Sports

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Sports

The Observer | www.theobserver.com & Recreation

WITH Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com

With Lyndhurst girls’ soccer team, it’s nice to share

It’s certainly hard to argue with the success the Lyndhurst High School girls’ soccer team has enjoyed so far this season.

In this crazy year turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Golden Bears have been nothing short of perfect.

The Golden Bears have played four games to date. All four have been shutout victories. That’s rare in itself, even when you consider that the goalkeeper is a freshman.

But the Bears are also sharing the wealth and obviously sharing the ball.

Take for instance a recent 7-0 win over Weehawken. In astounding fashion, seven different girls scored one goal each. One might figure that there would a standout performer who would knock home two, perhaps three.

Nope. Seven goals for seven girls. Sounds like a hokey Broadway show in the 1950s that made its way to the silver screen, starring Howard Keel and Jane Powell.

That one was “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” and none of these Golden Bear teenagers are getting married anytime soon.

But it is a soccer rarity, much like four straight shutouts to start the season, outscoring the competition 20-to-zip.

Kim Hykey is the veteran head coach at Lyndhurst, incredibly beginning her 11th season already after having a great career as the all-time scoring leader at Lyndhurst before heading off to play at Seton Hall.

Hykey also believes that the seven goals for seven different Golden Bears routine posed a rarity, considering the circumstances of the season.

“It’s crazy because we didn’t have a preseason,” Hykey said. “In a regular year, we might have a scorer or two.”

So the Golden Bears are also sharing one common goal.

“We’re totally focused on the state tournament,” Hykey said. “We’re trying to do something that has never been done before.”

It means winning the NJSIAA state sectional championship.

“We never won a state sectional,” Hykey said. “So it’s absolutely our goal. I usually try to undersell things like that. But this year, we have to aim high and hopefully that will happen. We have

North Arlington boys’ soccer team owns two impressive wins

By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com

Jesse Dembowski knows that the people who devise the schedules for the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference don’t generally dislike his North Arlington High School boys’ soccer team, but the NJIC schedule makers haven’t been exactly kind to the Vikings in recent years.

So when veteran head coach Dembowski saw that the new-fangled slate was totally different for 2020 due to restrictions placed upon New Jersey high school athletics because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dembowski had to just shrug his shoulders.

“We want to play our best soccer against the best teams,” Dembowski said. “I told the players that this was their time to shine. The attitudes changed for the better and they worked harder.”

Sure enough, the preseason pep talk had to have worked, because despite the horrific schedule, the Vikings have trudged on – and done quite well for that matter.

In the early stages of the season, the Vikings have tied powerful Lyndhurst, then managed to knock off perennial soccer powers Wallington and Harrison in successive games.

For a team that lost its last six games of last season, this is no small accomplishment.

Mind you, these were games dominated by defense, as the Vikings won 1-0 over Wallington and 2-1 over Harrison. In fact, the Vikings have played four games (2-11) and have scored a total of four goals. This is a defensive-minded team.

“We are built from the back up,” Dembowski said. “We preach defense over

Photo by Jim Hague

The North Arlington boys’ soccer team is off to a fi ne start, thanks to the defensive backline. From front to back, they are Sean Manzo, Shane Gilchrist, Nicholas Rotondo, Samuel Flores, Martin Ramos, Metin San, Christopher Gilmour and in goal with the ball, Tony Alho. Head coach Jesse Dembowski is in the far rear.

and over.”

But getting the win over the Blue Tide was a major accomplishment, because it was the first time since 2006 that North Arlington had defeated Harrison in boys’ soccer.

Dembowski doesn’t mind having a defensive minded team, especially with the Vikings’ last line of defense standing in goal.

Senior Tony Alho is the Vikings’ net minder and simply put, he has to rank among the top goalies in the entire state.

“We’re 100 percent confident with Tony in goal,” Dembowski said. “I know right now he’s at the top of his game.”

Still, there aren’t a lot of colleges that are looking at Alho, which is mindboggling.

“He’s still looking at some schools,” Dembowski said. “I think Tony has taken it as a challenge. Right now, he’s the best he’s ever been. He’s fine tuned.”

Alho, who is also an outstanding baseball player, collected five saves in the shutout win over Wallington and had an astounding 18 saves in the win over Harrison.

The Vikings use three defenders on the backline, spearheaded by sophomore Sean Manzo.

“He’s going to be a hell of a player for us,” Dembowski said of Manzo. “He’s fantastic. He’s not the biggest kid in the world, but he’s fearless. He wins a lot of the 50/50 balls. He plays the backline like he’s a pro. Colleges should be looking at him right now.”

The other defenders are senior Nicholas Rotondo and sophomore Tomas Custodio.

“Nick will go against the