CLARK, NJ- Arthur L. Johnson High School senior co-captain Kaylee Parkhill found herself with a rush and chance to be the one to score the game-winning goal after her team saw a 2-0 lead against the Glen Ridge High School Ridgers vanished in the final ten minutes of regulation. She would ensure that her team would come through on top.
Parkhill scored the game-winning goal as the Crusaders defeated the Ridgers 3-2 in overtime Saturday afternoon in Clark. Parkhill’s goal, her sixth of the season, was assisted by senior co-captain Alyssa Colicchio at 1:26 of the extra period.
As the extra period started, the Crusaders threatened in the opening seconds, but play was blown dead by the referees.
Colicchio got control of the ball for their second offensive possession of the extra period after a defensive stop and she and Parkhill started down the field, charging forward and within the bunch of players near the net area, Parkhill banked home the game-winning goal to give her team the win.
“I think everybody is relying on [Alyssa and Kaylee] to generate a lot of the offense,” Johnson head coach Katrina Poskay said. “We are looking for those seniors, we are looking to those captains to finish plays. I felt very confident once we started overtime because we have [Alyssa, Kaylee and Amanda] on the field. They are very capable of running the show and they knew the deal in overtime and the strategy. They did everything they needed to.”
In total, Colicchio and Parkhill have a combined 15 goals and seven assists on the season, continuing to be the anchors of the offense.
“Throughout the season, Alyssa and I have been talking about how we kind of have this forward intuition, where we know where to go and pass it to each other,” Parkhill said. “Everything worked out perfectly and because we work together so well, it kind of just ended going to that spot. It’s one of those moments where you can’t even plan it out and it happens naturally.”
The Crusaders haven’t had this recent strength easy at all, with the flu bug going around the team in the past week. Junior Emma Hilton missed a week of action with it, while others like junior Tara Starita nursing a sore ankle that cost her a month, according to Poskay.
“Overtime is very scary, especially when you’re dealing with the sicknesses that we are because not everybody is 100%,” Poskay said. “We’re much slower than what we are. No excuses, that’s what it means to be a good team [to pull through the adversities].”
“When somebody goes down with an injury, you’ve got to figure it out, change your schedule and you just have to adjust. We were adjusted in the starting lineup. Every time we put a sub in, we were all over the place.”
Poskay praised Colicchio and Parkhill for rushing down the field and setting up the game-winning goal near the Glen Ridge zone.
“I thought Alyssa had an excellent effort of trying to keep that play alive by using her reverse cross there,” Poskay said. “I was really happy with how it ended.”
Johnson got on the board first, courtesy of a penalty stroke from senior co-captain Amanda Zambrana, receiving the shot after Glen Ridge was called for a slash in the net area. Zambrana went high up top to give her team the 1-0 lead at 18:30 of the first half.
Amanda Zambrana Penalty Stroke
The Crusaders had eight corners in the opening half, which has been a cornerstone of their offense and scoring opportunities and they added another score on a good chance. Colicchio scored her ninth goal of the season, assisted by Zambrana at 24:39 of the first half. Johnson led Glen Ridge 2-0 at halftime.
The Crusaders were in control of the first 30 minutes of the second half, but the last ten of those minutes proved to be a different story and sudden shift in momentum. The Ridgers got on the board with a goal at 20:53 of the second half. They continued to control the pace of the game and pushed in a great effort to knot up the score.
Their chance came after a whistle. They were rewarded a penalty stroke with 5:07 left in the second half and cashed in to knot the score up at 2-2. The Crusaders were now playing on their heels and looking to keep the Ridgers away from their zone to try and force overtime. For the Johnson defenders, their task was taken up a notch with the game going from 2-0 to 2-2.
“I feel like we had to work together and communicate in order to stop their aggressive second half push,” Johnson junior Taylor Turek said.
Glen Ridge received a corner with 2:11 left in the second half and were poised to go for the game-winning score, but the play was blown dead and the score remained tied. After a few rushes by both sides, the clock ran out and the game shifted to overtime.
With three games in a four-day stretch coming up (Monday at Columbia, Tuesday at Pingry and Friday at Somerville) and having some players sick, the Crusaders’ resiliency paid off and they were glad to come through on top and time to prepare for the week ahead.
“It shows how close of a team we are because we never gave up and gave it our all,” Turek said. “We knew how bad we wanted the victory.”
The Johnson Crusaders (7-1) head out on the road to play at Columbia HS (Maplewood) Monday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
The Glen Ridge Ridgers (3-5) head back out on the road to play at Kent Place HS Monday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
