WW-P North boys pull soccer upsets
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
MONROE — If ever there was a bracket that let everyone know seeds mean nothing in the state tournament, it’s the Central Jersey Group III boys’ soccer bracket.
Of the top seven seeds, only one remains — third-seeded Red Bank, which will face No. 10 Ocean Township in one semifinal today. In the other semi, 12th-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro North will play at No. 8 Neptune today at 2 p.m.
WW-P North, which upset fifth-seeded Hamilton in the opening round, reached the semifinals with a 1-0 win over fourth-seeded Monroe on Friday.
”I thought we played well enough to win,” said WW-P North coach Trevor Warner, whose team improved to 11-7-1 with its third straight win. “I thought we had a great 11-player effort on the field and we used each other very well. We used the whole field. And when we’re good, we use the whole field.”
The Knights scored the only goal of the game when a ball from Scott Kelly slipped by the Monroe goalkeeper and just before it reached the end line, was knocked into the goal from a nearly impossible angle by Mike Tartaro.
”It wasn’t much of an angle,” said Tartaro, whose goal was his fifth of the season. “I didn’t think it was going in. I was just trying to put it in play so somebody could possibly hit it in.”
With a one-goal lead, the Knights’ defense never wavered and they came away with their second upset of the week.
”I thought we outplayed them, to be honest,” Warner said. “I think a lot of people might walk away thinking that was a bizarre goal from an impossible angle, but there were three on the doorstep that could have been pounded away that were legit. And we had some good quality chances from 20 to 25 yards out as well.”
The Knights appear to have completely turned the corner after a slow stretch that saw them lose twice and tie once just before the start of the Mercer County Tournament. But North has won four of five games since a 5-0 loss to Trenton.
”We had our rut with those three games,” Warner said. “But since then we have really played well. Our only loss was to Pennington, which is a quality side. The team has grown, not only from a soccer standpoint, but with mental toughness as well.
”That’s something that is difficult to measure. But we’ve played so many close games the last couple of years and we’ve been on the short end of them. This year we’ve won 1-0 against North Hunterdon. We’ve eked it out against Trenton after a 5-0 loss. We were in a tight game with Hamilton. We were in a tight game with South but lost. We’ve been in a lot of close games and when you play in those kinds of games, you’re going to get better at it and more comfortable at it. I think that was apparent today.”
The Knights had missed the state tournament the last two years. But now that they’re back in the mix, they’re making the most of the opportunity.
”This team really wants states because we haven’t been in it in a while,” Tartaro said. “It’s great that we’ve gotten this far. We’ve had some emails to Coach from seniors who graduated last year. Coach was very emotional about those emails and he read them to us in the locker room before the game today and in practice the day before that.”
While Tartaro was the one who knocked in the goal, it was an overall effort that got it done on the defensive end. The Knights limited Monroe to just four shots in the game.
”Everything has been clicking lately,” defender Cameron Musco said. “I think our effort speaks volumes. We have Kevin Nowak, a freshman, who came in for (Nassir Silwany) when he got hurt in the first 10 minutes of the game and he did an excellent job. He played the rest of the game and did a great job.
”We have Russ Buckley, Evan Mitos and Kevin Nowak in the back and they’re all over 6-foot-2. That really helped us with the balls in the air.”
And now the Knights are one of the surprise teams in a group of CJ III semifinalists that really shouldn’t be all that surprising.
”I’m not surprised by anything our team does,” Musco said. “When you have kids like we have here, when you put us together, it sounds corny, but we really can do anything. I’m sure that for Neptune to make it past Princeton, they have to be a great team. I’m looking forward to playing that game.”
And maybe they’ll get another goal from Tartaro, who has scored his share in his career, but not like the one he scored Friday.
”Nothing as unlikely as that,” he said.