EWING - Mike Ryan scores goals.
Early, late. Left foot, right foot. All alone or in traffic - the Cherokee striker has a knack for finding the back of the net.
He also has a flair for the dramatic.
Ryan scored the last goal of his career in the state championship game Thursday night.
Fittingly, it also was "the best goal I ever scored," Ryan said after leading Cherokee to a 2-1 victory over Bridgewater-Raritan in the Group 4 title game at The College of New Jersey.
Ryan and fellow senior Angelo Dambalas each collected a goal and an assist as Cherokee (25-0-2) became the first team to win back-to-back Group 4 state titles since Shawnee in 1992-93.
"We just have that connection," Ryan said of Dambalas.
Ryan's goal with 5 minutes, 50 seconds to play stunned Bridgewater-Raritan (21-3-1), which had controlled play for most of the second half, and set off a wild celebration among orange-clad Cherokee fans in the visiting bleachers at Lions Stadium.
For the previous 20-25 minutes, Bridgewater-Raritan had dominated possession and generated several scoring chances. The Panthers were led by Sal Vitello, who like Ryan was a senior striker who wore No. 7 and scored his 33d goal of the season.
"Two No. 7s, and both were so dangerous," Cherokee coach Anthony Gallo said.
Vitello gave Bridgewater-Raritan a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute, taking a nice feed from Zak Jones and blasting a left-foot kick into the lower left corner of the net.
Cherokee answered in the 24th minute, as Ryan feathered a pass through to Dambalas, who split two defenders, moved past sliding goalie Alex Kaminetzky, and booted a shot into an open net.
"It was a give-and-go," Ryan said. "We've been working that since we started playing together on a travel team when we were 12 years old."
Ryan had several chances with the score at 1-1. So did Vitello, as each striker seemed poised to put his team in front.
"Cherokee has a great team," Bridgewater-Raritan coach Rick Szeles said. "The fact that we scored on them was a positive for us. I think we could have scored a couple more, but they could have scored a couple more on us, too."
Cherokee goalie Barry Fitzgerald made four saves and directed a defense anchored by Chris Crowley, Jon Tarzy and Billy Lobosco, among others.
"We came in this whole season with a chip on our shoulder because everyone was gunning for us," Fitzgerald said. "We just weren't going to be denied. This whole season was like a miracle."
Like so many great goal-scorers, Ryan struck suddenly. He took a feed from Dambalas, split two defenders, and fired a low, hard shot with his left foot into the lower right corner of the net.
The Temple-bound athlete generated 25 goals as junior, including a remarkable score with two seconds to play in a tournament game. He scored 33 this season, including the only goal in Cherokee's victory over East Brunswick in Tuesday's state semifinals.
But this was the state finals.
This was the last game of his career.
"This has to be the top," Ryan said of the goal. "To win the state championship with the game-winning goal, it doesn't get any better than that."
Cherokee 1 1 – 2
Bridgewater-Raritan 1 0 – 1
Goals: C-Angelo Dambalas, Mike Ryan; BR-Sal Vitello.
Saves: C-Barry Fitzgerald 4; BR-Alex Kaminetzky 2.
