By: Sean Moylan
Sometimes a good coach won’t give up on a season even when it’s over. So you’ll have to excuse Tim Tedesco for making hypothetical practice plans for his Northern Burlington County Regional High boys’ soccer team even after it had lost its Central Jersey Group III playoff home opener, 4-1, to Moorestown on Halloween.
"We need to work on our offense," said Tedesco, whose club didn’t score until Chris Patterson booted a goal with 13 minutes left in regulation. Even so, the Greyhounds were on the attack for most of the first half and most agreed they dominated much of the opening stanza.
"After having outplayed them for the first 35 minutes, they went up 2-0 with two goals in the last five minutes of the first half," said a frustrated Tedesco.
The Quakers second score came with just 74 minutes left in first half. Even the Greyhounds’ own home field seemed to betray them as the wind appeared to constantly shift in the Quakers favor. In fact, NBC’s fine sophomore goalie Steve Fenstermacher had defensed one shot perfectly only to have a heavy wind gust blow the ball several feet into the back of the net at the last possible moment.
"Steve Fenstermacher played a strong game tonight (Tuesday)," added Tedesco, whose team came in as the 8th seed. Moorestown (seeded 9th) has been a thorn in NBC’s side the whole year. And with the scary Halloween win the Quakers have defeated the Greyhounds three times this season, including a 2-1 win last Wednesday. NBC also dropped a 1-0 game to Rancocas Valley last week even though Fenstermacher played exceptionally well in that contest too.
In recent weeks Adam Rotsides, a junior defender, has really gotten the job done for NBC. Tedesco loves Rotsides aggressiveness, so look for him to anchor the defense next season. NBC finished 8-8 this season but Tedesco is already getting ready for next year.
LCA
Despite a pair of first-half goals by Tim Steffen, the Life Center Academy boys’ varsity soccer team lost 4-2 to Solebury in Tuesday’s Penn-Jersey semi-final. The Warriors surrendered four second-half goals. However, they made a nice late season run just to qualify for the postseason.
FLORENCE
The Florence High School boys’ varsity soccer team posted one of its best wins of the season when it defeated Maple Shade 1-0 on the road last Friday.
"D.J. Pittinger scored around the 74th minute of the game," noted Florence Coach Mike Flynn. "That was one of our better defensive efforts."
John Bartosh earned the shutout for the Flashes with a strong effort in goal. Pittinger also scored a pair of goals in Monday’s tie at Robbinsville. What made that game frustrating for the Flashes is they had a 2-0- lead.
"We kind of lost our focus at the end and we just missed some good opportunities," said Flynn. "We were up 2-1 with two minutes left and then they scored."
Because of daylight saving’s time, Florence didn’t even have a chance to redeem itself as the game was called for darkness before it could go into overtime.
Then, on Tuesday, New Egypt scored two first-half goals to beat Florence 2-0 in the Flashes’ regular season finale at New Egypt. New Egypt outshot Florence, 15-5. Bartosh, nonetheless, made seven saves to keep the game within striking distance.
Although it finished the year, 6-9-2, Florence entered the state cutoff week with a chance to make the playoffs. Not bad for a team that was still making up its starting lineup just a couple of days before its opener. Next year Pittinger, Joe Laureti, Cory Haluska, Justin Stone and Bartosh will be back for their senior years. So look for the Flashes to be very strong.
BRHS
If any team was entitled to have one bad game, it’s the Bordentown High School boys’ soccer squad. This year the Scotties have played with such a focused defensive intensity that they set the school record for shutouts (12) with last Wednesday’s 0-0 tie versus Cinnaminson.
Even so, Bordentown Coach Mike Brennan was a little bothered by Monday’s 4-3 loss to Burlington City mostly because he wanted his team to enter the playoffs playing its sharpest soccer of the season.
"They’re (the Blue Devils) good, but we didn’t come to play. We had the playoffs in the back of our minds," noted Brennan.
Luckily Dean Kreiser also had goals on his mind as he scored a pair in defeat. Jesse Harrison, who has had a tremendous season to say the least, also scored in a losing cause while Cory Mahoney had two assists on a pair of long throw-ins. And Bordentown goalie C.J. Dixon could hardly be blamed for the loss as the Scotties’ defense had an ultra-rare bad day.
"He certainly didn’t lose the game for us," noted Brennan of Dixon. "We kind of hung him out to dry a little bit."
In many ways, the contest was the direct opposite of last Wednesday’s home scoreless tie versus Cinnaminson. Several postponements made it the most anticipated regular season game of the season and it certainly lived up to all of its advanced billing.
"That was a great result for us," said Brennan, whose team had previously lost to Cinnaminson. "Everyone played really well and C.J. (Dixon) stood on his head."
Dixon made a dozen saves to record the record-breaking shutout and Steve "Turbo" Turgyan, Mike Brown and Kenny Eckelmann all played outstanding defense. Brennan called the shutout record a "huge accomplishment." And who can argue? 12 shutouts is 12 shutouts.
Bordentown may have had a 13th last Friday versus Holy Cross at Delran, but it was basically asking Dixon to do the near impossible. Dixon made a save on one penalty kick and then was asked to save another penalty shot. But even Dixon (six saves) has his limits and consequently the Lancers scored the game-winner on the second PK with thee minutes to go in regulation.
"That’s disappointing when you give up two penalty kicks this time of year," said Brennan, whose team was outshot 9-7. Yet even with the losses, Bordentown (12-5-3) is a team built to win a championship. The Scotties, who are seeded third in Central Jersey Group II, had a first-round bye and will host Roselle Park on Friday. At the very least, expect to see some great defense by the Scotties in the contest.

