By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
As a former college goalie himself, Bordentown Regional High boys’ varsity soccer head coach Mike Brennan has never really been a big fan of shootouts.
However, Cranford’s 2-1 shootout win over Bordentown in Monday’s NJSIAA Group II Central Jersey opener at Cranford was an especially tough loss. Not just for Brennan and his team, but for all Bordentown soccer fans in general.
The Cougars and the Scotties played to a 1-1 standstill through two overtime sessions and then Cranford beat Bordentown, 4-2, on penalty kicks.
Scotties’ senior superstar D.J. Kafer shot first and made his PK as did Bordentown’s third shooter Kyle Creegan. Both players put in shots that went to the right hand side of Cranford goalie Scott Boyer, who had 12 saves in the game. Unfortunately, after Cranford’s fifth shooter made his goal it was all over.
“I think about every game I’ve ever been involved with that went down to penalty kicks and it’s always been a rotten way to lose and a less than fulfilling way to win,” said Brennan, who is just repeating the sentiments of many New Jersey soccer coaches who feel the same way.
However, when you play playoff games in November when it gets dark early and very cold after the sun goes down, your options are very limited.
Scotties’ goalie Chris O’Leary played well in the regulation and overtime, making 12 saves. And he made a nice save in the shootout too. Usually you’ll see a few misfires in a shootout, but the Cougar shots were all on goal. Cranford had 20 shots on goal to 15 by Bordentown in the regular part of the game.
“Whenever you get into a shootout, a goalie isn’t really expected to do anything. Your hope is that they can save one and that is what Chris did,” said Brennan, who speaks from personal experience.
After neither side scored in the opening half, Cranford’s Peter Lordan connected for a goal. But with 12 minutes left in the second half, Bordentown answered when Babatunde Lawal dribbled a ball up field and delivered a perfect pass to Peter Paye for a Scotties’ goal.
“Paye hit it home from two yards out,” added Brennan.
While Cranford was seeded fifth and Bordentown was seeded 12th, that fact never scared the Scotties in the least because they played an entire season in the ultra-
tough Liberty Division where nearly every game has the intensity of a playoff game.
“We really did play well and I thought we had the better of play for longer stretches of time. They just executed a little better when it mattered the most,” said Brennan, who would have liked to have had at least one playoff home game. But playing in the Liberty that’s a mighty tall order.
Although this was a special season for the Scotties as they qualified for the South Jersey Coaches Tournament for the first time in a over two decades, they should be strong next season as well as they will only graduate four of eleven standouts — Kafer, Lawal, Paye and Max Bohanan.
“We can come back next year a better team,” said Brennan, who’ll have his entire defensive unit back next season. This year Bordentown proved that going 9-9-1 can be exciting and special. It just depends on who you play and how you play.

