Manville boys win first soccer game

Starters come through in rally

by John Beisser, Sports Writer
   After playing some quality teams very close, including recent one-goal defeats to Bernards and Immaculata, the Manville High boys’ soccer team broke through for its first win of the season on Monday, a 6-4 victory over Somerset Vo-Tech.
   Vo-Tech does not have the depth or talent of a typical public or private school on Manville’s schedule, so Monday was a day for everyone to get involved. For the second straight year, MHS head coach Tim Moore elected to start the Vo-Tech game with all underclassmen, a mix of jayvee players, many of them freshmen, as well as seldom-used varsity players.
   What Moore wasn’t counting on was his team falling behind in a 4-0 hole in the opening half.
   ”Over the first 23 minutes of the game, they scored four goals,” Moore said. “When it got to be 3-0, I began putting some of my starters in. When it became 4-0, I threw all of my regulars in and we scored two goals before halftime to make it 4-2.”
   With order restored, Manville went on to score another four unanswered goals in the second half. Rich Hernandez paced the Mustangs offensively with two goals and an two assists, while Juan Calderon and Jason Diaz each tallied one goal and one assist with Calderon’s score coming on a penalty kick.
   After opening the season with seven consecutive losses, Manville is certainly happy to have that first win under its belt. And the Mustangs’ recent competitive play suggests that more wins may be in their future. Even beyond wins and losses, though, Moore is excited about a couple statistics that best describe his team’s play thus far.
   ”In eight games, we’ve scored 13 goals, which is more than we scored all of last season. But what really stands out to me is that, not only have we scored 13 goals, but nine different players have scored a goal this season,” he added in a deservedly prideful tone. “And there are some other guys who have assists that haven’t scored a goal yet. That tells me that we’re a group that is playing as a team.”
   Seven players played a role in Manville’s six-goal splurge vs. Vo-Tech. In addition to the goals cored by Rich Hernandez, Calderon and Diaz, Dan Castro, back from an early season injury, tallied a goal as did Pawel Maziarz. Adding assists were Xavier Bolanos and Nick DeSantis.
   Last Thursday, the Mustangs stood shoulder to shoulder with a Bernards team that entered the match sporting a 7-1 record. Bernards took a 1-0 lead into halftime and stretched the advantage to 3-0 before the Mustangs came storming back on goals by the brother combo of Rich and Mike Hernandez. Manville kept the offensive onslaught going after making it 3-2 but could not come up with the equalizer as Bernards prevailed by one goal.
   ”We were so close to tying it,” Moore said. “What was great to see though was that over the last 15 minutes or so, we controlled the ball in their end. They were nervous. We had some chances to tie, too.”
   Two days later, the 15th-seeded Mustangs battled 10th-seeded Immaculata to the wire before dropping a 2-1 decisions. This game followed a similar script to the Bernards game. This time, Manville found itself in an early 2-0 hole before Castro cut the deficit in half with a goal with 14 minutes left in the game. As was the case vs. Bernards, the Mustangs kept up the offensive pressure but were unable to get the tying goal.
   Again, we were so close,” Moore said. “Richie had one great chance in particular. But I was proud of the guys for fighting so hard.”