PV looks to be picking up right back where they left off in 2016.

Pascack Valley dominated the opposition last season, starting the season on a 16-game winning streak.  The Indians, who finished last season at 18-2, didn’t lose their first game until October 29 against Ramapo, and went on to be the champions of their league.

After the first three games of their 2017 campaign, the Indians have a 2-0-1 record.  In their opener on Sept. 8, PV stomped Teaneck by a score of 7-1.

“Teaneck has been struggling a bit lately so it really wasn’t much of a test,” Coach Roy Nygren started. “We went there, to Votee Park, and got the job done very quickly which was good. We dictated the tempo right out of the gate and we took care of business there.”

After an easy victory in Teaneck, Pascack Valley faced a much tougher test at home against Old Tappan. “Huge game against Old Tappan. I’d say coming in Old Tappan probably, in the coach’s poll, most coaches thought that Old Tappan has a bit of an edge to win the league or the county this year,” Nygren said, acknowledging the Golden Knights’ ability. 

Although Old Tappan is clearly a talented group, Nygren’s squad showed that they could compete at the same level as them. Trailing 1-0 with about five minutes to play, Senior Andrew Tateossian scored the game-tying goal.  The game went into double overtime, but neither team was able to find the back of the net, so the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Pascack Valley picked up its second win of the year with a 3-0 shutout against Demarest.

Nygren is pleased with what he has seen from new-look Indians team thus far.

“The young group of guys mixing with those seniors, they get along, chemistry is pretty good, attitude is good, and we’re looking to build off of that.”

This week, the team has three important games to play, as they look to secure a high seed in the upcoming Bergen County Tournament.

“We’ve got three more games before the County Cutoff. We like to look at it one game at a time,  but we have Bergenfield, Paramus, and Tenafly. And we can put it in the win column, it will guarantee us a really good seed in the county.”

Injury Update: Justin Schaumberger scored a goal in the Indians victory over Teaneck, but the senior suffered a knee injury in their rival game against Old Tappan game.

He said that he has a partially torn MCL and a bruised bone in his knee.

“You know, you hate for anyone to sustain an injury, particularly your senior,” Nygren said. “You grow and you mature and you look forward to your senior year being the epitome of your development and get really ready to go after it. Justin had a tremendous junior year. And he’s a leader, he’s our IQ guy in the middle side of the field. He’s a coach on the field, to lose him was certainly a bit of a setback.”

According to Nygren, Schaumberger will be out of action for 2-4 weeks. Schaumberger cannot wait to get back on the field and will be rooting his team on from the sidelines in the meantime.

“If we win against Bergenfield, that puts us in the driver’s seat of the league,” Schaumberger said.