By: Carolyn M. Hartko
The hunt for titles this fall was as tricky as a snipe hunt for the South Brunswick High School boys’ varsity soccer team.
The Vikings came the closest in the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division, where a 9-5 record put them in second place behind North Brunswick. They just missed advancing in both the county and state tournaments, but got knocked out by penalty kick shootouts in both cases. Still, an 11-8 overall record is proof of a solid season.
"We overcame a lot of obstacles throughout the season, and turned them to benefit us," Anthony Veverka, one of the team’s three senior captains, said. "People stepped up when others got injured."
There were several memorable games this year, including a 3-2 victory over East Brunswick in a rematch at home, and a win in the quarterfinals of the GMC tournament over third-seeded J.F. Kennedy. Although eliminated from the county tourney, JFK went on to win the Group II sectional crown. But the game everyone remembers best was a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over St. Joseph’s where the Vikings battled back from a 2-0 deficit.
South Brunswick is only losing six seniors, but all were regular or part-time starters. Senior Tommy Leibering covered the nets for most of the year. A late season injury forced him to miss the tournaments, but he recorded six shutouts and an 8-6 record. He had an impressive 90 percent save ratio. Also graduating are senior forwards John Alers and Kevin Namjoo. The latter was the team’s second leading scorer with four goals and three assists.
Veverka, an outstanding marking back, made the all-Red Division team, and is in line to receive all-state honors. He has lettered in winter and spring track, as well as being a three-year varsity player for soccer. However, he is not sure about going out for sports next year at the University of Miami, or the University of South Carolina. However, the discipline and people skills he learned from sports should serve him well in the field of athletic training, or sports medicine.
Center midfielder Kyle Saviano led the team in assists with six, and he netted two goals of his own. Saviano expects to be playing soccer next year, and he is currently considering Villanova, CNJ and Fairleigh Dickinson. He hasn’t decided on an academic track yet.
Saviano advises the underclassmen "to play hard every game, and just have fun."
Sweeper Dan Gurney and Veverka were the pillars of the Viking defense. They were like redwood trees to opponents solid and hard to get around. Gurney is the only Viking to make the all-GMC team this fall, and he’s an all-Red and all-state pick as well.
A shortstop on the Viking baseball team, Gurney has plenty of options for college. He’s being recruited mostly for baseball, but some schools have shown interest in his skills as a soccer defender. He’s looking locally, at Rutgers, The College of New Jersey and Stockton, as well as at York (Pa.) College. He is also undecided about a major.
Gurney feels that the leadership skills he gained and the way he progressed from a role player as a sophomore, to starter and team leader as an upperclassman, were important parts of his high school career. But he’ll also remember the lessons learned from head coach Chris Hayston.
"I had Coach Hayston all four years," Gurney said. "I had him on the freshman team, and then when he became varsity coach, I played for him on varsity the last three years. And he’s helped me mature, both on and off the field, and in school and just overall as a person. He’s just been a good person to be around and play under."
Hayston acknowledged that this is the last group of seniors that he started on the Viking path in soccer, and now those first steps are left to others.
"With such a young team this year, these guys provided great leadership, great intensity, great enthusiasm every day," the coach said. "And they filled some real key roles for us that we’re going to have trouble replacing next year. I think we have guys that can do it, but it’s not going to be easy. Without question, the six seniors had a major impact on our program. They have 50 career wins on the varsity level in the four years they’ve been here."
The Vikings will still have a lot of firepower left on offense with sophomore top scorer Troy Confessore returning (seven goals, three assists). Two other sophomores who sparked the offense were Peter Fiorentino (four, one ) and Zach Zenda (three, five).
Reconstituting the defense will be more of a problem, with sophomore Shane Foley as the only returning starter. Sophomore Chris DeSouza stepped into the nets when Leibering went down, playing goal during postseason. He finished with a 3-2 record (one shutout), and a 90 percent save ratio.
The midfield should be in better shape with juniors Randy Perez and Steve Smoke, and sophomores Brian Keller and John Burd returning. Freshman Sean Tyree, who played mostly midfield this year, will be an asset anywhere on the field. Three juniors who saw time were midfielders Tommy Clickner and Kevin Kling, and forward Jeremy Boyd.
The Vikings will get to rehash the season, and make plans for next year, at the boys’ soccer dinner for all three teams on Wednesday.
