Photo by Kareem Brown
DUDLEY–Emiliano Chirigliano faced the most difficult part of his season at the very end.
To conclude his first year as Cedar Ridge head men’s soccer coach, he pulled his six seniors together for a final, private discussion. On a blustery, chilly night at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex in Dudley, Chirigliano emerged from the talk with tears in his eyes.
It brought him back to his early days at Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, where he spent four years as an assistant coach, head freshman and junior varsity coach.
“The hardest part is knowing how committed the players are,” Chirigliano said. “Having to give up one of my passions, which was playing, for coaching. These players brought back that passion. They brought back the will to hold practices after a long day of work and grind. Their effort really drove me. As a head coach, it was harder because I have more responsibility for them.”
Playing Southern Wayne in the opening round of the 5A State Playoffs, Cedar Ridge just ran out of bodies that cut put the ball in the net.
With freshman Reece Finnegan out following an injury suffered in the regular season finale against South Granville last Wednesday, the Red Wolves were already shorthanded. In the opening ten minutes of the second half, leading scorer Tyler Baker went down after getting hit in the face by a ball off friendly fire from only ten feet away. He left the game and didn’t return. Moments earlier, Julian Ashton went down after a hard challenge by a Southern Wayne player. Ashton’s head hit the ground, which was already hardened by sub-50 degree temperatures. It wasn’t like hitting your head on concrete, but it was close. Ashton was also lost for the game.
Southern Wayne’s Jaime Martinez scored the game-winning goal with 18:17 remaining in the first half as the Saints advanced to the second round of the 5A State Playoffs with a 3-1 win over the Red Wolves on Tuesday night. Skervenson Aphael registered the opening goal for the Saints in the sixth minute.
Southern Wayne, which improved to 9-10-2, will travel to Elon to face Western Alamance in the round of 32 on Thursday night. The Warriors, the champions of the Mid-Carolina Conference, received a bye into the second round.
Cedar Ridge ends the season 9-10-2. It was the final game for senior goalkeeper Erik Galunas, midfielder Simon Salazar, striker Giovani Yanez, midfielder Alex Bettger, centerback Kai Miller and midfielder Barclay Arnold.
After the Saints scored the opening two goals, Julian Ashton scored the final goal of the season for Cedar Ridge off a penalty kick. It was Ashton’s fifth goal of the season, tying him with Sawyer Smith for the second-highest total on the team.
Even after losing Baker and Ashton, the Red Wolves had a golden opportunity for an equalizer after a pretty ball from Nico James found Yanez. With Saints freshman goalkeeper Javier Lujano backing up, Yanez fired from 15 yards, which Lujano turned away. The rebound went back to Yanez, who fired from a sharp angle. It bounced off the near post and rebounded to Martinez.
In the 51st minute, a free kick by Southern Wayne’s Angel Ramirez went over Galunas’ head and off the crossbar.
With 18:16 remaining in regulation, the Saints got much needed insurance. Southern Wayne got a breakout where Otoniel Aguilon fired a line drive that Galunas saved. The ball caromed to Lorenzo Aguilon, a freshman who would tap it over the goal line to make it 3-1 Saints.
James fired another strong pass in the waning minutes, but it was cleared out by the Saints’ Jesus Castillo.
“This team was resilient,” Chirigliano said. “We had obstacles throughout this season. We had to change what the image of Cedar Ridge soccer is and what the culture of our team is. The two words I would use to describe this team are resilience and change.”
