PARSIPPANY — Sairam “Sai” Balaji delivered a historic performance Tuesday afternoon, scoring all five of Parsippany High School’s goals in a 5-2 victory over Pequannock Township High School.
The win moved Parsippany to 7-1 on the season and gave the Redhawks an immediate response following their first loss of the year against Madison.
But Tuesday belonged to Sai.
Balaji found the back of the net five separate times, accounting for every Parsippany goal and putting together one of the most prolific single-game scoring performances in the history of the program.
Aniket Mishra assisted Balaji’s first goal before captain Christian Castaño supplied the assist on his second.
Parsippany continued feeding its leading scorer throughout the game. Adam Gasparro assisted Balaji on both his fourth and fifth goals as Sai continued to punish the Pequannock defense.
By the final whistle, Balaji had scored five goals by himself, matching Parsippany’s entire offensive output in the 5-2 victory.
The performance earned Balaji an obvious Man of the Match selection and added another major game to what has already been an impressive stretch for the junior.
Balaji entered the season after recording 17 goals and nine assists as a sophomore. He has remained at the center of Parsippany’s attack this fall, previously scoring twice against Morris County Tech, twice against Morris Knolls, once against Whippany Park, and twice against Lenape Valley.
Balaji’s five-goal outburst brought his season total to 13 goals through eight games.
The victory also completed Parsippany’s regular-season sweep of Pequannock after the Redhawks defeated the Golden Panthers, 3-1, earlier this month.
After suffering its first defeat of the season against Madison, Parsippany wasted little time getting back in the win column.
And Sai made sure of it.
Author’s Note: Special thanks to Ajay Rathinam and Christian Castaño for providing scoring details and additional information from the game.
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