November 10, 2011

St. Peter's Prep celebrates after winning the Hudson County Championship 2-0. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

St. Peter's Prep vs Union City Boys Soccer Photo Gallery

KEARNY – Facing a physical Union City defense, Andrew Romero knew it’d be imperative to take advantage of any scoring opportunities coming his way. On his first chance to come his way, Romero did just that.

Romero’s goal just 71 seconds into the game proved to be the difference for St. Peter’s Prep as it won its first Hudson County championship with a 2-0 victory last night at Kearny High School.

“I think it was very important,” Romero said. “We told ourselves we had to get that early goal and get ahead, keep that possession and keep our head up.”

With scoring opportunities expected to be scare, Romero himself was surprised to see one present itself in the game’s opening moments when he received a pass from teammate Rory Duffy. Romero then raced down the left side and shot it into the far side of the net, making for a stunning start of this championship match.

“I was really surprised. Oh man, that was a big deal,” said Romero. “I didn’t expect that to happen so quickly and for them to let their guard down. We took advantage of that let down and we just put it away.”

“That really kills you,” Union City head coach Bill Shapiro said. “We’ve been working so hard on a game plan and you have to throw it out the window. It was like you blinked and all of a sudden we’re down 1-0. We wanted to be patient, now all of a sudden, we’ve got to be the aggressors.”

Romero, a junior, would later assist on Ajani Phillips’ goal in the 79th minute to put the finishing touches on a memorable season for the top-seeded Marauders (21-2).

“When I came here four years ago, these were the freshmen that came in with me,” said head coach Josh Jantas, a Prep alum who led the team to the county semifinals the previous two years. “We grew together and were able to finish their careers with a county championship and I think that’s special.”

“I knew we were going to pull it off,” said senior goalie Ryan Baird. We’ve been waiting since 2005 for a county championship. We wanted this and we knew we had it.”

In between those two goal, Prep and fifth-seeded Union City (10-11-1) stood toe-to-toe in a defensive slugfest for more than 75 minutes.

Trailing right from the start, the Soaring Eagles tried a more aggressive approach on offense, but virtually every time it was turned away with little danger by the Marauders’ talented defensive quartet of Roberto Chernez, Anthony Gomes, Dan Mahler and Dean Rivers.

“They were fantastic all year,” Jantas said. “They’re responsible and defend well. They did a heck of a job.”

Union City’s best scoring chance would come in the 78th minute when Marco Perez got off an open shot from about 15 yards out, but Prep goalie Ryan Baird was able to leap up and corral the shot in front of the far post.

Baird, made six saves in net for his third shutout of the tournament. Josue Rosas made six saves in net for the Soaring Eagles in defeat.

Despite the season-ending loss, Shapiro was proud of the way his team had gone on an unexpected tournament run which featured last night’s near upset and Sunday’s stunning victory over Kearny.

“I was incredibly proud,” Shapiro said. “We had some huge wins, beating Kearny last week and we beat Elizabeth earlier in the season. I’m just proud of the way they battled through and they never stopped playing, no matter what kind of obstacles were thrown our way.”

Union City's Sebastian Betancourt goes up for the header against Ajani Phillips. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

St. Peter's Prep vs Union City Boys Soccer Photo Gallery