By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
What can Brown do for you?
If you’re a fan of the New Egypt High boys’ varsity soccer team, the answer to that question is an easy one: Score goals and play great soccer.
In fact, the Warriors’ junior star Rob Brown scored two of New Egypt’s four goals in a 4-4 overtime tie against Palmyra in its Homecoming night game played at New Egypt on October 8th.
“Rob Brown has 16 goals and he’s now the third leading scorer in the conference,” said Sam Palumbo, the Warriors boys’ varsity soccer head coach.
Against Palmyra, Brown scored an unassisted goal and then he scored again off a John Parin feed to stake his team to a seemingly comfortable 2-0 first-half lead. But nothing about this game was as it seemed, which is what made the contest so unpredictable, exciting and sensational.
Before the first half ended, Palmyra scored to cut New Egypt’s lead to one goal. But five minutes into the second stanza, Chris Bette, assisted by Sam Hilburn, put one in to pump the Warriors’ lead to two goals again. One may have thought that New Egypt, an excellent defensive team, would have just held on after that. But the Panthers attacked full-force and scored three unanswered tallies on impossible to stop shots to grab a 4-3 edge.
“Out of the eight goals that were scored, six were of the college level variety,” added Palumbo, who marvelled at the way players were routinely sticking balls in the upper ninety of the goal. “If you were a spectator it was a great game to watch. The offensive quality of that match is something I haven’t seen.”
Just when it appeared that New Egypt had lost all of its momentum a new hero, senior Andrew Konop, produced the defining moment in an instant classic.
“We actually tied the game with 23 seconds left in regulation,” said Palumbo. “Andrew Konop scored off a diving header on a Parin pass.”
Konop’s tally sent the crowd into a frenzy and the game into overtime. But the overtime session played out more like a typical New Egypt-Palmrya contest. New Egypt had been 1-1-1 in its previous three matches versus Palmyra and only two total goals were scored over the course of those contests. So it was no surprise that both squads tightened things up and neither club scored in overtime. Although he surrendered four goals, Warriors’ goalie Dave Wenskoski played extremely well and made seven saves.
“It was our Homecoming game and it was a night game so we had a bonfire… what a great game,” said Palumbo. “It was honestly one of the best games I’ve ever coached.”
With the playoff cutoff date quickly drawing near, many coaches would have tried to have cancelled or postponed a game against an out-of-league powerhouse like Point Pleasant Beach. Not Sam Palumbo. He likes his players to be battle-tested for the post season and he believed they took a lot out of this past Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Point Pleasant Beach. In fact, the Warriors may have even won or tied the game had it not been for injuries to two key players.
“Our last two games were great games against two very good teams,” said Palumbo. “(Against Point Pleasant Beach we played without our center-midfielder Mike Bette and our stopper Ron Valdner.”
Wenskoski made seven saves to keep the Warriors in the contest, but Point Pleasant’s Henry Stuhler scored the only goal of the game in the second half to spark his club to victory.
“My goalie Dave Wenskoski and my defenders were wonderful but they’re a very good team and they played great,” noted Palumbo. “They controlled the tempo 70 percent of the game and they had a really strong midfielder.”
While the Warriors’ athletic skill level and decision-making skills have been off-the-charts as of late, Palumbo still sees areas where his team can improve.
“We still have some issues with toughness,” said Palumbo, who believes his boys can play more physical soccer while still keeping it clean.
New Egypt (7-5-1) needs a win and a tie to make the playoffs. New Egypt is scheduled to host Burlington City today (Thursday). New Egypt is scheduled at Maple Shade on Saturday and at Pemberton next Monday. Next Wednesday, New Egypt is scheduled to host Riverside.

