The Ridge High School varsity soccer team traveled to Bridgewater-Raritan for their opening game in the NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 state soccer tournament on Tuesday afternoon. Ridge arrived as the No. 16 seed and was unable to get past Bridgewater, the No. 1 seed. The two teams were in a lock for part of the first half, and then Bridgewater-Raritan moved ahead to a 4-0 victory.

IN SHORT

It was a beautiful cloudless and breezy afternoon when the two rivals took the field at Bridgewater-Raritan High School. The game was extremely close through the first 40 minutes of the game, with the No. 16 Devils giving the No. 1 Panthers more of a run for their money than might have been expected. Ridge had managed to make it to the states with a winning streak in the second half of the season.

Both sides had numerous scoring opportunities and both teams fought off the other's attempts.  In the 40th minute, it all changed. Bridgewater's Dave Monahan fired a shot from outside the penalty area that came in at a very sharp angle just out of reach of Ridge goalie Kieran McCarthy. That was the spark that lit the Panthers, who came out in the second half and scored three more unanswered goals, with two goals from Sal Vitello and the fourth from Josh Rich. 

DEVIL OF THE GAME

Jameson Lochhead, midfield — Lochhead was a strong stopper, turning back the Panthers and getting the offense started.

THEY SAID IT

"For 39 minutes, we were in the game. To give up that goal before halftime, we paid the price emotionally. The other team gets the wind in their tail and away they go. We just couldn't match things after that. We needed to score and the couple opportunities we had, we just didn't have enough to do it. But all credit to Bridgewater. They played a good game. Those forwards are dangerous." — Ridge head coach Ken Cherry

"It was a tough game today.  We just didn't bring enough. Hopefully, next year's team will play like we did in the second half of the season for their whole season." — Senior captain Jameson Lochhead