Amy Newman/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Park Ridge’s Julia Manning, left, battling with Westwood’s Ellsa Peabody on Sunday.
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The Owls continued to apply so much pressure that Westwood even went a man down in the first half after a goal-preventing hand ball.
Thomas scored twice as 16th-seeded Park Ridge sped to a 4-0 victory over No. 17 Westwood on Sunday in the second round of the Bergen County girls soccer tournament.
“We really came out right from the start, and the first five or 10 minutes we were really goal-minded,” Park Ridge coach Molly Jaffe said.
Park Ridge (8-0) will face its ultimate challenge when it plays at top-seeded, defending champion and nationally ranked Northern Highlands (6-0) in Sunday’s round of 16.
Park Ridge was pumped for Sunday’s battle. The Owls scored in the ninth minute when Thomas smoked a 40-yard direct kick that went over the head and off the outstretched fingertips of Westwood junior goalie Camryn Collova.
“We came out really strong at the beginning of the game,” said Thomas, a junior. “And we just had it in our minds that we knew we could do it and we wanted to win, so we put in everything that we had from the start.”
