The Hopewell Valley boys under-10 Riptides pulled out another come-from behind victory, 2-1, over Cranford.
Trailing, 1-0, Brandon Napoleon tied the game off a nice feed from Kieran Karp. Garrett Wille then knocked home the game-winner off a cross from Napoleon.
Goalkeepers Matthew Whitlock and Will Stover each had big saves, while Alex Romano and Rex Peters played shutdown defense in front of them.
Lukas Ansari controlled the midfield for the Riptides, while Charlie Stocks-Natalias, Christian Mayer, and Daniel Golian had key plays up front.
Earlier, the Riptides avenged an opening-season loss with a 5-1 conquest of Woodbridge. Mayer had two goals while Wille had two assists. Also scoring goals were Cameron Velez, Whitlock and Napoleon. Golian, Stocks-Natalias and Napoleon each added assists.
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The threat of rainstorms could not stop HVSA under-8 boys’ Lightning travel team from bringing on the thunder, 7-5, Sunday in North Brunswick.
The team scored four goals in the first half. Dylan Napoleon and Ethan Nau had the team off to an excellent start with two goals apiece.
Starting in goal was Michael Whitlock, who was blocking goals and punting kicks down the field. Jackson Sub, Ty Becker and Eshaan Doshi worked tirelessly to turn the ball around and keep it out of North Brunswick’s control.
In the second half, Gavin McCafferty served as goalie. Gavin was working relentlessly to hold off the North Brunswick boys as they came at him, hot to attack in the first 10 minutes of the second half and scoring three additional goals.
Logan Gonsalves was always there ready to use his fast feet to head them off by charging into action. Players like Jeremy Siegelheim, Ty Becker and Ethan Nau were hustling the ball down the line again and again, helping to turn the game around.
Dylan Napoleon and Michael Whitlock came back stronger than ever to score one and two goals, respectively, to end the game.
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The Hopewell Valley girls under-10 Sun Dogs wrapped up play at the West Windsor Sunburst Tournament last weekend with a win, a tie and two losses.
Saturday’s first game was a tie, with Emme Muller providing theoffensive boost the team needed to hand the NJ Crush FC Blaze its first blemish to a previously undefeated record.
In Sunday’s first game the Sun Dogs rebounded with a 2-0 victory over the West Morris Premier Red Hawks. Casey VonOehsen scored the first goal followed by Gillian Magner on a penalty kick. Great offensive efforts all weekend by Julie Somers, Alexa Marino and Chloe Johnson splitting her time between midfield and defense. Madelyn Patterson, Katie Yancey, Frankie Somers and Ana Chrnelich anchored the defense to support Kennedy Havens, who made several critical saves as goalkeeper.
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The under-11 Hopewell Bolts completed the spring season with two wins over Livingston in a doubleheader.
In the first game Aldo Branham volleyed in a well-placed corner kick by Gunnar Casano for the only goal of the game.
Tim McKeown earned the shutout in goal and was supported by a defensive effort led by Kevin Ellis, Merrick Liu, Tom Hooks and Henry Garnich. Midfielders Liam Sciple and Ethan Gross created a number of offensive chances.
The Bolts won the second game, 3-2. Alex Luedeke had two goals before Hooks scored the game-winner on a penalty kick late in the second half. Han Sol Kim had an assist. The defense was anchored by Ellis, Liu and Branham, and Casano played well in goal.
After losing once to open the season, the Bolts went undefeated over their final 13 games with nine wins and four draws.