East Brunswick The season is young and there’s still a lot of soccer to be played, but East Brunswick High School’s boys team is well on its way to posting another outstanding season.
Before Tuesday’s visit to Piscataway and today’s home match with Old Bridge, the Bears were unbeaten, 7-0-1, including a season-opening victory over St. Joseph of Metuchen, 2-0, which seems to have set the tone for this fall. Other victories have included Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division foes Monroe (1-0), J.P. Stevens (3-0), Piscataway (4-0), Old Bridge (3-2) and South Brunswick (3-0) the only blemish is a 0-0 tie with North Brunswick. The Bears non-GMC win came against Hunterdon Central (2-0). Even with the impressive start, success at EBHS isn’t measured by divisional titles or even wins and losses (the Bears finished 16-4 and won the Red Division title a year ago), but conference and state championships.
“Last year was disappointing because we were top seed in the GMC and Central Jersey Group IV tournament and didn’t win either,” East Brunswick coach Terry McKibbin said.
“The fact we’ve only given up two goals points to defense as a strength,” said McKibbin, in his seventh year at the helm. “We graduated six, including All-Conference midfielders Brandon Yu, Jake Weintraub and Joe Carrieri-Russo, which might suggest we are rebuilding. But we return 13, and that experience has been vital so far. This team features balance and depth, which makes it difficult for opponents to focus on a particular player.”
East Brunswick’s leadership begins with vocal senior captain Rob Shalikar (one goal), who directs the defense from his backline position. Both goaltenders, seniors Emilio Rodriguez and captain Grant Korten, have split time, and McKibbin is confident with either in the net.
Senior captain midfielder Nigel Joseph (two assists) is quick on the transition to offense, while senior strikers Coby Kelner (one goal, one assist) and Abu Bestawros (four goals) have been the primary offensive threats.
Other senior members who see playing time are defenders John Bicho, Joseph Hajjar andAlec Metsch (goal assist), and midfielders Nick Canonaco, Sameh Mahrous, Dom Pizzano and Matteo Resanovic (one goal).
The juniors are defenders Joseph Grimando and Richard Kehoe, midfielders Zachary Becker and Raphi Zonis, and forward Alex Stelicos. Defender Joseph Gudzak and midfielderAnik Ray are sophomores.
McKibbin’s career mark at EBHS is 83- 38-5. He has coached the Bears to appearances in three out of the last four GMC Tournament finals, and his teams have won a championship and captured the last two Red Division titles.
“Since I started coaching,” observes McKibbin, “we’ve been getting kids who play the entire year and tend to specialize in just soccer, so naturally the level of play has increased. Tryouts have been extremely competitive, and choosing a team has been a difficult task.”