Girls Soccer

October 27, 2009

Rovatsos hat trick sends Bees to semis

Lisa Rovatsos Bayonne

Bayonne sophomore Lisa Rovatsos has three goals in the first half against Holy Family.

Click Here for more photos from Bayonne at Holy Family.

By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director

BAYONNE – Thanks in large part to a 0-4 start, the Bees entered the Hudson County Tournament as a No. 6 seed. Now they’re determined to prove that they are better than their record and seed would indicate.

Bayonne continued winning ways last night with a convincing 5-1 victory over No. 3 seed Holy Family in a meeting of in-city rivals last night at Veterans Stadium.

“That really gave us fuel to our fire,” Bees coach Kellie Kopacz said about the No. 6 seed. “The girls felt a little disrespected by that seed so I told them that they’ve got to prove it.”

“We wanted to show who really deserves to be the higher seed,” Bayonne forward Lisa Rovatsos said.

It didn’t take long for Rovatsos and the Bees (9-6) to take out their frustrations on the Falcons (12-3-1) and establish the momentum. Rovatsos received a cross from Heather McNulty in front of the net to give Bayonne the lead after just four minutes of play.

“Heather did a great job with a beautiful cross right to me.” Rovatsos said about the play.

“It was tough to watch,” Holy Family coach Mary Cerreta said about the start. “We got taken out of our game early.”

Holy Family had no answers for Rovatsos on this night. In the 36th minute, the sophomore scored again on a shot that arced from outside the 18-box across the goal mouth and into the top left corner of the net.

Rovatsos would strike again just three minutes later. After using a crossover move to elude a defender, Rovatsos unleashed a blistering shot from 25 yards away for the hat trick.

“She has such a good sense of the game, she really does,” Cerreta said about Rovatsos, her cousin. “She just read defenses so well. She’s been a good athlete since she’s been little.”

Rovatsos was briefly sidelined early in the second half when she was accidentally kicked in the ankle. She returned nine minutes later and assisted on a McNulty goal to make it 5-0 Bayonne.

McNulty finished with a goal and two assists. Goalie Shannon Krand made seven saves, the long blemish on her mark came when Holy Family’s Samantha Sysak scored her 24th goal of the season.

JacqueLyn Johnson made 13 saves in net for the Falcons.

Last night’s game was the Bees’ sixth consecutive win. During that stretch Bayonne has outscored their opponents by a 28-3 margin.

That rough start of the season, might have made the Bees’ road to the county and state tournaments more challenging, but is something that Kopacz believes the team has benefited from.

“It was rough in the beginning,” Kopacz said. “We were 0-4 and a lot people were doubting us, wondering what happened. In the long run I think its going to help because they were competitive teams. In the long run, the competitive games make you better.”

Bayonne’s semifinal match is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday when they will square off with No. 2 seed McNair at Caven Point.

 

Shannon Krand Bayonne

Bayonne goalie Shannon Krand made seven saves in the victory.

 
1st
2nd
Total
Bayonne (9-6)
4
1
5
Holy Family (12-3-1)
0
1
1
 
B: Lisa Rovatsos (Heather McNulty) 4th minute
B: Nikki Orlowski (Nikki Buczkowski) 29th minute
B: Rovatsos (McNulty) 36th minute
B: Rovatsos (unassisted) 39th minute
B: McNulty (Rovatsos) 64th minute
H: Samantha Sysak (Samantha Pagano) 80th minute
 

Goalies: B: Shannon Krand (7 saves); H: JacqueLyn Johnson (13 saves).