BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS – The secret is out, and Darren Spadavecchia isn’t happy about it.
As the high school boy’s soccer season approached its start, several coaches throughout the Shore Conference mentioned the Monmouth Regional Golden Falcons as one of the up-and-coming teams to look out for. Spadavecchia, now in his fourth year coaching the Falcon boys, was hoping to take some people by surprise.
“I tried to keep it under wraps,” he said.
But when you return virtually your entire team that went 10-7-3 the previous year, and played very well down the stretch, people take notice.
This year’s Monmouth team is a seniorladen group that enters the year ranked in the Shore’s top 10 and is the favorite to capture the Shore’s Class B North title.
“We’re really trying to focus on the team atmosphere, even though we certainly have individual players that can take us a long way,” Spadavecchia said.
Senior Bob Perillo and Eric Mackin lead the Monmouth offense, while senior midfielders Josh Martin, Tiago Dutra, Jared Flynn and Ryan Jones return to anchor the midfield, where juniors Austin Zonneyville and Omar Alvando join them.
Seniors Brian Cahill and Tommy Dillback anchor a defense that also features juniors Kevin Steinberger and John Slazyk, as well as sophomore Hugh Riley.
The goalie is sophomore Kevin Marron, while freshman Eric Steinberger will also see some time this fall.
Early on, the Golden Falcons are 1-0, having beaten Matawan, 2-1, in their opener on Friday. On Tuesday, they faced a Wall Township team that is expected to challenge Monmouth for the B North title, along with Ocean Townships and Neptune.
“You can always expect Ocean to have a good team, and this year Neptune looks to be very solid as well, especially with the way (senior Brennan) Fitzsimmons is playing,” Spadavecchia said.
Monmouth will get their first look at Neptune tomorrow, before facing Long Branch on Saturday.
“I told the guys that this is a make it or break it week for them,” the coach said. “They can really set the tone for the season with some wins this week, or they can give themselves an uphill battle.”
Having coached many of these players over the last four years, Spadavecchia has been anticipating this season for a while now, though he is also excited to see how the soccer culture at Monmouth Regional has changed in the last few years.
“It’s definitely changing,” he said. “We’re getting so much parental support, and the types of players we’re getting is changing. Now we’re getting five or six guys who play soccer year-round, where in the past it was always tough to compete with the Ocean Townships who usually have about 10 kids who play year-round.”
If this year’s Monmouth Regional team plays to its potential, and makes a run at division, Shore Conference and state titles, it can only help the popularity of the sport within the community.
“I’m expecting a big year, and the guys are definitely expecting big things this year,” Spadavecchia said. “But we can’t let them get ahead of themselves. We’re concentrating on playing one game at a time.”