Category: SOCCER

Huck hits 300

Woodstown soccer coach becomes second soccer coach in Salem County to reach the milestone, 60th among boys-only coaches in the state.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITMAN – Darren Huck has experienced a lot of neat things in his 26 years as the Woodstown soccer coach, but it wasn’t until the occasion of his 300th coaching win Thursday that he experienced one of the most rewarding traditions in all of sports.

HUCK

For all the meaningful and momentous wins he has collected over the years, Huck had never felt the sweet sting of the water bucket being dumped over his head on a chilly October night.

But after the Wolverines finished off Pitman 2-1 at Alcyon Park and the team ran over to greet their parents and fans the ice bucket brigade emerged from behind the bench and got their head coach pretty good.

And there was even a parade and “champagne” (sparkling apple cider, really) celebration waiting for him when the team got back to town. All they needed was Garrett Stubbs and his locker room goggles and overalls to make it complete.

“Cold, cold, but I don’t even feel it anymore,” Huck said of his reaction to the water bucket treatment. “I’m just very, very happy about this.

“This should lock in the No. 2 seed for us, and that was the whole goal anyway. These guys knew it. I talked to them on the bus. It’s not about me, it’s not about them individually, it’s about the guy next to him, the in front of him, the guy behind him, the guy sitting on the bus. It’s about the jersey and the team and program.”

Huck became the second soccer coach in Salem County to earn 300 career victories with the win and all but locked up the No. 2 seed in South Jersey Group I to boot. He is the 60th coach in state history with 300 boys-only wins and the 23rd all-time in South Jersey to hit the milestone (10th active).

Good friend and neighbor Joe Mannella, the Schalick coach who reached the milestone earlier this season, sent him a note earlier in the day that read in part “enjoy the moment.”

“I sent him a message back and said it would be an honor to join him in the same year,” Huck said. “That was the whole goal of mine because I have a lot of respect for Joe Mannella because he is a true soccer guy. To be in the same conversation with him I think is probably not necessary because he is that good of a coach.”

The Wolverines came into the season needing to win a lot of games if Huck was going to join the club. When they lost to Schalick on Oct. 10 it left no room for error if the milestone was going to happen in the regular season. They haven’t lost since and will take a five-game winning streak into the playoffs, but the Panthers weren’t going to be an easy out.

“I really want him to get it,” his son Cole, a freshman on the JV team, said before the game. “He doesn’t talk about it a lot, but I’d really like to see him get it. Everybody does.”

Woodstown soccer coach Darren Huck holds up the poster and balloons celebrating his 300th career victory. On the cover, Huck reacts to getting the water bucket shower from his players after the game.

The Wolverines played what Huck called “a good game” to get the milestone win.

Erich Lipovsky and Nick DiTeodoro scored first-half goals for the Wolverines (14-4), who kept constant pressure on Pitman keeper Joey Zubert.

Both of the goals were from point blank range. Lipovsky took a deep cross from Blake Bialecki in front of the goal 13 minutes into the match and buried a shot into the upper right corner. He missed a wide open opportunity from the 18 earlier and told Bialecki if he got another chance he wouldn’t miss again.

“Composure’s been a problem I’ve been struggling with a lot in the front of the net throughout the season, but I have really learned to get better and calm down while I’m taking my shot,” he said. “Nobody was marking me so I knew I wasn’t going to miss my spot next time. I really took my time on it and I put it right in the spot I was looking.

“This means a lot. Not only is this his 300th win, but if we win this we go to No. 2 in the playoffs. It was a super important game we all know we needed to win and we came to play. That’s what we wanted to do and we’re happy about it.”

Four minutes later, DiTeodoro ran onto a through ball from Bryce Ayars just across midfield and beat Zubert one-on-one in the middle of the box for his first goal of the season. He had come close to scoring several times during the season, but just never connected. He changed his cleats before the game and it changed his luck.

Huck told him he was destined for a big moment this season and the junior delivered the game-winner in a milestone game.

“It’s the best way to score your first goal of the season,” DiTeodoro said. “Especially for a coach who just puts everything on the line for us. I couldn’t have done anything more for him. I feel so great not only to score but also to be able to seal that win for him so he could get big No. 300.

“Him, a couple of my teammates, they were all saying it’s going to come when it matters most and I can’t think of a better time for it to come than right now.” 

Jonas Trum scored a curling cross-field goal for Pitman with six minutes left in the half to make it 2-1. Keeper Ben Stengel and his Diamond Dome of Defense (Dante Mistichelli, Dante Holmes, Grant Prater, Jake Lewis) stood strong in the second half as Pitman mounted some serious challenges to tie the match.

