OLD TAPPAN – Elena Pothos had the hat trick. Ella Candullo had the shot of the day and Old Tappan had the North 1, Group 3 trophy at the end of a 4-1 win over Ramapo on a chilly, blustery Nov. 13 afternoon.
It is the Golden Knights (16-4-1) first sectional crown since 2022, when they were in Group 2. It was their second win over Ramapo (11-8-1) this season after edging the Green Raiders on penalty kicks in the Bergen County Tournament.
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“I told my team when we beat them in PKs we would see this team again,” said Old Tappan coach Maia Levenshus. “That was our first time beating them in like 15 years, and I knew they were going to want to come back and get us.”
Playing with the wind at their back in the first half, Ramapo had possession early, but trailed 1-0 three minutes in when Pothos, who committed to Rutgers last month, took a short pass and ran 40 yards down the bench-side into the attacking zone. When she cut into the box, there was contact with a Ramapo defender, a whistle and she drilled the ensuing penalty kick low and to her right.
“It went a little more toward the middle than I wanted,” Pothos said. “But it worked out in my favor.”
Ramapo responded with a goal by Cameron McKee 10 minutes later, but slowly the tide began to turn toward Old Tappan.
“I got a young team, I mean, I have some older kids, but some young kids and there was maybe some pressure in the moment,” said Levenshus. “We just played through it.”
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Pothos put the Golden Knights up 2-1 with a shot from the top of the 18 five minutes into the second half. With 10:18 left, Candullo, a freshman defender, launched a perfect arcing shot from almost 40 yards away that had the Golden Knights bench in an uproar when it went in.
“End of the game, you want to get the ball up the field,” Candullo said. “The keeper plays high, so I said let me try to chip her.”
Pothos added another screamer a few minutes later to seal the win, giving her 31 goals on the season.
“Every single day, it’s like her first day out there,” Levenshus said of Pothos. “She wants to win. She competes with her teammates – sometimes too much, sometime we have to tell her to dial it back, but I’ll take her on my team over any kid in the country.”
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“From the start, we have wanted to win a state sectional,” Pothos said after filming the teamwide TikTok celebration dance. “My team set goals at the start of the season, win the league and then we told ourselves we wanted to win the section. Every day we remind ourselves of that, push one more practice, one more game. Hard work pays off.”
Old Tappan will play at Chatham Nov. 17 in the Group 3 semifinals.
“I’m just incredibly proud,” Levenshus said. “It’s my first sectional as a head coach. I’ve experienced it as an assistant and as a player and there’s nothing like being at the helm and leaving it up to the girls to prove who they are and they came out as tough as they could and sent a message.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Old Tappan rolls to North 1, Group 3 girls soccer title
