Sister vs. sister. Cousin and cousin. North Jersey soccer game turns into a family affair
What happens when a soccer game brings a family together and splits another apart? Mahwah and Clifton are about to find out Thursday.
The Big North battle on Colfax Ave. will have two sisters coaching against each other and three relatives playing in the same midfield. It will be the first meeting between Mahwah girls coach Allie Graff and her older sibling Lindsey Cinque, who's in a new role as a Mustangs assistant.
On paper, the crossover game is worth a few power-points. In reality, it means a whole lot more. It's a trip down memory lane for the family originally from Norwood.
"Hopefully it's a packed house," Cinque said. "My mom had a shirt made that shows that she's supporting Mahwah and Clifton. She thinks she's the Kelce mom from the Super Bowl. We're really excited."
The matchup came about through pure serendipity. Graff picked up the game in January before knowing how much would be at stake. Now it's the mentor vs. her apprentice.
Graff, who's in her second season with Mahwah, was inspired to get into education when her role model took a job as a high school French teacher.
"I don't know how many years she'll coach, so the fact that we get to coach against each other is pretty cool," Graff said. "And honestly, she's my big sister. She's seven years older than me so she's been teaching me my whole life. It's cool that I have this head coaching experience. So when she calls me to ask for advice, I get to return the favor for everything she's done for me."
The truth is, though, Graff feels a little betrayed.
The Thunderbirds coach had an opening on staff and the perfect candidate in mind in her big sister.
Cinque politely declined. A daily commute from Clifton to Mahwah would only complicate life for Cinque, who is raising three kids with Mustangs football coach Ralph Cinque.
Then another opportunity popped up.
"Her friend took over (Clifton) at the end of June and asked her to be an assistant and she said yes," Graff said. "So I'm like, you won't coach with your own sister but you'll coach with your friend."
"She still continues to heckle me about it on a pretty consistent basis," said Cinque, a three-sport coach at Clifton.
Birds of a feather
The family theme has run deep at Mahwah this season. That is because the Thunderbirds have three relatives starting in the midfield with senior Marissa LaVergetta alongside her cousins: sophomore Taylor Tremblay and freshman Devon Tremblay. Their cheering section was about 15 to 20 strong on Senior Night.
"We have a great group of girls this year and I knew Devon would step up as a freshman," LaVerghetta said. "It's great because all of our parents went to the same school. I feel like we're all carrying on the legacy."
That legacy can be found on the Wall of Fame at Mahwah and now spans three generations. Maybe the best athlete of the bunch is LaVerghetta's mom, Kelly Tremblay. She scored 107 goals in her career and led the girls soccer team to its first state title in 1985.
This is another special year for the family since it's the only time when its three teenage athletes overlap. Graff tells a story about going to scout a game and seeing the trio show up, unannounced, with another teammate. Their hard work and knack for finding each other has come in handy during a 2-0 start.
It helped a lot (to have Marissa)," Taylor Tremblay said. "100 percent. I didn't come in nervous because I knew I had my cousin who had my back, and all her friends knew me. So it was like a big family. I felt welcomed."
Clifton and Mahwah on the rise
Clifton (6-12 last autumn) and Mahwah (9-8-2) are both experienced teams trying to take a step forward after a rocky 2022 season.
The Mustangs have 14 seniors on the roster, and Cinque already knew many of them as the school's flag football coach. The Thunderbirds have some lofty goals on their coach's white board after a Murphy's law kind of year.
"I had one game where I had my actual starting lineup last year," Graff said. "It was the second game of the year. It was brutal. But they made it work and it's going to pay off this year."
This isn't the first time Graff will be on the sideline for one of her sister's games. The Old Tappan graduate remembers being the ball girl when Lindsey played for Holy Angels. The running joke is their brother Jonn should be the ref for the latest encounter.
"I always want her to do well," Cinque said. "I'm always rooting for her and cheering her on. I'm hoping for a great game for maybe us to pull it out. We can just win by one."
"I'm expecting Mahwah to come out on top on Thursday, so we'll see after," Graff said. "I don't know if we'll be eating dinner together on Thursday night."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ girls soccer: Sister vs. sister coaches at Clifton and Mahwah
