Lady Vikings to play for conference supremacy
Other local teams falter in late rounds of GMC Tournament
VERONICA YANKOWSKI Piscataway’s Melissa Dziowga gets set to kick the ball past East Brunswick’s Jodi Gladstone during their Oct. 25 GMC Tournament semifinal game in East Brunswick.
Once in a while, there are those special weekends when it seems like there are too many big games going on at one time for the casual fan to follow.
Last weekend was one such occasion in the local high soccer scene, as all four local high school teams went into the weekend with a shot at the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship.
The boys and girls teams from both North Brunswick and South Brunswick high schools have been at or near the top of the GMC’s rankings for most of the season, steadily proving that they can play with the conference’s elite teams. And, as the GMC Tournament got under way, they all turned their play up a notch, seemingly ready to dethrone the two East Brunswick teams.
But by the end of the weekend only one team survived the single-elimination play and has lived to play another day, namely Sunday in the tournament final at Geick Park in Old Bridge.
The South Brunswick girls soccer team (12-3-2) has been one of the conference’s top teams all season long. And their play in the GMC tournament has done nothing to minimize their accomplishments. The Lady Vikings have been dominant in tournament play, easily advancing to Saturday’s semifinal round, where they faced a dangerous North Brunswick team.
The Raiders, owners of one of the conference’s most impressive records (16-0-2 coming in), had been equally strong in tournament play. They stormed their way to the semifinals, and seemed poised to stretch their season-long unbeaten streak to 19 games.
But once the whistle blew, it was all South Brunswick. The third-seeded Vikings dominated in every phase of the game, and shut out the Raiders 4-0. Kiana Johnson was the show-stopper, netting a goal and three assists to lead the Vikes to the win.
South Brunswick got on the board first when Johnson fed a cross to Tanya Earl just before the half. In the second half, the Vikings poured it on, getting two goals from Cherise Johnson (Kiana’s twin sister), and Kiana’s lone goal.
The Vikings outshot North Brunswick 17-5 and kept North Brunswick goalie Annie Kelnhofer very busy in net for the entire game.
But equally impressive was South Brunswick’s defense, which found a way to shut down Tricia Veloso, who has been one of the GMC’s top scorers all season long. Veloso had 33 goals coming into the game, but was held in check by Jen Gaze.
With the win, the Lady Vikings earn a shot at the GMC title when they play fifth-seeded Old Bridge on Sunday. The Knights earned their trip to the finals by knocking off Piscataway 2-1 in a shoot-out. Piscataway did everyone in the conference a favor by knocking off an East Brunswick team, minus its top player, in the quarterfinal round.
The Bears’ Heather O’Reilly, easily the best player in the GMC, was unable to play as she was playing for the U.S. Under-19 National Team the day of the game. The loss ended East Brunswick’s 21-year reign as the GMC champs. But the Bears got their revenge on Tuesday, knocking off Piscataway in the first round of the CJ Group IV tournament.
Game time on Sunday is 11 a.m.
On the boys’ side of action, the North Brunswick soccer team (13-4-1) made it all the way to the semifinals before they ran into a John F. Kennedy team that was simply too strong.
The third-seeded Raiders were simply overmatched against the second-seeded Mustangs, and fell 6-1 on Saturday. Iselin’s JFK jumped on the Raiders early, getting a goal just 2:25 into the first half on a header.
The Mustangs added a pair of goals before halftime and left the rest up to goalkeeper Nick Noonan, who made 18 saves, while allowing only a Sean Cameron goal with 3:47 left.
The win earned the Mustangs a shot at the top-ranked East Brunswick Bears, who got by Old Bridge 5-1 in their semifinal matchup. That final will get under way at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
As for the South Brunswick boys, they were knocked off in the quarterfinal round by Old Bridge, 2-0. The fifth-seeded Vikings were hoping to catch Old Bridge, looking ahead to a possible matchup with East Brunswick, but were simply outplayed by the Knights.
The fourth-seeded Knights took advantage of two corner kicks, manufacturing a goal in each half. For their part, the Vikings kept coming, turning up their intensity in the second half. But it was to no avail, as the Knights’ defense held true, earning its sixth shutout of the season.
All four local teams have turned their attention to the state playoffs this week. The second-seeded North Brunswick girls dropped a 3-2 decision to West Windsor South in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group IV tournament, while the Lady Vikings dropped a tough game to Sayreville, dropping a 2-1 (3-0 in a shoot-out) to the Bombers to be eliminated from the tournament on Tuesday.
On the boys’ side, the fourth-seeded Raiders hosted No. 13 Freehold Township yesterday, while the 14th-seeded Vikings played at No. 3 Bridgewater-Raritan.