Lawrence boys soccer
By: Jim Green
Lawrence High School boys soccer coach Keith Fithen knew that, in order to turn things around for his team, he would have to do something drastic.
The Cardinals won just one of their first six games as offensive struggles prevented them from being able to build leads for All-Mercer County goalie Randall Zapolski to protect. So Fithen, deeming Zapolski’s exceptional skills were being wasted in goal while his team struggled to score, moved Zapolski out of net and into the sweeper position before Lawrence’s Oct. 7 game at Delaware Valley.
"We just needed to make a change," Fithen said. "We decided to bring his leadership out of the goal and put it out on the field where it can help everybody else."
To replace Zapolski in net, Fithen called up sophomore Dave Schindewolf from junior varsity.
"He’s tall and a good keeper," Fithen said. "We decided to give him a shot."
Schindewolf did not disappoint in his debut, making 14 saves to keep Lawrence in the game against DelVal. But the Cardinals had an early goal called off by the referees because of an offside call, and the Terriers eventually scored the only goal of the game with less than five minutes left.
"In opposing areas of the state, the refs aren’t always going to give us a break," Fithen said. "We couldn’t put anything else in the net. It was just unfortunate to play better and still give up a goal. I still thought we played better than the previous week and a half."
As a result of the 1-0 loss, Fithen decided to move Zapolski yet again, this time to the forward line. The move paid immediate dividends Saturday, as Zapolski assisted senior Dan Pizzutillo on a goal that gave Lawrence a rare first-half lead less than 10 minutes into its home game against Northern Burlington.
"We were up 1-0 with Randall involved the way we need him to be," Fithen said.
The Cardinals held that one-goal lead through intermission, and early in the second half, junior John Straquatanio scored his first career goal off an assist from senior J.P. Kelly, putting Lawrence up 2-0.
"That’s the first goal of his career, and we’re happy for him in that respect," Fithen said.
Straquatanio’s goal proved critical, as, midway through the second half, Northern Burlington got on the board with a goal by Chris McMullen.
"Our defense lost sight of where he was," Fithen said. "He was in the right place at the right time, and he scored a goal."
Fithen was concerned that his club had been unable to extend its lead any farther, leaving it vulnerable to a late charge by Northern Burlington.
"You want that third goal that puts teams away," Fithen said. "But for 20 minutes we hung in there and didn’t allow Northern Burlington to score. We had a lot of adjustments. We did enough to pull out the win."
Schindewolf made six saves as the Cardinals escaped with a huge road win, improving their record to 2-5-1 and keeping their state tournament hopes alive. Lawrence could afford no more than two losses in its next six games in order to qualify for the tournament.
"We have not seemed to be settled into a set lineup," Fithen said. "That’s something we have to do as fast as we can. We have a big road ahead of us."
Fithen said that, despite his team’s recent three-game losing skid, he never had difficulty getting his team to work hard.
"This team has practiced real well," Fithen said. "It has been an unselfish group in a lot of aspects. It’s a good group to coach. We’re just missing the big scorer other teams have. No one’s stepped up to be more consistent on offense.
"We’re struggling on offense. If we give up a goal, it’s very hard for us to rebound."
That’s why getting the early lead against Northern Burlington was so important.
"We played smart, even on the goal," Fithen said. "We held Northern Burlington to not many shots, and that helped us to win."
The Cardinals will visit Nottingham at 4 p.m. today (Thursday) before playing host to West Windsor-Plainsboro North at 4 p.m. Friday and facing cross-town rival Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Tuesday under the lights at Zimmer Field.
"We need to take opposing teams out of their style and make them play our style," Fithen said. "We need to attack. It’s a make-or-break week. We need to get back to .500 as quickly as we can. We have a big challenge ahead of us."