Boys SoccerWith the loss of two all-county players, the Hopewell Valley Central High School boys soccer team is in need of several players to rise to the occasion.
By: Steve Feitl
The Bulldogs kick off the 2001 campaign with three road games, beginning this Friday at Notre Dame. Game time is 5 p.m. at Zimmer Field.
After that, Hopewell travels to Hightstown on Monday for a 7 p.m. game under the lights and then to Steinert on Wednesday.
The 2000 Bulldogs were highly successful with their 17-4-2 record, but gone from that squad is the all-county pair of Matt Katz and Andrew Gavin, as well as Jim Peters and Justin Gregory.
In 2001, head coach Tony Suozzo will turn to returnees Steve Berei, Jason Pall, Joe Bonacci and Justin Hall to carry the load of the work. He also has a talented group of juniors who will help out a lot.
But more than anything, Suozzo is searching for the players that will replace the scoring lost when Katz and Gavin graduated in June.
"We need two guys to step up and fill in that scoring up front," Suozzo said. "It will have to come from guys who were in role positions last year."
But even with the loss of talented players, the nucleus of the team remembers the success it had last season and wants more of it. Suozzo noted that the Bulldogs do feel pressure to succeed once again.
On top of that, Hopewell is now a Group III team. That means if the Bulldogs advance to the state tournament, they will be facing all new teams they are rather unfamiliar with.
To combat the challenges ahead, Suozzo put the Bulldogs through a rigorous preseason.
For the first time, the Bulldogs hosted a preseason tournament last Friday. Hopewell brought in the Group II state championship squad from Moorestown and the parochial champions Christian Brothers Academy, as well as Hillsborough.
Then on Tuesday, the Bulldogs traveled to Cherry Hill to face the top-ranked Group IV team in South Jersey, Cherry Hill East High School.
Overall, Suozzo was pleased with how the Bulldogs responded to the stiff competition. In their tournament, Hopewell defeated Moorestown and tied Hillsborough before losing, 1-0, to CBA.
Then in the Cherry Hill game, Hopewell was down only 2-0 when the game was called due to thunderstorms in the area.
Suozzo believes these preseason performances will lead to regular season success for the Bulldogs it just may take a while to fill those holes.
"Team chemistry is going to be big for this team," Suozzo said. "We have the talent. It’s just going to take a while to gel."

