MHS boys play another scoreless tie

Soccer season ends this week

By: John E. Powers
   
   The sun was setting last Friday afternoon as the Manville High School boys’ soccer team waited – and waited – for their opponents from Roselle. At about 4:50, the Rams’ bus pulled in and for two 30-minute halves, followed by two five-minute "overtime" periods, the Mustangs played a game that has become all too familiar this season.
   Manville dominated their Mountain Valley Conference Sky Division foes, but had to settle for a scoreless decision. The Mustangs, who fell to 2-10-3, were scheduled to play host to David Brearley of Kenilworth Tuesday and finish the season at Middlesex County Academy Thursday. That would end the season for the Mustangs.
   Manville has struggled to score all year. The Mustangs have been held scoreless in 10 of their 15 games and have scored 13 goals – 10 of them coming in their two victories, a 6-2 win over Piscataway Tech and a 4-2 win over Belvidere. Last year, senior Rafal Brozyna had 13 goals by himself with five assists.
   "You can’t win if you can’t score," has been the most common phrase by third-year head coach Jim Chiariello this fall.
   The game with Roselle resembled most of the others. The Rams loaded up on marking Brozyna, making the Mustangs find their offense in other places. Manville also had two goals called back. One of them was wiped out because of an off-side call.
   "We played very well," Chiariello said. "We just couldn’t put the ball in the net. It was a shame when those two goals were called off. We kept the ball down in their end. They were big and physical, but we just couldn’t put it in."
   Like his experience in a 1-0 loss at Oratory, Brozyna was bumped often – many times before he got to the ball.
   "As a team I thought we passed the ball very well, but I think we had to be more aggressive inside the 18," Chiariello said. "They were very physical against Rafal. They really had his number and were hacking him."
   Manville had a 20-5 edge in shots, but Mustang goalies Chris Kocur, who played the first half, and Bryan Molina, who played the second, both had to make key saves along the way. Chiariello praised the play of Jimmy Lozada, Ronnie Lobo, Marvin Sosa and Tuan Anh Lee.
   "Tuan had a couple of good chances, the shots were just high," said the coach, whose team was 7-10-1 last year and 12-5-1 in his first season in 2003.