By: David Gurney
There were question marks aplenty heading into the season for the South Brunswick boys soccer team.
The defense, the youth, the late-season setbacks of last season.
How would they bounce back? How would these problems be addressed?
Some questions remain, but one question won’t need to be asked, at least for the time being.
Will the Vikings be able to score with the elite teams of Middlesex County?
Heading into their game Wednesday against Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division rival St. Joseph’s of Metuchen, the Vikings stand at 3-0, taking down division foes J.P. Stevens and Old Bridge, while also defeating Montgomery, a team that advanced to the North Jersey Group II semifinal game last season.
And they did it with some staunch defense, and some timely scoring, guided by the tandem of junior forwards Troy Confessore and Zach Zenda.
In the three games, the two combined for six of the team’s seven goals and three assists.
"They’re two extremely talented individuals and they’re starting to look for each other," head coach Chris Hayston said following his team’s 2-1 victory over Old Bridge. "I think they’re starting to see how good they can be playing together. When they’re at their best together, they’re a tough combo to mark up."
The offensive power was on full display Monday against Old Bridge, despite getting off to a stagnant and nondescript start. A game marked by a lot of midfield play and very little shot attempts was broken early in the second half by an Old Bridge goal to take a 1-0 lead.
But South Brunswick bounced back quickly, countering the Knights’ goal with a swift attack the other way, punctuated by a Bryan Keller goal from the top of the 18-yard box off a feed from Zenda.
With the Knights still on their heels, the Vikings came back again, this time Confessore sending a through-ball into the box to senior midfielder Steve Smoke, who trapped the ball and sent it back across to Zenda for the eventual game-winning goal.
The defense withstood a late-game barrage by Old Bridge and goalie Chris DeSouza registered a pair of saves to preserve the victory and keep the Vikings undefeated.
"We were definitely struggling in the first half," Zenda said after the win. "But at halftime, we fixed what we were doing wrong and came together as a team in the second half. Thankfully we were able to come out in the first 15 minutes of the second half and take the lead and put it away."
The flair for late-game dramatics started in the season-opener, as Confessore broke open a scoreless draw with a goal in the 62nd minute to propel South Brunswick to the 1-0 victory over J.P. Stevens.
The next day, offense reigned supreme, with Zenda’s game-winning goal in overtime capping a four-goal afternoon for the Vikings, culminating with a 4-3 road victory.
Confessore added a goal and senior midfielder Kevin Kling added an assist in the come-from-behind win for the Vikings.
"Anytime you can start off your division with two wins it’s always a positive," Hayston said. "In the last three wins, especially against Montgomery, we showed a lot of character coming back from a goal-down in the second half. We could have put our heads down, but we didn’t, we played better soccer after we fell behind."