“The fact I could be his goalkeeper during his 300th is just huge for me,” Stengel said. “Getting his 300th win is what we’ve all strived for. He talked about it more these last five games and that was more motivation for us. You just want it so bad you’re just scared it’s not going to happen. It was very terrifying (ss the closing minutes ticked by).”

Woodstown 2, Pitman 1

Woodstown (14-4)20-2
Pitman (8-7-1)10-1

GOALS: Woodstown, Erich Lipovsky (Blake Bialecki), 13′; Woodstown, Nick DiTeodoro (Bryce Ayars), 17′; Pitman, Jonas Trum, 34′. SAVES: Woodstown, Ben Stengel 4; Pitman, Joey Zubert 8.

Pitman keeper Joey Zubert (orange) comes out of the net to punch away another Woodstown threat in the second half.

Keeping it together

Schalick girls soccer overcoming a rash of injuries that would have decimated a lesser team, projecting a No. 2 seed in South Jersey Group I tournament

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Way back in 1987, the University of Georgia had a basketball team that lost three of its top six players to a multitude of misfortune and played the second half of the season with only eight players.

A friendly wager with another SEC coach in the preseason that the Bulldogs wouldn’t go .500 was all of a sudden looking pretty good. But somehow they managed to not only survive but thrive, making a run in the SEC Tournament and eventually earning a spot in the NCAAs where they lost in the first round in overtime.

That special team has since been known as “The Miracle Workers.”

If the Schalick girls soccer team goes on to have the kind of success coach Will Kemp says it’s capable of if it keeps its head down and focuses on the task of the day, they might be calling the Cougars the same thing.

The Cougars’ season has been beset with a cascade of injuries that would have crushed a less committed team. Instead, they have made due with what they have, got some inspired play from players way ahead of their developmental schedule and maintained a standard that has them looking at a solid No. 2 seed in the upcoming South Jersey Group I girls soccer tournament.

“We’ve had major injuries,” Kemp said Tuesday after the Cougars handled Pennsville 4-0. “We’re missing several starters throughout this entire season. We went almost three weeks without an experienced goalkeeper. But the girls continue to push forward and do their jobs.

“We’re not winning matches the way we have the past few years, but at the same time we’re still getting the job done and that’s all that matters the most right now to me.”

The Cougars’ 11-4 record that is minor miracle in itself considering they currently have seven players out with injuries (for 72 total matches missed), many of them starters or players projected to play major minutes. They had 14 players available for the game with the Eagles, leaving them only three reserves for substitutions.

They haven’t had their full complement one day this season. They hope the walking wounded with the “best chance” of returning can make it back before the playoffs start.

“It’s a big number,” Kemp agreed. “We’re pretty much playing with 13 players, some matches only 12. We play against the big schools – Cherry Hill (West), Cinnaminson, Cherokee – we see their bench and they have 30 players. We’re trying to stick up with those girls when they’re making subs every 10 minutes.

“Our players have actually done a really good job overcoming a lot of adversity. But at the same time, you wonder what we could have been if we were actually at 100 percent.”

When the wave of injuries first hit, the players’ confidence started to shake, but they rallied around each other and fought through any shortcomings. The older players took the ones now given expanded roles under their wing. Kemp continued to put his faith in the players he did have available and made sure every one understood her role and responsibility.

The only games the Cougars have lost were to the biggest schools they played and Audubon, the projected No. 1 seed in South Jersey Group I.

“It was definitely hard,” junior midfielder Quinn Berger said. “When you lose people you think you’re going to lose more games because they’re starters and important players, but you keep fighting through it because we know deep down it doesn’t matter because you still have to play. It was very important to keep that mentality and not break.”

“I think we stepped up very well,” junior captain Cali Fisler said. “We were able to push through and play together as a team and keep our standard of play.”

The Cougars haven’t lost back-to-back games this season. They’ve had winning streaks of four and five games. They’re looking to maintain their position in the upcoming bracket with their final two regular season games against Penns Grove Thursday and at Williamstown Saturday.

“These girls have already worked miracles,” Kemp said, “pulling out wins when we were completely down, getting back into matches after letting up the first goal, continuing to be competitive, especially inside of our division with some of the rivals we currently have the way certain teams play against us, getting wins when it really mattes the most.

“This squad is special; this squad is very special. I think we can do something big if they continue to keep their head down and work for each other. The more they become a collective the more consistent they’re going to be on the field.”

Schalick 4, Pennsville 0

Schalick (11-4)22-4
Pennsville (6-10)00-0

GOALS — S: Quinn Berger, 6:48; S; Abby Willoughby (Olivia Bergholz), 17:50; S: Cali Fisler (Liv Vanaker), 46:25; S: Jael Winnberg, 58:35.

