September 24, 2010
Bruins deliver Kards first loss
North Bergen's Steven Zamudio (left) celebrates a goal from Orly Macias (right).
Click Here for more photos from North Bergen at Kearny.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
NORTH BERGEN – Games in September normally wouldn’t be classified as “must-win” games, but not for a North Bergen squad coming off of consecutive losses to Bayonne and Dickinson.
North Bergen may have been out-shot and on the defensive for the majority of the match, but the Bruins left Kearny with a much-needed 2-1 victory yesterday at Harvey Field.
“We really needed it because if we would have went 1-3 then I don’t know what would have happened with the season,” goalie Jesus Solis said. “We got our heads up and the 2-2 record and we’ll go from there.”
“We needed this victory because we had a couple of bad games,” said Orly Macias. “We’re just trying to get back on track.”
Early on it seemed as if the Bruins’ struggles would continue as the host Kardinals (3-1) dominated the tempo of the game and held possession early on. Despite all of the momentum shifted in Kearny’s direction, it was North Bergen (2-2) who struck first. Macias escaped the coverage of the defense and headed in a Ricardo Franco corner kick to give his team a 1-0 lead just nine minutes into the game.
“Any time you give up a corner kick or a free kick you’re susceptible to being scored on, especially when someone gets a free header (like that),” Kardinals coach Bill Galka said.
Offensive opportunities were limited for North Bergen against the size and strength of Kearny, but the Bruins were able to strike again in the 62nd minute as Diego Yepez buried a Francisco Diaz pass into the back of the net to make it a two-goal advantage.
The Kardinals cut the deficit in half just eight minutes later after Almir Batista headed in a pass from Chris Misdea.
Kearny turned up the offensive pressure, but the late attempts to even the score were denied as Solis stopped a Batista free kick from 30 yards out. North Bergen defender Brian Monsalve blocked another potential game-tying shot from Batista in the final minutes.
Monsalve helped anchor a four-man defensive unit with Macias, Christian Villata and Yepez. The Bruins normally play three guys in the back, but had Yepez (a midfielder), spend more time on defense to try to combat the Kardinals’ size advantage up front.
“They covered up real well,” Solis said. “We’ve been playing with three back and today we came out with four back which really helped.”
“Kearny’s a very strong, physical team and we did what we had to do,” Bruins coach John Belluardo said. “We held them as best as we can in check and we had two opportunities (on offense) and we just made it.”
Solis made four saves in net for North Bergen in the victory. Kardinals keeper Tyler Anderson made two saves in the loss as Kearny held an 8-4 advantage in shots.
While the win was a much-needed confidence boost for a young Bruins squad, Galka hopes this first loss of the season provides a wakeup call for his Kardinals team.
“Hopefully it refocuses them,” he said. “It is a bit of a wakeup call. We warned them that you don’t have everything figured out because every game’s a different challenge.”
Kearny's Tiago Cruz (right) races with North Bergen's Diego Yepez for the loose ball.
1st |
2nd
|
Total |
|
| North Bergen Bruins (2-2) | 1 |
1 |
2 |
| Kearny Kardinals (3-1) | 0 |
1
|
1 |
| N: Orly Macias (Ricardo Franco) 9th minute | |||
| N: Diego Yepez (Franco Diaz) 62nd minute | |||
| K: Almir Batista (Chris Misdea) 70th minute | |||
Goalies: K: Tyler Anderson (2 saves); N: Jesus Solis (4 saves). |
|||