of the season
Lakewood boys notch their second win
of the season
By Mike White
Staff Writer
The Jackson High School boys’ soccer program captured a share of the Shore Conference A South title for the second consecutive year last Friday with a dramatic 2-1 victory over visiting Toms River East.
"I think that the kids are pretty excited about winning A South," fourth-year Jaguars’ coach Fred Napoli said. "We’ve had a very good season so far. The kids have continued to work hard. We’re playing at a different level right now. It seems that they are really working together to get things done. Hopefully we can continue this momentum as the postseason rolls around."
Jackson needed a win over TRE to gain a share of the A South title with Brick Memorial.
Following a regular-season game Thursday against Freehold Township, Jackson is scheduled to play the winner of Rumson-Middletown South Saturday in the Shore Conference playoffs.
Napoli said he doesn’t have a preference about which team he would like to square off against.
"Either way it is going to be a very intense game," Napoli said. "Both programs are tough. We’re going to have to play the way we have all season. If we can play solid defense and take advantage of scoring opportunities, there’s no telling what we can do. We feel confident going into the match-up no matter which team we end up playing."
In the win over TRE, senior Rob Kane scored a goal and added an assist as Jackson improved to 10-2 overall.
With the score knotted at 1-all in the second half, Kane slid a through-pass to teammate Nick Gkionis, who blasted a shot past the Toms River East goalie for the game winner in the 50th minute.
The win avenges a 3-0 loss to TRE earlier in the season.
"We really stepped it up at the defensive end in the second half," Napoli said. "We did a good job of marking up, clearing the ball and limiting their scoring chances. I have to give the defense a great deal of credit for this victory."
Lakewood blanks Mater Dei
The Piners scored three second-half goals to win their second game of the season.
Sophomore Trevor Brown, senior Nichoy Anglin and junior Henry Martin each scored a goal in Lakewood’s victory.
Enio Ruthner and Tim Jacobs added assists.
"We played with a lot of determination," Lakewood first-year coach Annete Maldonado said. "I think the kids have been communicating much better on the field. This has resulted in a bunch of scoring chances for us."
In fact, Lakewood registered 21 shots on goal.
"It was nice to see our offense play at such a high level," Maldonado said. "We moved the ball well and looked for open people."
Lakewood improved to 2-12-1 on the season.
"Despite our record, the kids have maintained a positive outlook all year," Maldonado said. "We still have four games remaining and we are hoping that we can get a couple of more victories to end the year on a positive note. Our record is not indicative of how much our players have improved."