Sports
Boys Soccer Heads to County Finals
Cranford's boys soccer team will take on Westfield at the county finals.
The Cranford High School boy’s soccer team has never won a Union County Tournament title. The Cougars haven’t been to a Union County Tournament final since 2002.
They achieved the latter Saturday night.
Top-seeded Cranford (19-0-1) scored two second-half goals to beat Union 2-0 at Arthur L. Johnson.
The victory keeps the Cougars unbeaten at 19-0-2 and moves them into the county final against second-seeded Westfield, who defeated Scotch Plains-Fanwood in the other semifinal in a penalty kick shootout.
The Cougars ran off the field toward their bus in the steady rain, yelling “one more, one more.’’
The first goal was textbook as junior Connor DeMars started the play, passing to senior Alex Rocha, who crossed to senior Pat Hartnett who headed the ball in past Farmer keeper David Rodriguez.
“Connor put a through ball through two guys and I saw Hartnett and crossed it and Hartnett one timed it,’’ Rocha said.
Harnett leads Cranford with 22 goals. Senior keeper Scott Boyer made nine saves for his 15th shutout of the season. Union outshot Cranford 14-12, but Boyer came up big several times, stopping at least two one-on-one Farmer chances.
"I'm so proud of the boys for their effort, especially in the second half," said Cranford coach Mike Curci. "I really thought the first goal in this game would be big. And it was."
The first goal was textbook as junior Connor DeMars started the play, passing to senior Alex Rocha, who crossed to senior Pat Hartnett who headed the ball in past Farmer keeper David Rodriguez.
“Connor put a through ball through two guys and I saw Hartnett and crossed it and Hartnett one timed it,’’ Rocha said.
Harnett leads Cranford with 22 goals. Senior keeper Scott Boyer made nine saves for his 15th shutout of the season. Union outshot Cranford 14-12, but Boyer came up big several times, stopping at least two one-on-one Farmer chances.
"I'm so proud of the boys for their effort, especially in the second half," said Cranford coach Mike Curci. "I really thought the first goal in this game would be big. And it was."
The second goal was an amazing one. Senior sweeper Pat Kaskiw beat Rodriguez on a shot from about 50 yards away.
“That ball took the longest time to land in the net,’’ said Kaskiw. “I was just looking to put the ball on goal. You never know.’’
That shot amazed Kaskiw’s teammates.
“It was a direct kick – that was amazing stuff,’’ said junior middie Ray El-Khoury. “He’s a great sweeper and he has scored several goals. Once we got that second knew we knew it was our night.
“It really came on to who had the heart of a lion,’’ he added.
The Union County final will begin at 5:30pm next Saturday.
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