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Girls Soccer Power Points
(Top 16)
1. Audubon (14-2) 23.944, 2. Schalick (11-4) 19.124, 3. Woodstown (11-4-1) 16.556, 4. Haddon Twp. (9-6-1) 16.345, 5. Riverside (9-6) 15.200, 6. Palmyra (11-4) 14.609, 7. Gateway (11-3) 14.297, 8. Glassboro (7-4-2) 12.924, 9. Clayton (9-5-1) 12.872, 10. Pitman (8-8) 9.558, 11. Maple Shade (5-9-1) 8.578, 12. Pennsville (6-10) 8.413, 13. Buena (7-8) 7.026, 14, Wildwood (4-10) 6.590, 15. Penns Grove (2-11-1) 6.190, 16. Woodbury (2-11-1) 5.862.
Others: Cape May Tech (1-14), Salem (0-14), Paulsboro (0-13).

Cover photo: Schalick girls soccer coach Will Kemp talks to his team prior to sending it out to face Pennsville Tuesday.

Closing on a milestone

Woodstown gives coach Darren Huck his 299th career coaching victory in 4-0 shutout of Glassboro; also includes Tuesday’s Salem County sports results

BOYS SOCCER
Overbrook 2, Penns Grove 1 (OT)
Pennsville 5, Clayton 1
Salem Tech 4, Gloucester Catholic 3
Schalick 2, Pitman 0
Wildwood 9, Salem 0
Woodstown 4, Glassboro 0

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – The milestone has been on the horizon since the start of the season, but now it’s right there on the doorstep.

Adrian Ibarra scored twice and Ben Stengel came up with another shutout as Woodstown blanked Glassboro Tuesday 4-0 to give coach Darren Huck his 299th career coaching victory.

Huck, in his 26th season at the Wolverines’ helm, can become the second Salem County soccer coach to reach 300 wins as early as Thursday in the regular-season finale against Pitman at Alcyon Park.

Schalick’s boys coach Joe Mannella, Huck’s good friend and neighbor, became the first Salem County soccer coach to reach the milestone on Oct. 2.

“People would bring it up and I kept saying I’ve got a ways to go, I’ve got a ways to go, and here we are at 13-4,” Huck said. “It’s definitely a weird feeling because I’m a numbers guy, I love numbers in sports, I’m always looking at different statistics and stuff like that.

“You know how I am about the history of our soccer program, but when it came to me I never really thought about ever being in this situation. Whether I played it off as I don’t know if I’ll be coaching that long or maybe I won’t win as much as I did. As a coach I always downplayed that a little bit, but in all honesty for a while it was like that will be a while before I get to that.”

Ibarra gave the Wolverines (13-4) a 1-0 halftime lead, then scored the first goal of the second half and 46th of his career. Bryce Ayars made it 3-0 and Dante Holmes scored the final goal of the game. Stengel was credited with five saves in the shutout.

“My defense definitely stepped up; they’ve been stepping up all season,” Huck said. “We had a little talk at halftime – we were up 1-0  and were pretty much controlling the game – I looked right at Dante Holmes, my center back, and my two other backs and Ben and I said over the next 40 minutes you guys need to win this game for us. You keep them off the board we win the game.

“Allow the offense to keep working at it and working at it, but you know what you’ve got ahead of yourselves. It’s a 1-0 game and if you can lock ‘em down for 40 minutes than we’ve got ourselves win No. 13. And they did that.”

And it gave their coach win No. 299.

The victory also elevated the Wolverines to No. 2 in the current South Jersey Group I power points standings.

When Mannella joined the 300 Club at Wildwood, the feat was met with a commemorative game ball, balloons spelling out “300” and a healthy dousing from the water bucket. Not that Huck is expecting any of that when his entry into the 300 Club becomes official, but he has never had the water bucket treatment before. 

“I always said I’d love to be able to share that (milestone) within the same year of him,” Huck told Riverview Sports News last month. “It also means we’ve been around a long time, too. We’ve had some very good players and, if anything, 300 is just a true testament to staying consistent and doing the right things.”

SALEM TECH 4, GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 3: Clinton Bobo scored the tying and winning goals in the Chargers’ three-goal second-half rally that erased a 3-1 deficit. Aiden Bobo scored in the first half and Bobby Jones got the Chargers’ first goal in the second half.

“We were dragging in the first half,” Chargers coach Rob Polk said. “They were beating us to every ball over the field.

