BRICK TOWNSHIP — While a losing season is not the norm for the Lake Riviera girls soccer, coach Bill Brunner has high expectations for next year.
The team’s 5-7 record this year was only the second time in 20 years Lake Riviera finished with more losses than wins. Brunner wants to recapture the form that earned three straight Ocean County Middle Schools Blue Division championships prior to last season, when it finished in second place.
“We had a great group of girls, and some who graduated are very talented who will have an impact on the (Brick Township High) varsity,” said Brunner, who is currently preparing the Brick Township High School girls indoor track and field team for the approaching season. “The talent was there, but the chemistry did not click until the end. We had a young team, and some girls had to play out of position. We struggled early in the season on defense at times.”
Scoring picked up later in the season when the team won three of its last four games. Many of the eighth-graders will be eager to take their talents on to the Brick Township High team that enjoyed its best season in many years. The Green Dragons came on strong at the end of the season like Lake Riviera did and reached the NJSIAA Group III South Tournament semifinals.
“We’ll have an impact on the varsity team in a year or two,” Brunner said.
A big reason behind the team’s strong finishwas the improved scoring that came when Brunner moved eighth-grader Shelly Carpino from midfield to forward.
“She’s a multitalented, exceptional player, one of the best I’ve had in recent years,” he said. Two other eighth-graderswho also played integral roles were sweeper Taylor Palmer and center halfback Daniella Maggio. Karsyn Lukosius, another eighth-grader, also did well up front on the outside, but missed part of the season due to illness.
“Taylor Palmer is better at outside fullback,” Brunner said. “She had a great year. I can’t say enough about the eighth-graders.”
But up to seven of the team’s starters were seventh- and sixth-graders, which made it challenging against many teams loaded with eighth-graders. One of those players was striker Madison Farley, whose older sister Jordan was a key part of Brick Township High’s late season surge.
“She was the spark plug of the team,” Brunner said of Farley, who started out the season at outside midfielder.
Other seventh-graders who played significant roles included fullbacks Brielle Underwood, Chelsea Dornacker and Kelly Tully and wing Jesse Person.
Two sixth-graders started, including Jess Sutar at fullback and Julia Canatta at center halfback. Allison Krebs, another sixth grader, saw action at outside midfielder.