East Brunswick ends another stellar season
SJV boys, girls playing for sectional titles
BY RICHARD JEROME
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Above, East Brunswick’s Lauren Esposito raises her arms after the Bears won their second straight GMCT title by defeating Woodbridge 3-2 in North Brunswick on Saturday. At left, the Bears’ Casey Caruso can’t look as she attempts to defend the Barrons’ Nicole Anulewicz.

All in all, it was another smashing season for the East Brunswick High School (EBHS) girls soccer team, which won the Red Division and Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) crowns, before falling to Brick Memorial, 1-0, in the sectional semifinals.

EBHS went 18-3 to finish the campaign with 509 victories under head coach Lou Kosa’s tutelage, though he deflects credit and attributes the wins to “the program.”

“We had a balanced team, and didn’t have a just a single big scorer,” said Kosa, who was assisted by Brian Merrigan and Charles Ginex. “And of course, we played great defense, with 16 shutouts.”

The goalkeeper credited with those whitewashings was senior Amanda Nagy, while abetting her on defense were the quintet of junior sweeper Amanda Tagger, fullbacks Caroline Noppenberger, a senior, and junior Caitlin Westcott, senior stoppers Stephanie Blanar and Allie Lubcher and swing player Lauren Volosin, also a senior.

On offense, junior striker Kristi Lang led the team with 15 goals along with seven assists. Jess Campbell, another junior, also played striker. In the midfield, junior Allison Riccio teamed up with soph Casey Caruso (who scored six goals and bagged seven assists) and senior Lauren Esposito, another offensive force, who registered 14 tallies and six assists.

In Saturday’s 3-2 GMCT final win over Woodbridge, the Bears had to twice overcome deficits in the second half to knock off the upset-minded Barrons. Though EB controlled most of the play, outshooting Woodbridge, 25-3, the Barrons made the most of their shots, with sophomore Daria Bialik scoring both of her team’s goals.

Trailing 1-0, the Bears knotted it up with a goal from Esposito off a rebound of a Campbell shot. But the Barrons kept focus, and took the lead again on Bialik’s second goal with about 20 minutes left to play in the second half.

This time it was Campbell that tied the game, scoring on a header off a corner kick, and 13 minutes later, Caruso scored the game-winner, giving the Bears their 19th conference title, and second straight.

East Brunswick took the momentum gained from that game in to Monday’s Central Jersey Group IV semifinal against Brick Memorial, the defending sectional champ, and a top 10 team for much of the year.

Though the Bears dropped the semifinal when the Mustangs’ Jess Fuccello scored the game-winner in the 46th minute (her 30th of the season), East Brunswick did nothing to tarnish its image as one of the top public school teams in the state.

“It was one of the greatest high school games I’ve seen,” said an emotional Memorial coach Bill Caruso after the game. “That’s all I had to say to my team after the game. It had everything. I couldn’t be happier.”

With the loss, the Bears finished the year at 18-3, another brilliant season for the GMC’s elite girls soccer program.

Round-up... Elsewhere in state tournament play, the South River girls saw their dream of a Central Jersey Group I title come to a halt on Monday with a 2-1 loss to Florence in the semifinals.

Stefanie Bulleck scored twice to left Florence, while Laura Kahse had a first-half goal for the Rams, who finished the year at 12-6. South River advanced to the semifinals with a 4-0 win over Jonathon Dayton on Thursday.

The Spotswood Chargers were ousted from the CJ Group III tournament last Thursday with a 6-0 loss to sixth-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven, the defending sectional champ. Rumson went on to beat second-seeded Delran on Monday, 2-1, and will play A.L. Johnson for the sectional title later today.

That leaves the St. John Vianney girls as the only local team still alive in state tournament play.

The Lancers, the second seed in the Non-Public South A bracket, are playing Holy Cross today for the sectional title after knocking off Notre Dame, 6-0, in the first round, and beating Gloucester Catholic, 3-1, on Monday in the semifinals.

In the win over Gloucester Catholic, senior Theresa Ferraina scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the 27th minute, after sophomore Alisa Apo scored the team’s first goal. Apo also assisted on both of Ferraina’s goals.

With the win, Vianney improved to 15-3-1 on the year, and continues to prove that tournament time is their time to shine.

Holy Cross, the tournament’s fifth seed, advanced to the final by knocking off top-seeded Red Bank Catholic, 3-0, on Monday.

In boys action, it’s a similar situation, with the St. John Vianney boys team the only local squad still alive in state tournament play.

The Lancers had already made school history with its first victory in the state playoffs with a 2-1 win over Holy Cross on Friday, but decided that it wasn’t good enough.

So on Tuesday, the Lancers continued their hot play, knocking off top-seeded Notre Dame, 2-0, in the Non-Public South A semifinals. Sophomore Rhyan Nelson scored both goals for the Lancers (14-6-2), who will take on Shore Conference champion Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) tomorrow at Rutgers-Camden at 7:30 p.m. for the sectional title. The Colts knocked off St. Joseph’s (Metuchen), 2-1, in their semifinal, and are 17-1-1 on the year.

While the Lancers enter tomorrow’s game as a prohibitive underdog, they’ve already shown the ability to thrive in that role, and while CBA does have one of the more respected programs in the state, history has proven the Colts to be susceptible to an upset in the state tournament.

Four other local boys teams were eliminated from their respective tournaments last week, thus ending their seasons.

The Sayreville Bombers fell to top-seeded Middletown North, 2-1, on Thursday in the Central Jersey Group IV quarterfinals. The Bombers evened the game at 1-1 in the second half on a Jeff Craig goal, but the Lion’s Jason Chmoma scored the game-winner in the 61st minute, ending the campaign for the 13-7-1 Bombers.

On the other side of the bracket, the East Brunswick Bears fell to third-seeded Rancocas Valley, 4-0, in their quarterfinal game, and ended the year at 13-6-2.

Rancocas Valley went on to beat Hillsborough, 3-0, in the semifinals and will be playing Marlboro, a 1-0 semifinal winner over Middletown North, in the final tomorrow.

In CJ Group III play, the third-seeded Monroe Falcons fell to 11th-seeded Neptune on Friday. Justin Miller scored the Falcons’ only goal off a feed from Frank Carr, but the speedy Scarlet Fliers got a pair of goals from Jeff Hoffman to win the game, and end the Falcons season at 12-5-1. Neptune, meanwhile, went on to defeat Long Branch, 2-0, in the semifinals on Tuesday, and will face top-seeded Wall Township for the sectional title tomorrow.

The South River boys were knocked out of the CJ Group I tournament on Friday with a 7-2 loss to David Brearley. A.J. Parillo netted a pair of goals for the Rams, but seven first-half goals from Brearley was the difference for the Bears, who went on to lose to top-seeded Metuchen, 5-1, in the semifinals on Tuesday.

— Doug McKenzie contributed to this story