“We talked mainly at halftime about effort and coming out fast in the second half. We’ve been playing pretty well the last couple weeks and I was pretty confident if we came out and found a way to pop a goal in early the momentum would shift and more would follow. We were fortunate enough to finish an early chance and the game kind of opened up for us after that.”

The Chargers (5-10) have their eye on a school-record third straight win Thursday at Salem.

PENNSVILLE 5, CLAYTON 1: Shane Puckett scored the Eagles’ first three goals — his first career hat trick — and Ugur Elmali and J.P. Laughrey extended the lead with goals in the final three minutes.

SCHALICK 2, PITMAN 0: Oscar Hernandez and Luke Price scored first-half goals in the Cougars’ ninth straight victory. The Cougars (14-1) remain the No. 1 team in the South Jersey Group I power points standings.

WILDWOOD 9, SALEM 0: NuNu Bedderi and Gavin Burns both scored hat tricks for the Warriors. For Bedderi it was his second straight three-goal game. He now has 30 goals in his first season playing high school soccer in the United States.

OVERBROOK 2, PENNS GROVE 1 (OT)

GIRLS SOCCER
Wildwood at Salem

SCHALICK 4, PENNSVILLE 0: The Cougars outshot their hosts 24-6, scored two goals in each half and had four players light the lamp. Quinn Berger and Abby Willoughby scored in the first half, while Cali Fisler and Jael Winnberg scored in the second. (Related story posting soon)

WOODSTOWN 1, GLASSBORO 0: Sophie Wells scored the game’s only goal in the first half and goalie Ellie Wygand kept the Bulldogs out of the net to make it stand.

GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 6, SALEM TECH 0: Six players scored goals for the Rams.

OVERBROOK 7, PENNS GROVE 0: Gianna Simon scored four goals and Victoria Bupp had three.

GIRLS TENNIS
OVERBROOK 5, PENNS GROVE 0
Keira Riess (O) def. Alease Stewart, 6-0, 6-0
Nesrine Fosso (O) def. Andrea Restrepo, 6-0, 6-1
Sophia Burgos (O) def. Zeven Akkaya, 6-0, 6-1
Hillary Cho-Jennifer Giovanni (O) def. Janiyah Cummings-Makala Washington, 6-1, 6-2
Madison Rikard-Gianna Hardy (O) def. Elif Sagir-Gabriela Roman, 6-0, 6-0.
Records: Overbrook 6-14, Penns Grove 0-12

WOODSTOWN 4, WILDWOOD 1
Gabby Kurpis (Wo) def. Charlie Cunningham-Hackney, 6-0, 6-0
Camille Osborn (Wo) def. Cydnee Kilian, 6-1, 6-0
Angela Wilber (Wi) def. Aubrie Rennie, 6-2, 6-2
Alyssa Berry-Julianna Lindenmuth (Wo) def. Kiana D’Antuano-Estella Robinson, 6-1, 6-0
Leah Waterman-Nathalie Neron (Wo) def. Selin Ogden-Emma Contreras, 6-0, 6-1
Records: Woodstown 14-5, Wildwood 7-8

FIELD HOCKEY
Woodstown at St. Joe (Hamm.)

PENNSVILLE 1, OVERBROOK 1: Izzy Saulin scored in the fourth quarter to earn the Eagles (5-8-2) a tie.

VOLLEYBALL
Washington Twp. 2, Salem Tech 0 (25-11, 25-18)

Red Devils rising

Penns Grove soccer gets ‘biggest win of the season’ shutting out Group 4 Bridgeton behind keeper Guzman’s acrobatic saves

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNS GROVE – The Penns Grove soccer team couldn’t have been more disappointed after losing its last match after a big win last week. The good thing about playing a lot of matches is the big turnaround could be as near as the next line on the schedule.

The Red Devils scored what coach Mano Massari called “our biggest win of the season so far” Monday night when it blanked Group 4 Bridgeton 2-0.

They scored a goal in each half and junior keeper Dwayne Guzman made 12 saves to preserve the shutout.

“It was awesome,” Massari said. “It’s a big win for us. Very big win for us. Biggest game of the year for us when we came out flat against Pitman last week, so we needed this one tonight. This was a big momentum switch for us.”

The Red Devils are playing this week to secure a first-round home game in the South Jersey Group I playoffs and have won three of their last four games. They went into the match in the power points standings. They lost to current No. 8 Wildwood and split with No. 7 Pitman during the season.

They play Overbrook at home Tuesday and No. 1 Schalick at home Thursday, two days before the qualifying cutoff date.

“It’s hard figuring this math out; we tried,” Massari said. “We’ll see tomorrow what happened. That team was good. We played hard today and came out on top.”

