Colonials’ offense clicking as Boro ad­vances
Boro girls
erupt for eight goals
in two playoff wins
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Above, Monroe’s Sasha Potter (l) and Freehold’s Kelly Knox battle for the ball, while at right, Borough’s Ashley Armstrong heads the ball up field during a CJ Group III quarterfinal in Monroe on Thursday.

Tradition counts. Just ask the Freehold Borough girls soccer team. Down for the count in September, the Colonials are now just one game away from playing in tomorrow’s Central Jersey Group III championship game.

"That’s why I love the Borough," said coach Heshy Moses. "It has tradition."

That winning tradition was put to the test early in the season when the Colonials were 1-6 and appeared to be going nowhere. That’s when captains Cristen Grimm, Meg Phillips, Kerry Little and Jen Towers took charge and called for a players-only meeting on the bus.

"It was after we lost to Wall," recalled Moses. "We were leading 1-0 with three minutes to play and gave up two goals. We’re a team used to playing late in November and it didn’t look like we were going to make it to the tournament. We had to win that game.

"The captains wouldn’t let me on the bus after the game," the coach recalled. "They had a talk with the team. They knew they had to get the message across. They knew enough to let the underclassmen know that some day they will be in their position as seniors relying on the underclassmen to help carry them."

Since that inter-squad talk, the Colonials have been a different team. They’ve gone 12-1, improving their overall record to 13-7.

"That was the turning point," said Moses. "We didn’t do anything different. We didn’t make any changes."

You wouldn’t know by the way the Colonials played last week in the opening rounds of the state sectional. The team that hadn’t scored all year found the back of the net eight times in advancing to the semifinals. The Colonials, No. 7 seed, put five on Lakewood in an opening round victory at home, 5-0, and then clipped No. 2 seed Monroe, 3-0, on three second-half goals Thursday morning.

"I never saw this coming," Moses said of the Colonials’ sudden emergence as a scoring machine. "We’re finishing our shots and playing more together. All the credit goes to our captains."

After a scoreless first half in which the Borough dominated play in the opening 10 minutes but couldn’t capitalize on those opportunities, the two teams settled into a defensive battle. It’s the kind of game the Colonials are particularly good at with Towers in the goal.

The landscape changed 5:31 in the second half when Colleen Rackett scored off her own rebound. She had slammed a shot off the crossbar and for a split second it appeared that the golden opportunity had been wasted. However Rackett remained composed when the rebound came back to her. She one-timed it into the net for a 1-0 lead.

The Colonials were now in their element and defenders Cristen Grimm, Kim Agbulos and Kelly Knox began to put the clamps on the Falcons’ offense.

Freehold Borough struck again seven minutes after Rackett’s goal on an outstanding play off a corner kick. Christina Arcoleo served up a perfect kick into the middle of the Falcon box. Grimm, timing her leap at the right moment, out-jumped everyone and headed Arcoleo’s serve into the goal for a safe 2-0 lead.

With Tower in goal and a solid Colonial defense in front of her, the 2-0 lead was very safe. It became insurmountable when Elise Tagatac scored off Phillips’ restart kick to boost the lead to its final margin, 3-0.

Phillips led the Colonials’ attack with her constant thrusts into Falcons territory, exposing the middle of the Monroe defense. The hustle of midfielder Little helped the Colonials win the territorial battle for much of the game.

The Colonials opened the Central Jersey tournament Nov. 3 and beat 10th-seeded Lakewood, 5-0, with five different goal scorers. Kelly Ackerman struck first just 7:37 into the game. Alyssa Mayrose, Grimm, Jessie Carlson and Jessica Graff followed as the Colonials broke out of their scoring slump.

Phillips, Mayrose and Towers each had an assist in the win.

Freehold Borough, which last won the state sectional title in 2001 and was a runner-up last year, played at Hopewell Valley, the section’s No. 3 seed, Monday afternoon. The winner advanced to tomorrow’s sectional final, which will be played at an as yet undetermined neutral site.

Colts Neck, Howell advance

Colts Neck is the No. 1 seed in CJ III. The Cougars had a first round bye and drew a very formidable opponent, perennial power Wall, in their quarterfinal Saturday. The Cougars were impressive, beating the Crimson Knights 3-1 on goals by Katelyn Gilanyi and Suzanne Witkowski and Michael Fazzari. The Cougars’ 2003 record improved to 17-1.

Colts Neck hosted No. 4 seeded Princeton Monday afternoon in its semifinal match with the winner advancing to the state sectional final tomorrow.

In Central Jersey Group IV, Howell pulled off a big win Sunday afternoon topping No. 2 seeded Manalapan, 1-0. Courtney Mason’s goal two minutes into the second half off a pass from Courtney Kroll was the lone goal of the match. From then on Kroll and the Rebel defense and goalie Christine Rourke made that one goal stand.

The Rebels, the No. 7 seed, had a home game for their semifinals. That’s because No. 14 seed West Windsor-Plainsboro South advanced through its side of the bracket with an upset of No. 3 Rancocas Valley in the first round.

Howell is 11-4-2 after its win while Manalapan finished its season with an 11-4-3 record. It was the third meeting of the Freehold area rivals. During the regular season Manalapan had a 1-0-1 edge and won the Shore Conference A North Division. But it is Howell that is moving on. Howell’s win made the series 1-1-1 for the year.

The Rebels needed a shootout to beat No. 10 North Brunswick in their opening-round match in Howell. The teams played to a scoreless tie through regulation and overtime with Howell winning the shootout 3-2.

The Group IV final is tomorrow at a site yet to be determined. Old Bridge is the No. 1 seed in the section.

Freehold Township boys

in semifinals

Freehold Township has ripped the boys Central Jersey Group IV section apart with two upset wins. The 12th-seeded Patriots have beaten Hamilton East and Jackson, the fifth and fourth seeds.Coach Jesse Renna’s Patriots have carried the sense of urgency that took them to the state playoffs into the postseason. Renna insisted his club, sparked by the senior leadership of Greg Hartlein and Kevin O’Connor, didn’t want to just make the states this year, they wanted to win games and be competitive. For the high seeds like Hamilton East and Jackson, the Pats were a little too competitive.

In Jackson, O’Conner and Ben Allman scored the goals as the Pats overcame an early 1-0 deficit to beat the Jaguars, 2-1.

The Patriots’ ride so far is similar to what Marlboro did last year with a senior-laden team. The Mustangs made up for a somewhat disappointing regular season by advancing all the way to the sectional finals. The Patriots are one step away from that path.

Freehold Township (11-8-2) was slated to play its semifinal match tomorrow against the East Brunswick-North Brunswick winner whose game was played Monday. East Brunswick is the No. 1 seed in Group IV.

A North champion Manalapan made a first-half goal by Scott Gross hold up as the Braves beat Hillsborough, 1-0, in the opening round Nov. 4 in Manalapan. Scott Sheridan registered the shutout in goal.

The Braves traveled to No. 3 seed Rancocas Valley Friday and lost in overtime, 3-2. Manalapan staged a miraculous rally in the final seven minutes of the match, scoring twice on goals by Mohab Elbayer and Scott Gross to tie the score at 2-2 and force an overtime. The Braves couldn’t capitalize on that mo­mentum in the overtime and saw their season come to an end. The Braves fin­ished at 12-6.

Marlboro, last year’s postseason story, lost to Brick Memorial in its first-round game, 3-0, to finish the season at 9-9-1.

Colts Neck, the B Central champion, was seeded No. 2 in Group III and lost to Princeton in its quarterfinal match.