North Jersey Interscholastic ConferencePost Season Honors / Girls Soccer

Player of the Year: Ava Incorvaia, Waldwick, Jr.

Incorvaia did a bit of everything this year as she scored 32 times and added 20 assists as well. She scored 23 goals last year, so this prolific offensive output is nothing new.

She’s also a product of Waldwick’s strong youth program, adding to the chemistry she has with many of the other key players on this squad.

Incorvaia was a stalwart for this team and made her presence known every time out. She recorded at least one goal or one assist in 20 out of 25 of this team’s games.

Most notably, Incorvaia scored three times against Glen Rock in the North 1, Group 1 section final. She scored the game-tying goal to make it 3-3 with 4:05 left in regulation before scoring the game-winning goal with one second left in the first overtime period.

Coach of the Year: Endre Krajcsovics, Leonia

Leonia went 6-8 last year and didn’t qualify for the state tournament but Krajcsovics turned this squad around the Lions finished the year at 8-6 and made the North 1, Group 3 tournament.

It was the team’s first season finishing above .500 since 2016. This year, Krajcsovics’ unit had some important conference wins against Saddle Brook and Saddle River Day thanks in part to the team’s two leading scorers in Rena Shim, who had 10 goals and three assists, as well as the efforts of Tavishi Unnithan who had 11 goals and five assists.

This year was also just the program’s second ever with a winning record.

Team of the Year: Waldwick

Waldwick is a combined 40-5-1 over the last two years and had one of its deepest postseason runs in several years this year and has one of the deepest connections of any team in the state with two sets of sisters on the squad.

All told, in tournament games this year, Incorvaia had 13 goals and eight assists and had eight multi-goal games for a Warriors squad that made it to the Group 1 semifinals.

The Warriors went 21-3-1 and had one of the state’s best goal differentials in the process. They scored a whopping 118 goals thanks to Ava Incorvaia and sister Abby, who finished top-10 in the state in scoring with 34 goals and also added 14 assists.

Adding to the offensive prowess of this team was freshman Kyra Rahulatharan, who had one of the best rookie campaigns of anyone. She had seven goals, but really made her presence known as a distributor, finishing with 21 assists which was tied for third-most in the state.

Jenna Haroutunian contributed 10 goals and four assists while Mayu Nakano added nine goals and six assists as well.

But this was also a strong defensive unit that conceded less than one goal per game all year. A big part of that was the work of the other sister duo — center back Meg Nieman and her sister Morgan in net. Morgan only made 43 saves this year but that’s because she wasn’t tested as much as other keepers due to this team’s strong defensive efforts. Colgate-bound defender Hanao Nakamoto also played a key part to this team’s defensive success and even showed some scoring ability as well, with three goals and eight assists.

 

Comeback Player of the Year: Cali Terranova, Elmwood Park, Sr.

Terranova, who also won the sectional title in the 400-meter hurdles as a track star, was the bright spot on an Elmwood Park team that otherwise struggled this year and won just two games.

She had a knee injury last year that sidelined her for most of last season, but she had been a reliable scoring option her two years before that.

This season, she returned to form and was the clear leader on offense, as she enjoyed a career year with 19 goals and one assist for a team that scored just 22 goals all season.

OTHER NOTABLE STORYLINES

-Glen Rock (16-3-2) made a run to the North 1, Group 1 final before losing to Waldwick. But in the process, the Panthers conceded just 15 goals all season as freshman keeper Annie Leonard had 15 shutouts on the year as one of the state’s top young keepers. Junior Ryan Doyle had a career year as she scored 18 times and dished out 10 assists.

-North Arlington (14-3-1) had the state’s assists leader with 24 in Arancha Antunes. Lia Cruz and Laurynn Teixeira had 12 and 11 assists respectively, and showed what good distributors they are. They also scored a lot as well, with Cruz finding the back of the net 28 times and Teixeira doing so 19 times.

-Lyndhurst (13-6-2) had some statement wins all throughout the season including against Group 1 semifinalists Waldwick, Hudson County finalists Bayone, went 1-1 against North Arlington and tested itself outside of the NJIC by playing teams like Wayne Hills and Kearny. Senior Lexi Augustyniak had 24 goals this year, her second-straight year with 20-plus scores.

TOP 10 Final 2022 Conference rankings

1-Waldwick (21-3-1)