By Wayne witkowski
Staff Writer
Winning a state championship is hard enough. But the Brick Memorial girls soccer team worked at least as hard in the off-season to defend it.
Two months after getting that tingly feeling, the Mustangs were in the weight room three days a week and worked arduously with Joe Leone, who joined the staff as the team’s strength and conditioning coach, to get the girls physically sharp.
That’s what separates the top teams from the rest nowadays — the commitment to off-season training.
"Everybody wants to win but what are you willing to do in the off-season," said head coach Bill Caruso. "The workouts have evolved from just running in the parking lot during the winter as we had done years ago to what we do now."
And Caruso’s assessment of how the players have been progressing is favorable, but now in the grueling stretch in August, he said the team "is not quite there yet."
"We’re doing well," said Kristen Kolibas, who returns as team captain for her senior year with Tara Raftery, during summer workouts. "We’re out there like a family. This is good. We need to stay fit. This is what separates us from other teams."
Over the past few weeks and in the few weeks ahead before the season starts, the returning players from last year’s team that caught fire at the end of the season after an early exit in the Shore Conference Tournament have been scrimmaging against graduated players who have gone on to play in college.
They run under the direction of the team captains two other days and will have a two-mile fitness test on Aug. 20.
"Joe really upgraded the fitness aspect. And the seniors are getting into their leadership role," said Caruso, who also has as assistant coaches Kevin Farley and part-time coach John Parani, who resigned at the end of last season as Brick Township boys coach. John NaCarlo, an assistant coach last year, was named Holmdel boys coach during the off-season but still comes back to Brick Memorial to work with the goalies.His focus will be on Jamie Kaiser, who started the first four games when star goalie Lauren Acosta was hurt and played well. Acosta is playing at Rutgers this fall.
The inscription on the t-shirt for this season says it all: "Memorial soccer. ‘Nuff said."
Of 15 returning players, eight are seniors. Some did not participate in the workouts during the spring because they were on the school’s new girls lacrosse team. But once the season ended, those players had to rejoin their soccer teammates, unless it was on days that the club teams they play on were in action. They’ve also participated in a mini-camp in upstate New York this summer.
After individual meetings with Caruso in January, many in their workout schedule were in the weight room with plymetrics, a physically challenging program. Then, they were on speed training and football coach Fred Sprengle worked with some of them on mastering the right form.
"Each player kept a log (diary) for each month," said Caruso, who got married a few weeks ago and returned from a honeymoon at Disney World. "Early on, they did five to six workouts with ball-juggling and dribbling to know they’re touching the ball (in the off-season)."
How much this helped their preparation will unfurl in the weeks ahead when the team steps up preseason practices and plays its early season games.