By: Sean Moylan
There’s a reason why Dominic Mastroianni has been able to coach sports for decades instead of a just few years like many coaches.
It’s because he doesn’t overreact to success or failure, he simply assesses his teams by using his own measuring stick and that formula has worked out well for him.
So while he is very pleased that his young Hightstown High boys’ varsity soccer team was able to beat Nottingham and West Windsor-Plainsboro North to start the season at 2-0, Mastroianni is hardly ready to proclaim his Rams CVC champs just yet.
"Both teams that we played, played better than we did. We just were able to take advantage of our opportunities," said Mastroianni.
Nevertheless, both games featured some phenomenal plays by the Rams. In fact, Hightstown’s Bryan Worth scored an incredibly dramatic goal in his team’s 1-0 win at West Windsor-Plainsboro North this past Tuesday.
"Worth scored with 10 seconds to go in the first half. Alan Joseph assisted. Joseph dribbled it up and crossed it to Bryan and Bryan (headed) it in," said Mastroianni.
Amazingly, seven seconds later, Hightstown’s Matt Nolan followed Worth’s goal with a shot of his own, as the Rams made a nice steal on the forward line. From there Hightstown and West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s defenses took over.
"In the second half there was a lot of back and forth play. Adam Henrey came through with three or four spectacular saves," said Mastroianni, whose talented goalie had eight saves in the contest.
And when Henrey couldn’t make the save, his defense came through. In fact, just as a loose ball rolled across the goal mouth for a certain score, Ahmed Hameed, a Rams’ senior defender, appeared out of nowhere and used an incredible bicycle kick to clear the ball.
"He (Hameed) had to be about three or four feet off the ground," said Mastroianni, who was amazed by the play. Still West Windsor-Plainsboro did get off 14 shots to Hightstown’s 11.
"That West Windsor-Plainsboro North team, I figured them to win it (the division). They’re just off to a bad start," said the longtime Hightstown coach, who felt fortunate to escape with a win.
In its opener at Hamilton last Friday, Hightstown edged Nottingham, another team which is expected to have a big year, 2-1. In that game Josh Cullen scored the eventual game winner 15 into the second half on a Nolan feed. Worth (assisted by Kyle Bini) netted the Rams’ other goal in a 1-1 first half. Henrey (7 saves) stood on his head in the Nottingham game too.
"Henrey did a very nice job. He made some mistakes, but he made three or four great saves in the Nottingham game," Mastroianni remarked. Nottingham had 13 shots while Hightstown recorded nine shots on goal.
"We’re not deep, we play 16, but sparingly," said Mastroianni, whose kids seem to be able to run forever because of their superior conditioning.
Hightstown appreciates its first two wins greatly, yet it is taking nothing for granted. The boys are continuing to work hard so big wins like the first two will eventually develop into the norm.
Hightstown (2-0) was scheduled to have hosted Steinert yesterday (Thursday). It is scheduled at Saint Joseph’s on Saturday, at The Hun School on Monday, at Hopewell Valley on Tuesday and at Lawrence next Thursday.

