Bernards boys soccer tops Bridgewater-Raritan in PKs

BRIDGEWATER The fifth-seeded Bernards High School boys soccer team came through in a big way on Saturday, defeating No. 4 Bridgewater-Raritan 5-4 in penalty kicks in the quarterfinal round of the Somerset County Tournament.

After 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime, the game still had yet to be decided, so it was on to penalty kicks. In the first round for the Mountaineers (8-2-1), Dan Schindler, Freddy Ludtke and Nick Neptune all connected as Panthers goalie Arun Mohan stopped two shots.

Nick Monteschio, Ricky LaStella and Sean Masur all connected for Bridgewater-Raritan (5-7-2) and the score was tied 3-3 after the first round.

“They played very well, they had every shot on target, I tried my best to save every one of them, I did,” Bernards goalie Andres Lezme said. “They were a good team, they’re really good on their set pieces.”

In the second round, Bernards stuck with the same five players, while the Panthers switched it up.

The Mountaineers shot first, with Dan Paez nailing his shot. Monteschio scored to tie it up 4-4, and Schindler then hit his shot to put Bernards ahead 5-4. Lezme then stopped the Panthers’ next kick to send Bernards into the SCT semifinals.

“We knew they were a team like us, they want to keep it down, play around and they were a very good team, I give props to them,” Schindler said. “It was an intense game, we both had our chances but our mindset was just play hard, stop their pattern play and just get it forward and try to score.”

Bernards took 12 shots while the Panthers took 15, but neither team was able to get any of those shots into the net. Both defenses played extremely well, as did both goalies, who consistently kept their respective teams in the game.

“Their defense was very big and balls over the top weren’t really working too well,” Schindler said. “So we obviously tried to keep it on the ground and just the passes weren’t getting to their targets.”

Lezme finished with nine saves while Mohan made 10 stops for Bridgewater-Raritan.

The Mountaineers now move on to face top-seeded and defending champion The Pingry School in the semifinals next weekend. Bernards faced the Big Blue last season in the semifinals, losing 3-2.

Third-seeded Montgomery, which defeated No. 11 Hillsborough 5-0 on Saturday, will play No. 2 Gill St. Bernard’s, which beat No. 7 Watchung Hills 7-3, in the other semifinal. The SCT final is slated for Oct. 31 at Torpey Field in Bridgewater at 3 p.m.

“It feels great, we have a rematch against Pingry, always excited about that,” Schinder said. “We know Pingry is a very good team, we saw it last year, we came up short last year, 3-2, we’re never going to forget that, but we just basically want revenge. We want to play our game and try to come out with the win.”

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com