Coach Chris Gozick was a little disappointed that his Spotswood High School boys’ soccer team had a second straight .500 season, going 9-9. The Chargers had quite a few players back from last year’s 8-8-1 squad, but lost two to illness early on.
"We had some personnel issues," said Gozick. "But to the credit of many players, they picked up the slack the best they could. We didn’t have the team for the whole season that we’d anticipated, and we had a demanding schedule."
Gozick said senior maturity and continuity helped the Chargers make a respectable showing.
"When you have a group that’s been together for three years, you can produce some good, involved players," he points out.
The scoring leader this season was senior Peter Forte, who emerged as one of the finest forwards in the Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division. Forte had 13 goals on the campaign. Other forwards included seniors Kevin Hayes and Jim Knarr.
"Jim was one of those players who worked hard and gave 100 percent effort," said Gozick. "He did the little things that were supportive and made a very positive contribution to the team."
At midfield, senior Bhavesh Patel was the tallest player on the team, which contributed to the Chargers’ strength in the air. Patel was a playmaker, who booted in eight goals and added six assists.
"He has a remarkable ability to throw the ball, the best in the Blue Division," said Gozick. "He was a tremendous weapon."
Senior Rick Drude, who joined Forte as a captain, was a fine playmaker who also scored a hat trick in Spotswood’s 5-0 shutout of New Brunswick in the county tournament preliminaries. Also in the middle, senior Reuben Gamadia was one of the team’s most tenacious performers, usually assigned man-to-man marking. Sophomore Tim Logan displayed impressive potential, according to his coach.
Another soph, Sam Generelli, came up from the jayvee squad and impressed everyone with his work ethic. On defense, senior captain Joe Wogan was a standout.
"He was an all-Blue player, a four-year varsity veteran, and if we have one field leader, it’s Joe," said Gozick. "He was a sweeper last year but moved to stopper, while junior Brian Kellendeck, last year’s stopper, replaced him at sweeper and was very physical with good speed and learned his trade this year."
Gozick platooned three marking backs. Senior Carl Allen was a hustler, senior captain Sean Wiggins displayed speed and an excellent attitude, and A.J. Taylor, another 12th-grader, was notable for his tenacity.
"Our three-year varsity goalkeeper, Greg Zohovetz, had some significant shutouts for us," said Gozick, noting a 3-0 defeat of Monroe, a 5-0 whitewashing of Highland Park and the 5-0 game against New Brunswick in the counties. "We went 5-1 in our last six games, and Greg was one of the main reasons for it."
Rounding out the squad were role players Anthony Cheng, a senior, and junior Zack Drodz, both of whom contributed, although Drodz lost playing time because of an injury.
— Richard Jerome