By: Rich Fisher
Meredith Montenare is excited about her soccer team.
If you don’t believe us, just listen to her.
"It became clear after watching the first half, that this year’s soccer team could potentially be the best female soccer team to go through the Cranbury School," said the Vikings head coach.
And this was after a loss to Kreps on Tuesday.
But in the first half, Cranbury burst to a 3-0 lead and looked like world beaters.
"Logan O’Meara had an unbelievable shot from about 25 yards out," Montenare said. "It was a left footer that put us on the board. She contributed later with a perfectly placed corner kick that Mackenzie Henderson scored on to allow us to pull ahead even further."
A third goal came off the foot of Andrea Hines who "also had a terrific corner kick."
But Kreps, as it is want to do as one of the area’s middle school soccer powers, came back with a second-half onslaught to post the victory.
"Kreps’ determination in the second half overpowered us," Montenare said. "They certainly took us off guard, we didn’t realize how hard Kreps was going to fight back. At this point, one thing is clear – three goals is not enough of a cushion against a team like Kreps. Hopefully we’ll learn from this experience for our next match against them at home."
Last week, Cranbury played Allentown to a scoreless tie in an evenly-matched game.
"I think our second half was stronger than the first," Montenare said. "The second half alone included 75 percent of our shots on goal.
"Logan O’Meara and Taylor Blair stood out in the second half. Logan was moved to center midfield, while Taylor was moved back to right fullback. Both looked confident and played well in their new positions."
Montenare added that experimentation was important early on.
"A few changes might be made here and there in the beginning of the season," she said, "as we are all discovering what position fits every player and benefits the team as a whole."
The coach began making those discoveries in last Friday’s 5-0 win over Crossroads.
"Positioning is starting to settle at this point," Montenare said after the game. "I feel confident that Logan O’Meara and Niki Powell will be strong midfielders. The two of them have the drive and passion to control the center of the field. They really are ‘go to’ girls."
Against Crossroads, however, it was an entire go-to team as the Vikings swarmed the field.
"Our entire team played with tremendous heart during Friday’s match," the coach said. "Within the first two minutes of the game the first goal was scored. The final score indicated an entire team’s desire to win. Hopefully, the girls will continue to play as well as they did on Friday."
Henderson and Lexi Stasi dominated play, as Stasi notched a hat trick and Henderson had the other two goals. Powell added an assist on a throw-in.
"Nicole has one of the best throw-ins I’ve eve seen," Montenare said. "Unbelievable for a girl her age.
BOYS SOCCER
Zach Halliday converted a beautiful head ball off a cross from John Marsh to give the Vikings a 1-0 victory over Crossroads and run their record to 4-0 last Friday.
"The play was beautiful, just what you like to see," Silva said. "The cross was sent in nicely and Zach didn’t miss it.
"It’s always nice to beat a team like Crossroads. South Brunswick has such a large pool of players to pick from that it’s nice when we can come up with a victory like that."
Cranbury finally tasted its first defeat on Tuesday when a talented Kreps team took a 2-0 victory.
"The game was scoreless in the first half," Silva said. "Kreps controlled the ball most the half and tired us out for the second half. We chased them most of the game.
"We had two great chances to score and we couldn’t finish. But the boys played well, and the defense did a great job keeping us in the game."
The Vikes got back on the winning track Wednesday with a 2-1 win over New Egypt. That put their record at 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Tri-County Conference.
Mike Hellstern had both goals for the Vikes, while Halliday and Marsh had an assist.
"Our defense kept us in the game again," Silva said. "The boys looked a little tired after the game against Kreps.
"But John Hornyak is playing exceptional in goal. He made some saves against New Egypt that were incredible."
CROSS COUNTRY
The Viking boys fell to Kreps, St.Paul’s, Crossroads and Millstone, while the girls defeated Kreps, St. Paul’s and Millstone while losing to Crossroads (which never loses in cross country).
Coach Jay Gilligan noted that 8th-graders Billy Wiseman, Jason Fazzaro, Alex Charwin and Peter Sockler are all running well for the boys. On the girls side, 8th-graders Alyssa Torske, Ginny Rogers and Anne Bonazzi, and 7th-graders Jenna Cody, Molly Mucciarone and Olivia Corr are working hard.
"Forget the wins and losses," Gilligan said. "All of the athletes have steadily improved. I am proud of all of them. They are a wonderful, hard working, intelligent and fun group of kids."

