Metuchen High School’s Zyhier Powell sprints upfield after making a catch against Keyport High School during the Aug. 27 scrimmage in Metuchen. The Bulldogs were playing their final preseason game before the start of their 2013 regular season, which begins on Sept. 12 at Dunellen High School. J.P. STEVENS
W ith five of its top seven players graduated, the J.P. Stevens High
School girls tennis team finds itself in the position of rebuilding this season. Still, veteran coach Ellen Pisano believes the Hawks can finish among the top three teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC).
“That’s our goal,” said Pisano, who welcomes back singles player Claire Pen, a sophomore, and doubles player Michelle Tsung, a junior. “We’re fortunate to have a freshman, Deepti Talesra, who will play first singles, and we’ll move Claire to second singles. Both are very competitive, which allows our singles trio to be a strength.”
Sophomore Jessica Ho, who played junior varsity a year ago, has now improved enough to be inserted in third singles. Tsung, who enters her third year at doubles, will play with either senior Kristine Liu or senior Yamini Vyas. The second doubles pair will include seniors Nitasha Goyal, Annie Choi or Kaamya Varagur. Transfer Jacqueline Quan, a sophomore, is in the fourth position and will strengthen the doubles lineups when she becomes eligible to play.
“Even though our doubles are not experienced at the varsity level,” Pisano said, “I have seen much improvement at practices and at the ‘September Smash’ Livingston Tournament [last week], where the second doubles team of Nitasha Goyal and Yamini Vyas was the only team to score a point against Livingston High School. The second match in the tournament proved that all the girls have the ability to step up to the challenges when we defeated Morristown High School, 5-0.”
A key match occurred on Sept. 10, when the Hawks visited a strong Metuchen High School squad. Other important matches will be played against fellow GMC Red Division foes East Brunswick High School on Sept. 11 and South Brunswick High School on Sept. 19. The GMC Tournament will be Sept. 25-26 at Thomas Edison Park.
EDISON
Since Brian Murtagh took over as varsity boys soccer coach at Edison High School, the Eagles have steadily improved and become a viable opponent for any team it faces.
“Many of our players have been together for two and three years now,” Murtagh said. “The seniors entered the program as freshmen when I was coaching them. They now have a lot of experience playing in the system.”
Murtagh is hoping that familiarity will translate into wins this fall.
“Teamwork is definitely one of our strengths,” he said. “Everyone is working together to win, rather than before when we had a few athletes who could win for us on pure talent. We are a hard-working group that is confident and understands we have the potential to have a good season.”
Murtagh said the No. 1 goal is to capture the White Division. The other goals are to earn a home match in the GMC and state tournaments. He listed the following as the starters on his team: senior forward Ali Mohamed, junior forward Mused Mohamed, senior midfielder Jordan Rosenhouse, senior midfielder Chris Noel, senior midfielder Romanch Vakharia, senior defender Dennis Amuzu, senior defender Ram Sridhar, senior defender Mohammed Siddiqui and senior defender David Jordan. The captains are Mohamed, Rosenhouse, Amuzi and Vakharia.
METUCHEN
The Metuchen High School girls soccer team is off to a 1-0 start with a win over North Brunswick Township High School last weekend, and the team looked to extend the season-opening streak when it hosted Highland Park High School on Sept. 10. The week ends with a match on Sept. 13 at Mother Seton Regional High School.
“We are approaching this season as we do every year,” head coach Val Gazda said, “and that’s to win one match at a time. The strengths of this team are that they have a positive attitude and possess a strong work ethic. Although we graduated eight players, we’ve been able to fill most positions. Our team is young, but they have a willingness to learn, and I’m confident we can contend for the [GMC] Blue Division and Central Jersey Group I.”
This year’s team is led by captains Emily Corson, Gabby Cyran and Devon Philbin.
Gazda said each brings a different dynamic to the team, but all understand how important it is to work as a team.
On the defensive end, Rachel Michalski teams up with her sister, Tracy, Emily Costello, Carly Taylor, Megan Haugh and Philbin. In the midfield, the Bulldogs start Corson, Cyran, Taylor Hueston, Savannah Wolfe and newcomer Melissa Chura.
The forward slots will see Kendall Agosto, Alle Chalker, Ariana Santo Pietro and Katharine Chura.
Sharing time at goalkeeper are Emily Buchanan and Alexa Craft-Zaletel.