Recently placed center mid Mario Fuentes scored his second goal of the season in the first half and freshman Juan Ortiz volleyed a ball coming outside the box and buried it for his fifth in the second half.

Guzman made several big saves to keep the Bulldogs out of the net. He stoned a breakaway in the first half shortly after the Red Devils took the lead and made several acrobatic saves in the second half.

“He stood on his head again today,” Massari said. “He made saves he had no business making again. He stopped some lasers from inside the box. Diving. Jumping. It was nuts. Kept the ball out of the net. Just absolutely dominated. By far the best keeper I’ve coached and been around in a very long time. Dwayne Guzman, put him on the map.”

Cover photo: Penns Grove soccer coach Mano Massari walks off the pitch with goalie Dwayne Guzman after a recent match at Pennsville.

This week’s schedule

Here is this week’s Salem County sports schedule for the week of Oct. 21-26

OCT. 21
FIELD HOCKEY
Salem at Gloucester Catholic
Schalick at Deptford
Woodstown at Overbrook
GIRLS TENNIS
Pennsville at Overbrook, 3:45 p.m.
Pitman at Salem
Woodstown at Schalick
BOYS SOCCER
Bridgeton at Penns Grove
Salem at Camden County Tech
CROSS COUNTRY
State Tech Championship at Salem Tech
VOLLEYBALL
Cape May County Tech at Salem Tech

OCT. 22
BOYS SOCCER
Glassboro at Woodstown
Gloucester Catholic at Salem Tech
Overbrook at Penns Grove
Pennsville at Clayton
Pitman at Schalick, 6 p.m.
Salem at Wildwood
GIRLS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Overbrook
Salem Tech at Gloucester Catholic
Schalick at Pennsville
Wildwood at Salem
Woodstown at Glassboro
GIRLS TENNIS
Overbrook at Penns Grove
Woodstown at Wildwood
FIELD HOCKEY
Pennsville at Overbrook
Woodstown at St. Joe (Hamm.)
VOLLEYBALL
Washington Twp. at Salem Tech
WOMENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Cecil College at Salem CC, 6 p.m.

OCT. 23
FIELD HOCKEY
Salem at Schalick
GIRLS TENNIS
Glassboro at Woodstown
Salem at Overbrook
Wildwood at Penns Grove
CROSS COUNTRY
Tri-County Showcase at Cumberland

OCT. 24
FIELD HOCKEY
Woodstown at Hammonton
BOYS SOCCER
Gloucester Catholic at Pennsville
Woodstown at Pitman
Salem Tech at Salem
Schalick at Penns Grove
GIRLS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Schalick
Salem at Salem Tech
Pennsville at Woodstown
GIRLS TENNIS
Schalick at Pennsville (conclusion of susp. match), 3:45 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL
Timber Creek at Salem Tech

OCT. 25
FOOTBALL
Woodstown at Glassboro, 6 p.m.
Audubon at Camden Catholic
Paulsboro at Clayton, TBA
Collingswood at Pennsville
Overbrook at West Deptford
Woodbury at Schalick, 6 p.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Pennsville at Overbrook
Salem Tech at Wildwood Catholic
GIRLS SOCCER
Salem at Paulsboro
GIRLS TENNIS
Woodstown at Pennsville
FIELD HOCKEY
Gloucester Catholic at Salem
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Gloucester Catholic

OCT. 26
FOOTBALL
Salem at Penns Grove, noon
GIRLS SOCCER
Schalick at Williamstown, 10 a.m.
MENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Baltimore JUCO Jamboree
Salem CC vs. Anne Arundel, noon
Salem CC vs. Southern Maryland, 6 p.m.

Friday sports report

Here are the scores from Friday’s high school sports action involving teams from Salem County

FRIDAY, OCT. 18
FIELD HOCKEY
Egg Harbor Twp. 0, Woodstown 0

BOYS SOCCER
Salem Tech 2, Clayton 1
Salem at Gloucester Catholic
Schalick 4, Glassboro 1
Woodstown 3, Overbrook 1

GIRLS SOCCER
Clayton 5, Salem Tech 0
Gloucester Catholic at Salem
Pennsville 3, Penns Grove 0
Woodstown 3, Overbrook 1

GIRLS TENNIS
Pennsville 5, Salem 0
Pitman 5, Penns Grove 0
Schalick at Glassboro

VOLLEYBALL
Triton 2, Salem Tech 0 (25-4, 25-5)

Scurry, Alward reach milestones

Here are the scores and highlights from Thursday’s high school action involving Salem County teams

FIELD HOCKEY
Schalick 9, Overbrook 1: Ava Scurry and Luci Virga both had three goals and two assists as the Cougars remained unbeaten (14-0-1). Phoebe Alward had two goals and two assists and Addi Shimp scored once.

