By: Carolyn M. Hartko
Up until this past Monday, there had been only one team in the Greater Middlesex Conference’s White Division that had beaten the Monroe Township High School boys’ varsity soccer squad this fall.
On Monday, the Falcons rectified that misstep by topping the New Brunswick Zebras 2-1. That, plus Tuesday’s 6-2 romp at Perth Amboy, pushed the Falcons to 12-1, and they now sit alone atop the White Division.
During the first meeting of these two sides, Monroe had trouble handling New Brunswick’s direct, kick-and-run style. The Falcons are more of a possession, control-the-pace type of team.
"They play a difficult style," Falcon head coach Steve MacKenzie said. "It was like the first game. It’s hard to figure out. They just sit back, and then play the ball long, play the ball long, play the ball long. And that (Edwin) Palomo kid he’s a good forward."
New Brunswick is most dangerous on the counter attack. When an opponent has its whole team forward for a corner kick or other set piece, the Zebras look for the ball to pop loose in the wrong direction. Then they suddenly have three attackers sprinting towards the goal against a lone defender hanging out around the circle. The Monroe defense knew they had to be ready for that kind of surprise this time around.
"They’re a good offensive team," senior Chris Faroane said. "We knew they like to counter-attack, so as soon as they had the ball in the midfield, we would get sideways on them and run back to try and stop the long ball."
Monroe did have the height advantage, and Faroane, one of the team’s four captains, stopped many of those long balls with his head.
The two sides fought a scoreless first half. It wasn’t until the 53rd minute of play that freshman Brendan Sebastian, coming off the bench, knocked one in for the Falcons. Sebastian’s shot, taken from about 25 yards out, was a rocket that bounced off the hands of Zebra keeper Carlos Marquez and into the net.
"The ball came into the middle to me, and I turned around, and I saw nobody by me," Sebastian said. "I saw the goal up there, so I turned my head and just kicked the ball and it went in."
Junior midfielder Frank Carr centered the ball, getting the assist on Sebastian’s first varsity goal. Fourteen minutes later, Justin Miller made it 2-0 off an assist from Michael Buffalino. Palomo spoiled the shutout when he blasted a shot that bounced off and over the prone body of Falcon keeper Cory Notaro. That goal sparked the Zebras, but the Falcon defense held for the remaining 10 minutes of regulation.
Both keepers were solid in goal. Notaro posted four saves, including a punch-out after a corner kick in the second half. Notaro also made two great saves on hard shots taken as direct free kicks. Marquez (10 saves) came up big on a Spencer Lawrence attempt a few minutes into the second half, punching the ball backwards over the crossbar.
The Falcons have two division games left. They host South Plainfield Saturday at 10 a.m. and will be at Colonia next Tuesday. East Brunswick will be in town for a cross-over match on Thursday.
THROW-INS: Miller had two goals against Perth Amboy, and Zach Theinert had a goal and two assists. Monroe’s other goals came from Lawrence, Carr, and Nick Stasi.
