The boys’ soccer teams at Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) and Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen battled to the bitter end on a rainy afternoon in the semifinals of the NJSIAA South Jersey, Non-Public A tournament.
The end result on Nov. 7 was a victory for the host Colts, 2-0, in Lincroft.
The game was tied well into the second half before junior center midfielder Jack Gill gave the Colts a 1-0 lead almost 25 minutes in. The Falcons surged back and had several near chances toward the end of the game, but CBA’s senior goalkeeper, Shane Keenan, made two big saves to keep the shutout going.
After several near goals by St. Joseph, CBA put the game away when senior George Gosden scored a goal to make it 2-0 with only a couple minutes remaining. Junior Dominic Bellomo assisted on both of the Colts’ goals.
For the Falcons, the loss to CBA ended their season with a 12-10 record, something the team feels was a disappointment to the program.
“The biggest takeaway from the season, in a word, underachieving, I think,” coach Brian Jenkins of Saint Joseph said. “We had a lot of talent, a great senior class with a lot of experience. We thought we would have done bigger things, so I think we underachieved this year.”
“I also feel that we underachieved during the season,” senior center back Ryan Brede said. “But I liked our ability to persevere, especially in the state tournament. We proved that we could compete with one of the best teams in the state.”
Senior midfielder Daniel DiSarro, who heads to Oswego University in New York next year to play soccer, believes that the experience during his senior year will help him once he moves on to the next level.
“I think that for the seniors, we get to look forward to college and keep progressing in college,” DiSarro said. “We have keep working on our game to be successful in college tournaments.”
Meanwhile, CBA went on to defeat Bishop Eustace Preparatory School, 2-0, in the South Jersey sectional finals on Nov. 9. Then CBA ran into the state’s top-ranked team, Delbarton School, where the Colts fell, 4-1, in the Non-Public A finals on Nov. 12 at Kean University in Union.