OP Soccer: Van Hoven Nets Winner to Complete Both Hat-Trick and Comeback Against New Providence

OP Footy has had many ups and downs this season, in which they have been involved in many close games. After a quality win against Pequannock, the Rams would have to travel once again to play rival New Providence. New Providence is just coming off a very impressive county run, and also has had two impressive ties against both Summit and Union. The Rams coming into this game needed a win for state power points, in which they are due on Saturday. In the first minute of the game, New Providence would be the first one on the board. The Rams had many chances in the first half, but nothing was going their way. With three minutes left of the half, New Providence earned their second goal, leading 2-0 at the half. In the huddle, Coach Baressi told his men that their performances needed to be better and to stop playing scared. Oratory listened to their gaffer in the second half, by playing hard defense and gaining a bunch of opportunities. With just ten minutes left of the half, the game was 100% in favor of New Prov, in which it was just up to their strong defense performance to earn the win. When the 10-minute mark turned into single digits, Connor Tole lifted a shot just outside the box that hit the post, leaving Sean Van Hoven to do nothing but tap the ball in to cut the lead. After, the Rams proceeded to seek opportunities to tie the game. With just three minutes left in the game, Sean Van Hoven once again lifted a beautiful goal top right to tie the game. The goal resulted in a shift of momentum from side to side, in which the two teams went into overtime. In the first half of overtime, the Rams had almost won it with a Max Cook strike just nearly being saved. New Providence had a very good chance to score, in which it was stopped by goalkeeper George Fagan. With the first half of OT ending in a tie, the two teams proceeded to play another ten minutes to crown a winner. In the second half, it was the same story as Oratory was dominant on both sides of the ball. New Providence had one scary one on one opportunity, in which it was yet again saved by Fagan. With only a minute left in regulation, Henry Griffiths delivered a beautiful ball for Van Hoven to go one-on-one with the New Providence keeper. Van Hoven controlled the ball, looked, lifted up his foot, and struck for glory as he led his team to the comeback and netted his first career hat-trick. Matt Pasternak, Connor Tole, and Henry Griffiths assisted Van Hoven in one out of all three. Goalkeeper George Fagan had 4 saves in net, earning the win. Van Hoven tallied his season goals to 9 and Henry Griffiths earned his 11th assist of the season in the impressive win. The Rams will try to keep this momentum as they travel to Roselle Park, seeking to earn three victories in a row.