After getting out of the gate at 2-4-1, the Holmdel High School boys soccer team turned things around and qualified for both the Shore Conference and NJSIAA North 2 Group III tourneys.
Coach John NaCarlo said the Hornets season turned with back-to-back, 2-1 victories at home against Raritan and St. John Vianney. The wins propelled the youthful Holmdel squad back to the .500 mark and set the stage for the team’s 8-4 stretch run. Not bad for a squad that frequently started four or five freshmen in what was considered a rebuilding campaign. A year ago, NaCarlo’s team compiled a 15-4-1 mark and lost in the finals of the North 2 Group III playoffs to Ramapo. Fourteen seniors graduated from that team, so not much was expected of Holmdel this time around.
“I knew we had some good players left plus we had some fine players coming into the program,” the fifth-year coach said. “They just needed to get used to playing with one another. After all, this was pretty much an entirely new team. The first few games were a learning experience, but they adjusted and started coming together as a team.”
Defensively, the Hornets proved solid overall. Holmdel allowed nine goals in its first three matches, but settled down afterwards. Over the 16 games that followed, Holmdel allowed only 17 goals and eight of those came in a loss to Rumson- Fair Haven the day after the Hornets qualified for the state tournament.
Freshman Dan Marino won the goaltending job and was superb throughout the campaign, recording seven shutouts along the way. Paul Wojieszek provided senior leadership on the back line, which also included sophomore hard-nosed Eric Shirvanian, who moved up from the junior varsity to become a regular.
In addition, three freshmen: Dan Metzger, Sean Davis and Rishi Desai had strong seasons. Davis moved to sweeper for the final four games and did an excellent job in getting the ball up the field.
“Our defense really came together for us,” NaCarlo said. “Cutting down on our goals against was a key factor in our turnaround.”
Offensively, Holmdel did not score a lot of goals, but tickled the twine enough to get by. Senior Guliherme Borges often drew double coverage from opponents and was able to pick up a pair of goals and two assists.
Junior Patrick Nizza led the team with eight goals and John Bjurling, a fellow junior, added six goals and an assist. Freshman Mike Vastardis showed promise in recording two goals.
In the middle, sophomore Patrick Strickland, who switched slots with Davis late in the season, scored two goals and added an assist over the final four games. Jason Yi, Chad Myers and freshman Andrew Zheng patrolled the middle for the Hornets.
In contrast to last year, Holmdel will lose just four seniors to graduation this June: Borges, Myers, Wojieszek and Yi.
“We’re certainly going to miss our seniors because they really helped our younger players develop and they’re a big reason why we were able to turn things around,” NaCarlo said. “Obviously, we’re very excited about the future. We have so many talented underclassmen; it’s going to be fun to watch them grow as a team.”