By David Gurney, Sports Writer
The postseason is tough for any young team.
New situations, new circumstances, more pressure-filled games with greater ramifications.
After a hard-fought, 3-1 defeat to eventual finalist East Brunswick in the GMCT quarterfinals, the Monroe High School boys soccer team had a week to prepare for its NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III opening round contest against Wall Township.
All of a sudden, the postseason wasn’t so tough for the young team.
Behind a goal and two assists by senior forward Ivan Barreto, No. 4 Monroe took a 3-0 lead and held on for a 3-2 victory over No. 13 Wall at home on Tuesday.
With the win, Monroe (14-7) moves into the quarterfinals at home against No. 12 West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Friday at 2 p.m.
”I think we did some good things, especially in the first half,” head coach Steve McKenzie said. “We had some opportunities to score a few more goals in the first half, but in the second half we did a good job coming out and putting some distance between us and them. We relaxed a bit, but once they scored those goals we just held onto the victory.”
Senior midfielder Garret Beyer started off the scoring in the 17th minute, the beneficiary of a diagonal feed from Barreto. Beyer cut across the box and buried it in the corner to give Monroe the 1-0 lead. The game remained that way until early in the second half when Barreto scored twice, the second of which a header off a ball by junior midfielder Brandon Sebastian.
”Ivan had his best game of the year,” McKenzie said. “He was more relaxed, quicker getting rid of the ball. He’s put a lot of pressure on himself this year, but he has opened up a lot of space for himself and a lot of guys. He just finished when he needed to finish.”
Wall came back with a pair of goals late in the second half.
With the game close, McKenzie moved Sebastian to sweeper to put some experience and size in the back and the defense put the clamps down to preserve the win.
”We made some adjustments, we played a little more 4-5-1 this game,” McKenzie said. “We moved Sean Lawrence out wide because we weren’t too dangerous on the flanks, and we also put Brandon back at the end of the game. The young guys understood, we’re just so young in the back, we needed some experience there late.”
Goalkeeper Pat Perrella made seven saves to register the win against a notoriously strong team in Wall.
But at this time of the season, every game is going to be a tough draw.
”Oh yeah, this game was definitely a tough draw, Wall was a good team,” McKenzie said. “We outplayed them and won the game. When they scored the goal, they added a little energy, they had a lot of momentum in the second half. We did a good job stepping up.”
For the Falcons’ run to continue, McKenzie knows he’s going to need more of the same from his senior leaders and more of a relaxed attitude from his team in general.
”For these guys, it’s about being a little bit relaxed,” McKenzie said. Some of our experienced guys like Brandon and Ivan get up a little bit because they know what’s at stake. It’s about our young guys, not worrying about what I’m saying or others are saying. Just doing the best they can possibly do.
”We’re also looking for leadership to carry us through the tournament. The young guys don’t realize what’s on the table, they’re not killing themselves like seniors. We need our older guys to lead us.”
