Wednesday, October 6, 2021
The Observer | www.theobserver.com
Sports & Recreation WITH
Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com
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Kardinals facing much tougher girls’ soccer schedule
Belleville girls’ soccer team sits atop SEC Colonial Faith D’Angelis has taken over the coaching reins with the girls’ soccer program at Belleville High School, replacing long-time coach Bethann Garrett, who had to endure a 1-13 campaign last year, including 13 losses in a row to close the season out. D’Angelis isn’t fazed by what happened in the past. After all, she has nothing to go on. She’s a native of Holtsville on Long Island, a 22-year-old newcomer who just graduated from the soccer team at Caldwell University. “When I was at Caldwell, I decided I wanted to become a teacher and I decided that I wanted to stay in New Jersey,” D’Angelis said. So when Garrett decided not to return, D’Angelis inquired about the position, despite her relatively young age. “I actually got the job early on,” D’Angelis said. “At first, it was a little tough coming in. I realized that a lot of them have jobs and other commitments. I had to work a little to get them all together. Once they learned a little bit about me, they felt more comfortable.” D’Angelis said that she also had a better feeling about her team in late
August. “That’s when things started clicking,” D’Angelis said. The Buccaneers have a lot of returning players, but remarkably, the team has very few seniors. “The chemistry was already there,” D’Angelis said. “I think we have a good team with a good future. We had a lot of newcomers coming in.” But no one could have ever predicted what is transpiring with D’Angelis’ team. The Bucs own a 6-1 record and sit atop the Super Essex County-Colonial Division standings. Imagine that. A team has gone from a 13-match losing streak to a 6-1 record in one year. That’s a remarkable turnaround. But D’Angelis isn’t content to rest on her successful first month of her coaching career. “I honestly don’t think we’ve reached our full potential yet,” D’Angelis said. “We have a lot of kids trying to prove that they belong on the field. We have so much to grow on. I think that leads to success. I think they’re getting a different perspective. I’m excited to see how these girls push themselves movSee VIEW, Page 11
Photo by Jim Hague
The Kearny High School girls’ soccer team is solid as it comes along their defensive backline.
By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com
KEARNY – Before Mike Sylvia began his second season as the head girls’ soccer coach at Kearny High School, he wanted to make sure that a gigantic change was necessary. Sylvia had to remove the Kardinals from the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League, where the Kards have simply dominated since the inception of the HCIAL a decade ago, and play basically an independent schedule. “It was my decision,” Sylvia said. “I did it for our girls. We had to challenge them more. I’m happy with the league. The league has been good to us. But I feel that this was putting them in the best position. It’s the
best thing for the girls.” So instead of playing basically non-competitive matches against the Jersey City public schools, Sylvia put together a schedule that featured West Orange (a 1-1 tie), Watchung Hills (a 1-0 loss), perennial state playoff opponent Bridgewater Raritan-West (a 3-2 loss), Chatham (a 3-2 loss) and Livingston (a 4-1 win last Friday). It doesn’t get any easier from there, because the Kardinals have matches slated against Montclair, Westfield and Lyndhurst, a showdown of the two local champions this Friday at 4 p.m. at Kearny High School. Just to make things just a little tougher, but Hurricane Ida turned Harvey Field into Harvey Lake two weeks ago and the
backwash of flood waters damaged the area’s best FieldTurf facility Pitch Perfect into Pitch Unplayable for the remaining of the season. The Kards will play at either the high school Don’t cry for Mike Sylvia because this is what he wanted and it’s going to make his program better in the long run – well, not the flooding of Harvey Field. “I think we’re only going to get better,” Sylvia said. “I asked (former girls’ coach and current athletic director) Vin Almeida and he was all for it.” So instead of having a gaudy eye-popping record after eight matches, the Kards own a more pedestrian 4-3-1 record. They will See KARDINALS, Page 10
