesmire and Ian De Rusha did in front of goalkeepers Carmen Zangrilli (five saves) and Liam May (six saves) to keep more shots from finding their way into the back of the net.
In fact, the defenses played so well that it appeared Goldberg’s goal was going to stand, especially after Sullivan made a leaping grab on a high-bouncing head ball from Goldberg with 6:33 left. It was not until Lawrence made an all-out push with five seconds remaining in regulation that the home team tied the score. At that point, Hatfield went up to take a restart and Sargent headed the ball home to force OT.
“We push forward together. We play defense together,” Cardinals junior Sargent said. “It’s never one person’s fault when we lose. We need to work harder as a team.”
These CVC Valley Division foes will continue to work harder to get playing the way they want to be by season’s end. For Lawrence, that begins with another tough home challenge Friday versus Steinert (4 p.m.). Hopewell Valley waits one day longer for its next battle, this time at home versus West Windsor-Plainsboro South (2 p.m.).
HopewellVal(4-4-1) 0 1 0 1 — 2
Lawrence (3-6-1) 0 1 0 0 — 1
Goals: Goldberg, Tartaglia (HV), Sargent (L); Assists: Tartaglia (HV), Hatfield (L).
Shots: 12 (HV), 12 (L); Saves: CZangrilli 5, May 6 (HV), Sullivan 10 (L).