BY ED MILLS
STAFF WRITER | The Record
NORTH ARLINGTON – An early charge meant all the difference for North Arlington.
Scoring three goals during a seven-minute span in the first 20 minutes of play, North Arlington earned a 5-0 victory over Becton in an NJIC Meadowlands Division boys soccer game Saturday at Rip Collins Field.
Eric McKenna scored two goals and Hudson Ribeiro and Adam Boudisa each contributed a goal and an assist for the Vikings, who were able to get to several loose balls and turn them into scoring opportunities with alert two-way play.
Following a long and exceedingly accurate throw-in from Boudisa, Brian Wilson, a junior defender, ran onto the ball just outside the box. He delivered it to sophomore midfielder Dylan Jurado, who kicked it into the lower right-hand side of the net to give North Arlington a 1-0 advantage 10 minutes in.
One minute later, McKenna, a sophomore midfielder, took a pass from senior midfielder Alex Lago and lofted it into the upper left-hand side. Five minutes after that, Riberio took a cross from Boudisa, a senior defender, and rocketed it into the upper center of the net to make it a 3-0 contest at the 17-minute mark.
“We felt good early, we knew if we could come out strong right out of the gate and create some early pressure we would be in good shape,” said McKenna. “We have some young players in important roles, but we’re gaining experience quickly.”
North Arlington is coming off an outstanding 2015 campaign where it went 14-6. The Vikings graduated 13 players from that team, including nine starters.
“We’re learning a lot, we’ve played some of our toughest opponents [among them Wood-Ridge, Saddle Brook, Hasbrouck Heights and Wallington] over the first three weeks and our team chemistry is really coming together,” said North Arlington coach Jesse Dembowski. “We did a good job controlling the midfield and we also did excellent work on the front and back lines.”
Junior goalkeeper Ali Timur made four saves and also stopped a penalty shot late that preserved the shutout.
The young Wildcats (mostly sophomores and juniors) were missing three starters, two with ankle injuries and the other on a college visit.
Email: mills@northjersey.com