Scurry, who plays multiple sports for the Cougars but is a field hockey player at heart, has scored a goal in six straight games with three hat tricks in the stretch. Her second goal Thursday was the 50th of her career.

That wasn’t the only milestone in the game. Alward picked up her 50th point of the season to surpass 100 points in her career.

Clearview 7, Woodstown 0: Alaina Lomonaco had a hat trick and Ella Candy scored twice. It was Lomonaco’s third game of three goals or more this season and gave her a single-season career-high 16 goals on the year.

Pennsville at Bridgeton
Salem at Clayton

GIRLS TENNIS
Penns Grove at Schalick

WOODSTOWN 4, OVERBROOK 1
Keira Riess (O) def. Gabby Kurpis, 7-5, 6-3, 10-7
Camille Osborn (Wo) def. Nesrine Fosso, 6-0, 6-0
Aubrie Rennie (Wo) def. Sophia Burgos, 6-1, 6-1
Julianna Lindenmuth-Leah Waterman (Wo) def. Hillary Cao-Jennifer Giovanni, 6-0, 6-3
EvaLouise Thomsen-Melissa Hassler (Wo) def. Madison Rikard-Gianna Hardy, 6-0, 6-0
Records: Woodstown 12-5, Overbrook 4-13.

GLASSBORO 5, SALEM 0
Ella Killelea (G) def. Cassidy Werkheiser, 6-1, 6-0
Kaylee Johnson (G) def. Tytiana Miller, 6-1, 6-1
Halle Lazarus (G) def. Angelina Fothergill, 6-1, 6-0
Records: Glassboro 5-8, Salem 1-9.

Group I Final Four
New Providence 4, Pitman 1
Glen Rock 3, Hanover Park 2
Championship: New Providence 5, Glen Rock 0

BOYS SOCCER
Pitman 5, Penns Grove 0

Quick strike

Penns Grove scores in first 20 seconds of the match, goes on to beat Pennsville in boys soccer, includes Wednesday’s Salem County results

WEDNESDAY BOYS SOCCER
Penns Grove 2, Pennsville 0
Pitman 6, Salem 0
Woodstown 4, Salem Tech 0

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – If you missed the start of Wednesday’s Penns Grove-Pennsville soccer game, even by a minute, you missed half of the goals in the game.

SCHULTZ

Junior midfielder Joey Schultz packed a pass from Sebastian Hernandez into the upper right corner 21 seconds into the match to send Penns Grove on its way to a 2-0 victory that garnered the Red Devils some valuable power points.

“I can’t remember one happening that fast, to be honest with you,” Penns Grove coach Mano Massari said. “I’ve been here about nine years coaching, started four years here as a player, I’ve never seen one that fast.” 

The goal wasn’t a case of the Red Devils simply kicking the ball into the Pennsville end, chasing it down and putting it away before anyone knew what hit them.

Pennsville went long with the opening kick as it’s been known to do when it gets the first ball. The Red Devils gained possession and Hernandez made a long run up the right wing with Schultz trailing right behind.

Hernandez drew in a couple defenders, saw an open space and pushed a Bangu ball to Schultz who had peeled off towards the six in the box and beat Eagles keeper Coen Rinnier.

“We’ve been working on that a lot, transitioning from defense to offense,” Massari said. “We feel like we’ve lacked doing that early in the season. We’ve been practicing transitioning up together as one and what we’ve been practicing’s been working, and it showed there in the first 20 seconds of the game. That’s why we practice these things.”

Schultz remembers getting an assist that early in a game with his club team before, but he’s never scored that quickly before. He was looking forward to seeing the replay on the game film.

“That spark came through,” he said. “It really made me feel good. It brought a lot out of me. It makes me want to take this a little more serious, I guess.”

It certainly got the Eagles’ attention. No one ever expects to be in catch-up mode that quickly into a match.

“I had barely turned around and the ball was in the back of our net,” Pennsville coach Derek Foglein said. “We talked about the fact that this season when we’ve been on the front foot and we’ve jumped on teams it made the difference and when good teams come out and jump on us it makes a difference. Ultimately, that was a huge difference there.

“That first goal, when you blink and now you’re chasing the game … We knew they were a really strong defensive team so trying to find one goal was going to be hard enough and now we need to find at least one to send it to overtime.”

The early goal gave the Red Devils confidence and calmed them. They made it 2-0 with 17:42 left in the half on an own goal credited to Edward Swank. The Eagles settled into the second half, but had a two-goal deficit to overcome. 

