Oratory Prep Soccer advanced to the second round of the Union County Tournament with a win against Roselle Park. This meant they would be playing divisional rival New Providence (#5 seed). New Providence, at the beginning of the season, beat OP 2-0 on two second half goals. The Rams, at that time, could not put one in the back of the net, as they had their chances, but just missed on some opportunities. Although New Providence is atop of the Mountain Division with Summit, the Rams came into their turf looking for revenge.
Ethan Liendo opened the scoring for the Rams with a long distance goal, as he earned his first career varsity goal in the first three minutes of the game. Just two minutes later Max Cook would begin his big day with a goal in the 5th minute of the game to put the Rams ahead by two. The Rams held New Providence scoreless in the first half, as Coach Barressi warned the boys “2-0 is the most dangerous score in soccer.” With this in mind, the Rams did not take their foot off the gas pedal as they would go onto play great on both sides of the ball. Max Cook would go onto score his 11th goal of the season to make it 3-0 for the Rams with 20 minutes remaining. New Prov would go onto score a goal in the last fifteen minutes, before Henry Griffiths would score the Rams 4th goal of the game. The Rams would go onto win 4-2, setting a date with cross town rivals Summit on Thursday. The Rams improve 5-8 on the season, making the quarter finals for the first time since 2019. Ethan Liendo earned MOTM in the vicory, as he played greatly overall and scored a banger of a goal.
