By: Rich Fisher
Fresh off a 12-3 season in which it tied for the Tri-County Conference championship, the Cranbury School boys soccer team has high hopes for another big autumn.
"The varsity looks strong again this year," coach Frank Silva stated. "We are not too big, but our skill makes up for it."
The roster includes 8th-grade captains Mike Hellstern (back) and John Marsh (forward), along with 8th-graders John Hornyak (goalie), Adam Pavley (goalie), Mike Sorrentino (midfield), Ethan Barron (defense), Greg Kishyk (sweeper) and Delano Hebert (midfield).
The coach noted that Pavley will be out for four weeks with a broken hand, leaving the Vikings with just one healthy goaltender for the season’s first month. But it’s an effective goalie at that.
"John Hornyak looks good in goal," Silva said.
Rounding out the roster are 7th-graders Will Schwarz (back), Cliff Mawn (striker), Elliott Wilson (midfield) and Addison Hebert (back), and 6th-graders Zach Halliday (center-midfield), Leo Schraudenbach (back/midfield), Aidan Passannante (center-midfield) and Scott Barbano (midfield).
"I kept a lot of sixth-graders this year," Silva said. "We’re going to see if they can play at the varsity level and help out. We hope to have a winner this year."
The boys JV team includes 8th-graders Robbie Dowers, Daniel Waltrip, Sean Babar and Christian Enos, 7th-graders Derek Colaizzo, Alex Rifkin, Kellen Kenny, Ajay Vellore, Charles Gare, Brandon Carreno and Andrew Ochoa, and 6th-graders Bobby Wright and David Santamaria.
The Viking varsity opened its season with a 7-2 win over Immaculate on Tuesday. Hellstern had two goals and an assist, Mawn had two goals, Marsh had a goal and two assists, Passannante had a goal and an assist, Wilson had a goal and Delano Hebert added an assist.
"John Hornyak made some excellent saves to keep us in control of the game," Silva said. "The bad news is, Zach Halliday injured his right knee and may be scratched for Monday’s game."
GIRLS SOCCER
If their season opener was any indication, the Viking girls could be in for a big season.
Cranbury opened with a dominating victory over Immaculate on Tuesday.
"They showed their dominance," coach Meredith Montenare said. "It is amazing to witness such cohesion early on in a season."
Mackenzie Henderson led the five-goal attack with a hat trick, and has earned the nickname the Big Mac.
"I suspect that she will be a big presence on the field," Montenare said. "Hence, her nickname."
Another player who contributed to the win was captain Brianna Lundquist, who had three assists from the right wing.
"She displayed tremendous skill," Montenare said. "Brianna was making crosses all day long. She was on fire."
Forward Lexi was also a force with two goals and an assist.
"She proved what an asset she is to the team," the coach said. "I couldn’t be more impressed with the offense this year.
"However, the defense is no force to be reckoned with. Carly O’Brien and Nicole Powell both helped contribute to the shutout.
"Even though we had to say goodbye to Sammie Sicherman, also known as ‘The Wall’, there is no doubt Carly and Nicole will be able to fill those shoes."
Montenare also had praise for center-fielder Taylor Blair "who also played well and should continue to stand out as the season progresses."
It’s almost scary to think what might happen, since the Vikings appear to be in mid-season form right now.
"It is truly amazing to see such cohesion early on in a season," Montenare said. "Usually it takes teams a few weeks to play as a unit, but this team proved differently. It is obvious that many of them have played together for a longtime. They were like pieces of a puzzle – all of them fit perfectlytogether."
Rounding out the team’s roster on varsity are Jen Barrone, Andrea Hines, Kate Mayes, Kelly O’Grady, Logan O’Meara, Emily Schraudenbach, Yasmine Swanson, Kelsey Turp and Veronica Spann.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Vikings open their second cross country season with the same goal as always.
"We just want to see improvement from these kids and get them to enjoy running," coach Jay Gilligan said. "We’ve got some really good girls returning so I’m hoping they’ll keep improving from last year, and some of the boys look pretty tough."
Highlighting the returning girls are 7th-graders Jenna Cody and Molly Mucciarone, who were consistently the team’s top runners last year. Also on the girls team are 8th-graders Alyssa Torske, Ginny Rogers and Anne Bonazzi, 7th-graders Abby Gordon, Jamie Monroe, Ivy Miller, Emily Stout, Brianna Hanson, Alexa Reifinger, Angelo Cao, Rachel Wanat, Meg Pawlak, Ashley Alfano and Olivia Carr, and 6th-graders Rebecca Mayer, Christina Till and Amelia Whaley.
The boys team will consist of 8th-graders Bill Wiseman, Alex Coleman, Alex Charwin, Peter Sockler, Jason Fazzaro and Max Dickey, 7th-graders Josh Irving and Shivani Vikuntam and 6th-graders Luke Bozich, Daniel Kennedy-Moore, Tim Brennan, Andrew Johnson and Matt Wong.

