CLARK, NJ- The Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders girls varsity soccer team has relied upon their lockdown-style defense towards their approach in the 2018 season. The Crusaders were able to defeat their UCC-Mountain Division rivals, the Jonathan Dayton High School (Springfield) Bulldogs 4-0 Thursday afternoon in Clark, but it didn’t come without a challenging presence from a gritty Bulldogs defense that frustrated the Crusaders’ attack on offense.
For a majority of the first half, the Johnson defense was also put to the test by a speedy Dayton team. Coming off a scoreless tie with Brearley on Saturday, September 8, Dayton caught Johnson offguard at times, showing off their speed and defensive covers to keep the Crusaders off the board in the early stages of the game.
They were able to throw Johnson off a bit, preventing them from getting as many looks on the net for potential goals as they probably could have gotten.
“Dayton did a good job defending us. We didn’t do a good job of finishing our chances,” Johnson head coach Ken Leeder said. “Dayton plays hard, they’re organized, they’re smart.”
In the opening minutes, Dayton generated pressure, but Johnson withstood their speed and kept the ball from getting to the net. On the other side of the game, the chances for the Crusaders picked up steam following a shot that went off the post, but remained out.
A series of corner kicks for the Crusaders presented a lot of good looks, but the play that followed the kicks were either headed or kicked out of play, cleared or saved. Johnson senior goaltender Alex Cospito, who got the start Thursday afternoon, stood tall with some of the good looks Dayton got.
Despite being dominated early on chances, Dayton was presented with a penalty kick following a Johnson penalty in the box. Senior Jordan Smith fired away on net, but the ball sailed too high and out of play, keeping the game scoreless with 10:50 left in the first half.
“I think we took the game a little too lightly at first, but once we started working and pressuring [Dayton], they started making mistakes,” Johnson senior Nicole Buczynski said.
Just minutes after that, Johnson senior Cecilia Puentes batted home a pass following a throw-in, giving her team the 1-0 lead at 35:05 of the first half. The tally was Puentes’ third goal of the season.
The Crusaders led the Bulldogs 1-0 at halftime, a game that looked like a defensive gridlock for the game’s opening 40 minutes.
“When they came and scouted us [Tuesday against New Providence], they got a good look at how we attack, which really let them cover us better,” Johnson senior Cecilia Puentes said.
As the second half got underway, the storyline remained the same, as the two teams exchanged a series of rushes, but nothing came of it, the score remaining 1-0 Johnson. Dayton hung around and at times, looked poised to tie the game, but after discussions at halftime, the Johnson defense appeared to find their game and it took one moment later on for the tone of the game to change.
As Johnson was working towards the Dayton net, a whistle was blown while play was going on in the box area. Dayton was called for a handball in the box, rewarding Johnson with a penalty kick.
Puentes took the bonus kick and cashed in to give her team a 2-0 lead at 19:33 of the second half, a two-goal cushion that allowed the Crusaders to get settled in and go to work again on defense.
“We needed to understand that we needed the work of everyone’s best effort,” Leeder said. “Dayton came and watched us on Tuesday [against] New Providence, so they knew that we had some good players. We’re very fortunate to score a goal late in the first half, holding us in the second half until we got the penalty kick [goal].”
Torres scored both of Johnson’s other two goals later on in the second half, coming at 36:23 and 38:34 of the half, sealing the deal on another win. Overall, Puentes now has four goals and three assists on the season, while Torres, who will continue her soccer career at the University of Delaware, has three goals and five assists on the season.
“When Cecilia and Natalya both scored, it definitely changed the whole momentum and pace of the game,” Buczynski said. “Once we got a couple of goals under our belt, we felt a little more comfortable.”
The Johnson Crusaders (3-0) are off for the next week before taking to the road when they return to the field for their next game at Union Catholic HS on Thursday, September 20 at 4:00 p.m.
The excellent start to the season has Johnson looking ahead to action the rest of the way, but taking in the chances to get better and learn from some of the things done in the first three games.
“I think we just need to connect passes better and attack,” Leeder said of things to get better with during the week off. “We can’t just score on special teams, in terms of corner [kicks] and restarts.”
“There’s always room for improvement,” Buczynski said. “We’re definitely going to work harder and come out stronger for our next game.”
The Jonathan Dayton Bulldogs (0-1-1) return home to take on Governor Livingston HS Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.
