Oct. 7, 2014 Boys Soccer Swaray crosses up Robbinsville with game-winning goal in first overtime By Rich Fisher For The Trentonian Oct. 7: Alphonso Swaray was trying like heck to get Cedric Gadie a goal. But, if the junior midfielder ended up doing it himself, he wasn’t about to argue. In an effort to cross a ball from the right corner to Gadie in front of the goal, Swaray’s cross took a slight detour and went into the back of the net nine seconds into the first overtime to give Nottingham’s boy’s soccer team a stunning, 1-0 win over visiting Robbinsville today. Actually, it wasn’t even the back of the net, but the side of the net as it hit nylon on the left side of the goal cage. When it happened, Swaray tore off his shirt, jumped around and finally joined the celebration. Nottingham's Steven Gregorio dribbles past the defense of Robbinsville's Joey Lettera today (Photo by “It was disbelief,” Swaray said. “I hit it with the outside of Wes "The Media Mogul" Kirkpatrick). my foot and it just swerved in. I don’t know how it happened. I didn’t know it was gonna go in. I just ran in with everybody after it did.” “I thought he was trying to cross it,” Nottingham coach Mike Braender said. “But once in a while you gotta have the luck on your side to get it.” Luck is something Nottingham (2-8) has not had much of this year, having lost four one-goal games – three in overtime. Ironically, the Northstars only other win came in OT against West WindsorPlainsboro South, whose coach Bryan Fisher is the brother of Ravens coach Jeff Fisher. Jeff was hoping his team might steal one today behind the eye-popping goaltending of John Riggs, who made 13 saves. Riggs was nothing short of amazing in the second half. He made a diving save to his left to rob Swaray, then used a sliding kick save to stop Winst-Dy Joseph before Joseph drilled one from five yards away that Riggs snatched out of the air. Swaray hit another one that Riggs deflected, and then managed to tap away while rolling on the ground. The only shot he couldn’t stop was the one that wasn’t intended to go in. “He got the ball up there, they were pressing a little bit, they’ve got tremendous athletes on their team,” Fisher said. “He turned and hit a cracker I guess. “Sometimes you just drive the ball in with some pace in the box and good things happen. That’s what we were trying to do and we just weren’t able to do it consistently.” That’s because Nottingham played a fairly strong game against vastly improved Robbinsville (5-5-1). The Stars dominated possession and had an 18-7 shot advantage. Jacob Page made five saves for the Northstars for his first varsity shutout. “We’ve been right there so many games it’s almost like a heart break every single game for us,” Braender said. “We’ve been on the edge of our seats in the last minute of every game, finally we got one on our side.” Thanks to Riggs’ wizardry, there was some concern this might be another “one of those games” for the Northstars. “Every time we play something goes wrong that ruins our game,” Swaray said. “We just can’t go forward, we just keep stopping midway but today we finally finished the game.” “Everybody was getting frustrated, we were all arguing. We had to keep it together, keep it calm and focus on the game and the win. This is a big win. Now we’re going to try and push forward into counties and hopefully enter into the states.” An underrated player in the victory was senior midfielder Chris Cabrera, who decided to take one for the team last week. “He has played outstanding for us, dropping back and giving up a little of his offense to help us out on the defensive side the past few games, which has been huge,” Braender said. “He played defense for us toward the end of last year, he’s a captain this year, he came to me actually and said ‘Let me move back a little bit.’ Nottingham goalie Jacob Page (1), who got his first varsity shutout, focuses on the ball amidst teammates Shar Reh (8) and Austin Lloyd and Robbinsville's Louis Raimandi (Photo by Wes "The Media Mogul" Kirkpatrick). “Austin Lloyd is a sophomore, I can’t ask for anything more than the way he’s played back there this year in the back middle. But giving him an extra person to help him out and give him a few guys in the middle has really been helpful. Cabrera has given up a lot for the team and has showed a lot of maturity this year.” Spartans survive a scare as Fornaro’s overtime goal holds off Ewing Steinert has developed a disturbing trend in recent seasons, where it would have strong starts but then hit a lull from which it never recovered. When the Spartans fell to Hamilton last week, they were in danger of doing that once more before coming up with a huge win over Princeton. But it appeared to be happening again today when a one-win Ewing team took Steinert into overtime. But Mike Fornaro saved the day with seven minutes left in the second OT when his direct free kick from 20 yards out gave the Steinert's Justin Barbuto battles for possession against Ewing today (Photo by Nancy Eggert). Spartans a 1-0 victory and a 7-2-2 record. Anthony Remboski was fouled near the 20 and Fornaro picked his spot. “I just got it up and over the wall into the top corner,” the sweeper said. Fornaro admitted that it was a huge victory for the Spartans, who did not want to return to old habits. “Mr. (Coach Todd) Jacobs said it after the game and I think all our players agree; a loss today would've been devastating” Fornaro said. “It wouldn't have mattered that much as far as power points go, but to our confidence as a team it would have hurt us. Over the last couple years we've tended to slide at one point in the season and today was a turning point.” Tyler “The First Mate” Strang, who was "flying around" according to Mike Fornaro, proves it here as he goes up for a headball against Ewing (Photo by Nancy Eggert). It was the sixth shutout of the season for goalie John Warwick and the Spartans defense. And despite its record, Ewing is a bit more formidable than its 1-10 record would indicate. The Blue Devils had some momentum coming off their first win over Asbury Park, and have lost seven one-goal games this season, including three 1-0 decisions. “Ewing is definitely a team that battles and I can see how they stay in a lot of games,” Fornaro said. “They're all hard workers and I think with a bounce here or there they could be a .500 team easily. With that being said we didn't perform the way we should have. “Nobody had a killer game today until overtime. Tyler (The First Mate) Strang was flying around the field creating all sorts of trouble.” Lawrence ends Hamilton winning streak Hamilton West had its three-game winning streak end in disappointing fashion when Lawrence invaded Hornet Land and emerged with a 1-0 victory to raise its record to 2-7. Walter Velasco tallied in the first half for the game’s lone goal. Hamilton had a chance to tie early in the second half but missed a penalty kick, and the Hornets could not muster much of an attack as goalie Kyle Springsteen needed just three saves for the shutout. Hamilton fell to 3-7 and its last four losses have been by one goal. Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores