Demarest takes on Ramapo at Montclair State University

Boys Soccer team huddle before game against Pascack Valley (Photo courtesy of Jacob Krylov)

Quinn Postman, Co-Editor in Chief
September 17, 2022

Demarest’s Boys Soccer has had a pretty impressive start to the 2022-2023 season.

The Norsemen started the season with a blowout win against St. Joe’s and then followed that up by beating the reigning Group 3 Sectional Champions, Pascack Valley.

Demarest battled against Tenafly in a tight and competitive game on Thursday that settled in a 2-2 draw after two overtime periods. Rob Romeo, head coach of the boys’ soccer team, has a very strong squad at his hands this season.

“This team is not built around one person. Every player contributes 100% max effort,” Romeo said in a NorthJersey.com article.

Before the season began, NorthJersey.com ranked Demarest as the 11th best team in North Jersey. Now, they are ranked as the eighth-best team in North Jersey mainly because of their strong senior class.

Andrew Dunne, one of the four senior captains, has been on varsity for the past three years. Dunne scored the first goal in the 2-0 win against Pascack Valley and is very excited for the game against Ramapo.

“The atmosphere we’ve created within the team is something that I haven’t seen in the past three years,” Dunne said. “The game this weekend is a great opportunity for us to show what we are made of against a really strong Ramapo team.”

“This team means the world to me. It’s a brotherhood,” Dunne said.

Dunne sprints away from the Pascack Valley defender (Photo courtesy of Jacob Krylov)

Ramapo has also had a very impressive start to their season. Ramapo enters the game against Demarest with a 2-0 record with wins against Paramus and Ridgewood. Ramapo won the Big North Freedom league title and the Bergen County Championship last season.

Ramapo has a rich soccer history. The Raiders have won seven state titles and 14 county titles in school history. NorthJersey.com also has them ranked as the number one team in North Jersey.

A big reason why Ramapo are consistently highly ranked each year is because of their head coach, Evan Baumgarten. Baumgarten has coached Ramapo for the past 36 years and holds a record of 627-95-32.

Baumgarten is a graduate of NV Demarest- class of 1980.

Baumgarten has more undefeated seasons than losing seasons at Ramapo (Photo courtesy of Chris Monroe)

The game will be held at Montclair State University at 6 PM on Sunday. Montclair State University is also the home of the New York Red Bulls reserve team – New York Red Bulls II.

It typically takes 45 minutes to get to MSU from the high school.