RBC boys fall to CBA in Parochial A sectional
Colts go on to win
second state title in
three years
It was an up-and-down week for the Red Bank Catholic boys soccer team last week, scoring an emotional upset win over Camden Catholic in a South Jersey Parochial A semifinal game, before bowing out to perennial favorite Christian Brothers Academy in the finals.
Going into Wednesday’s semifinal against Camden Catholic (12-7-1), the Caseys knew that they would be facing an aggressive team, with a dangerous front line of scorers. That being said, RBC goalkeeper Rich Adams was being called on to hold back the potent Irish offense while his teammates looked for a way to beat Camden’s goaltender.
And Adams came up big, stopping at 17 shots he faced in leading the Caseys to a 1-0 victory, and a shot at CBA in the finals.
Offensively, the Caseys only managed seven shots, but one of them turned out to be the difference in the game.
With about 15 minutes left in the second half, right halfback Ed Sidley chased down a ball in the corner of the field and beat the Camden defender to the spot. From there, he dribbled around the defender, along the end line, and sent the ball across the middle to a waiting Steve Rodriguez. Rodriguez swiftly sent the ball into the net, sending the Caseys to the sectional finals for the first time in over five years.
The play was a momentous one for Sidley, as it culminated in his first point of the year.
Following the emotional win, the Caseys immediately set their sights on a CBA team which had earned its way into the sectional final for the ninth year in a row. The Colts were coming off a hard-fought 1-0 win over one of their biggest rivals, St. Joseph’s of Metuchen.
In that game, CBA got an early goal from Chris Rizzolo and used a punishing defense to hold the lead, behind the strong play of keeper Steve Skribner (10 saves). The game was a fierce one, as the two teams received a combined nine yellow cards while fighting for the right to face RBC on Friday.
After CBA (17-2-1) survived the St. Joe’s game, they entered the sectional final confident that they could handle the upstart Caseys in the game at Mercer County Park. And for the most part, they did.
CBA played a nearly flawless game, topping RBC 3-1 after getting an early lead and holding it for the remainder of the game.
The Colts began applying pressure on the RBC defense almost immediately, as Adams did just about everything but stand on his head to keep the ball out of the net through much of the first half. Adams dove left and right, redirecting precise CBA shots, keeping his team in the game early. But it was only a matter of time before the CBA players found a way to get the ball past him.
That time came in the 28th minute of the first half, when the Colts’ Curtis Fox fed Lee Burke in front of the net. Burke headed the ball past Adams to give the Colts the 1-0 lead.
The goal was a perfect example of how the Colts have managed to manufacture a goal whenever they needed one for most of the year. The pass from Curtis was perfect, and Burke was in, waiting comfortably off the far post, ready to direct the ball in the lower right corner.
The Colts added to their lead with less than a minute before the end of the first half when Fox one-touched a pass to Alex Giotis, who then fed Derek Swanner for the score.
CBA’s third goal came when Charlie Wiggins, who had done a masterful job of marking RBC’s Matt Woolston throughout the game, blasted a penalty kick past Adams at the 50:50 mark.
The Caseys managed to net a goal at the 67:47 mark, when junior midfielder Sean Horan scored on a direct kick. But by then, the Colts, who outshot RBC 16-4, were well on their way to yesterday’s matchup with Pingry (20-0-2) at The College of New Jersey.
As for the Caseys, they finished off their season well, making it to the finals of the South Jersey Parochial A tournament, a spot dominated by the Colts for the past decade.
And for fourth-year Coach Pete Bruckman Jr., he could no be happier with his team’s effort throughout the season.
But CBA had one more game to play, and they were ready for Pingry on Tuesday.
The Colts got a pair of goals from Dan Pires as they knocked off the higher-seeded Big Blue, handing them their first loss of the year.
CBA finished the year at 19-2-1 with their second state championship in three years. They won their last title in 1998, when they went undefeated.
The Colts got the lead with seven minutes left in the first half when Pires controlled a bouncing ball, and executed a perfect give-and-go with Chris Rizzolo before blasting a hard shot past Pingry goaltender Anthony Trippicchio inside the far post.
But Pingry answered with a pair of goals of their own, including the go-ahead goal with only 49 seconds left in the half.
CBA went into the half down 2-1, but had the mental toughness to bounce back in the second half. Pires tied the game at 55:23 when Curtis Fox served up a perfect pass 10 yards in front of the net, which Pires calmly headed in to the net.
And then, exactly one minute and 17 seconds later, the Colts took the lead for good. Once again it was Pires in the middle of the action, as he delivered a perfect through pass to Rizzolo, who one-timed the ball into the net.
From there it was the CBA defense, which can now stake claim to being the best in the state, which stopped the Pingry offense 3-2, and also clinched the Parochial A title.