Schultz wasn’t in at the finish. He hurt his right ankle playing a 50-50 ball early in the game and eventually was lifted for precautionary reasons. The Red Devils have another big game Thursday night at Pitman, a match that could keep their dream of landing a first-round home playoff game alive.

The Red Devils started the season 1-3 and lost their leading scorer to a broken leg, but they’ve won three of their last five and are now tenth in the South Jersey Group I power points standings. They’re about a half-point out of the final first-round home game in the bracket. 

“We want to make it to the dance, we want to make it to the playoffs,” Massari said. “Ideally I’d like a home playoff game. I want these guys to experience that; they deserve it. We put ourselves in a hole in the beginning of the year, starting to get hot at the right time.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead. I’d like us to just focus on tomorrow. I feel good about where we’re at, I feel good about the way we’re playing, but I’m trying to get them to understand we’re not looking past our next opponent.”

WOODSTOWN 4, SALEM TECH 0: Adrian Ibarra scored twice, Bryce Ayars scored for the second game in a row and Blake Bialecki netted a goal. The win takes Wolverines coach Darren Huck to within three of 300 career coaching wins.

PITMAN 6, SALEM 0: Brayden Carr scored two goals and assisted on both of Lucas Razze’s goals to lead the Panthers (7-5-1).

Cover photo: Penns Grove’s Sebastian Hernandez pushes the ball upfield against Pennsville Wednesday.

GIRLS SOCCER
Gloucester at Schalick
Penns Grove at Paulsboro
Pennsville 6, Salem 0
Woodstown 7, Salem Tech 0: The Wolverines (9-4-1) got goals from seven players, including Talia Battavio’s 57th career goal. Their last six wins have all been by shutout.

GIRLS TENNIS
Schalick 4, Haddon Heights 1
Pennsville 5, Millville 0: Eagles coach Dan LaMont gets his 300th career win with the Pennsville girls program. (Related story posting soon)

Riding the wind

Teams buffeted by stiff wind, but Woodstown scores two early goals, then holds on to beat Clayton

BOYS SOCCER
Woodstown 2, Clayton 1
GIRLS SOCCER
Woodstown 1, Clayton 0

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CLAYTON — Erich Lipovsky stepped off Woodstown’s team bus at Haupt Field and immediately got smacked in the face by a big gust of wind. He instinctively knew what that meant.

If the Wolverines were lucky enough to have the coin toss go their way they were going to take the wind to start their morning matchup with Clayton.

The toss went their way, they went with the wind in the first half and scored two goals to fuel a 2-1 win that nudged coach Darren Huck a little closer to 300 wins.

“With the wind you don’t have to put too much pace on the ball, you just let the ball work,” junior back Bryce Ayars said. “When you’re playing without the wind it’s harder to push it down because the wind slows down the ball.

“It felt different today because I felt like our mood shifted from having the wind the first half (where) we generated some things. The second half it didn’t really go our way. I’m not saying it’s all the wind’s fault, but I think the wind was a big factor today.”

The Wolverines (10-4) like to play the game along the ground so getting an extra boost from the breeze at the start wasn’t behind the windy wisdom. It was more about what the breeze was going to do to the Clippers’ goalie punts and clearing the ball out of their defensive end, and then what they would do when they had it in the second half.

Woodstown scored both its goal with the wind at its back, but the wind didn’t influence either of the scores. Ayars and Lipovsky both scored on low bullets from in front of the net five apart in the first 15 minutes of the match.

For Ayars, it was his career-tying seventh goal of the year. For Lipovsky, it was his second and proved to be the game-winner.

“I don’t score a lot,” Lipovsky said. “I tend to move the ball forward more and then I don’t end up being in front of the net when the ball comes in, but I saw my opportunity, saw a gap in the defense, and just happened to put it in the right spot.”

“He got us what we needed today – he got us a goal,” Huck said. “He is not our top goal-scorer by any means, but he got what we needed today.”

What concerned Huck more than the wind was the Wolverines inability to finish when they had the chance – and they had plenty of chances. They took 36 shots in the match, but had only the two goals to show for it. Shots that by all accounts needed to find the back the net went wide, right into the keeper or off the cross bar. Ayars, Lipovsky and Nick DiTeodoro all had good chances in the second half.

The missed chances became even more glaring after Jonathan Rehm got the Clippers within 2-1 with a goal five minutes into the second half. 

“I thought we had a couple really good opportunities where we could’ve put the third goal in and built on getting the fourth goal and we didn’t do that today and that was discouraging,” Huck said. “I thought the defense played strong like they usually do … it was just a matter offensively we’ve got to finish.

“We should have put a third goal in and built on getting a fourth goal. We need to be different on Friday. If we don’t do that, Overbrook will sneak out of there with a 1-0 win.”

Girls game

WOODSTOWN 1, CLAYTON 0: Ryann Foote broke a scoreless tie in the second half when she converted an Emma Morgan pass for the game’s only goal. It was her third goal of the game. Ellie Wygand made four saves in posting the shutout. Each of the Wolverines’ last five wins have all been by shutout; they are 5-1-1 in that stretch.

Good as gold

Weber’s golden goal PK lifts Schalick over Palmyra in battle of South Jersey Group I’s top two power teams

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE — Joe Mannella has been part of a lot of big wins in his 20-plus years as Schalick’s soccer coach, but he might not have had one with as much grit as the one his Cougars pulled off Monday.

Playing a man down for nearly 55 minutes because of a first-half red card to their captain, the Cougars scored two goals short-handed and kept their opponent at bay to beat Palmyra 2-1 in overtime and take a big step towards claiming the No. 1 seed in the South Jersey Group I tournament.

Schalick came into the game ranked No. 1 in the SJ-I power points standings. Palmyra was No. 2. Both teams have beaten current No. 3 Audubon. The Cougars (12-1) now hold a nearly a seven-point lead over Palmyra (9-3) and Audubon.

To make the win even sweeter, Palmyra beat the Cougars twice last year, including the South Jersey Group I final – in overtime.

This time, it was the Cougars prevailing in overtime, with junior midfielder Jaxon Weber getting the game-winner on a penalty kick 7:19 into the first extra period.

“Result wise, the way they responded to losing their captain is phenomenal,” Mannella aid. “If it were just that, then I would be completely pumped. But we keep having these episodes where we lose a little bit of our discipline and if you want to do the things we want to do, I don’t think you get away with that long term. You’re dodging bullets at that point.

“But soccer wise, today, they answered the called and showed a lot of guts. If you said Palmyra had a 1-0 lead at halftime and you’re down to 10 men what are your odds, but I felt from the way they responded you just felt that wasn’t going to make that much of a difference.”

The Cougars were thrown into the short-handed situation when senior captain Eli Cummings was red-carded for a handball trying to protect the left side of Schalick’s net with 7:35 left in the first half.

Cummings looked like he was instinctively trying to protect his face when Connor Jones’ header bounded his way, but he was carded for intentionally trying to stop a goal-scoring opportunity. The play put Cole McCamy on the spot and he put the PK past Evan Sepers to give Palmyra a 1-0 lead.

After the play the Cougars seemed more determined than ever to get after it.

“After going down 10 men in the first half I felt like it lit a fire in us,” senior midfielder Louis Sepers said. “We came out way harder in the second half, put our heads to it and worked really hard.”

“I feel like I played harder,” Weber admitted, “because he’s our captain and he backs us up on everything and I know I had to go even harder just for him.”

About the only tactical difference was the Cougars moved two strikers up and pinched in their wings.

“It’s rough, but you have to bounce back; you have to pick up your heads and you just play like a team,” sophomore Luke Price said. “You play your normal way of soccer and keep going on from that. You can’t let your head drop.”

They got the tying goal with 25:41 left in the second half when Sepers redirected a shot off his shoulder just inside the left post off a corner kick. He has scored in each of the Cougars’ last four games and three of them have been similar to the one he got Monday.

The goal got the Cougars to overtime, but they were still a man down. Weber won it on a golden goal penalty kick with 2:41 left in the first overtime. It was his third successful PK this year. He was going to shoot to his right, then tucked it into the left side of the cage.

He got the opportunity when Price was shoved by the Palmyra keeper after a scoring chance moments earlier.

“It was really nerve wracking when I saw him go and almost save it, but it went in,” Weber said. “I was going to go right. It’s that little over thinking, but you’ve got to stay confident in what you’ve already done.” 

Palmyra’s defense moves in to deny Schalick’s Louis Sepers a scoring chance Monday. Sepers eventually scored the game-tying goal. On the cover, Jaxon Weber fires his game-winning PK in overtime.



SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
POWER POINTS STANDINGS
(Top 16 through Oct. 14)

SCHOOLW-L-TPOINTS
Schalick12-125.264
Palmyra9-418.422
Audubon9-318.316
Haddon Twp.8-2-216.669
Woodstown10-416.269
Riverside8-5-114.502
Pitman6-5-113.697
Wildwood8-3-113.398
Maple Shade7-4-112.777
Glassboro5-5-112.317
Penns Grove5-612.159
Gateway5-710.198
Pennsville8-69.214
Clayton6-77.020
Woodbury3-86.764
Buena0-9-15.178