Lancers playing well in early going

BY WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff St. John Vianney’s Kyle Mannin and Red Bank Catholic’s John Schmelz take to the air to battle for the ball during the Caseys’ win on Sept. 17 in Holmdel.

The veteran St. John Vianney boys soccer team is looking to qualify for both the Shore Conference tournament and the NJSIAA state playoffs.

The Lancers are 3-2 thus far after going .500 a year ago, but there is plenty of optimism at the Holmdel school.

In the five games, eight different players have made the score sheet, including senior forward Mike McAteer, who leads with three goals. Sophomore midfielder Brian Grimm has three goals and a pair of assists.

The SJV defense has played well. Sophomore netminder Dave Goodman recorded shutouts over Raritan, Matawan and most recently, Manasquan on Monday. John Hotchkiss, Tim Ganter, Jeff Levine, Kyle Manning and stopper Matt Seward have also looked strong.

"This is a very talented team in terms of soccer ability," coach Brian Grimm said. "They’re not athletes playing soccer; they’re soccer players."

Offensively, the Lancers have talent. In addition to McAteer and the younger Grimm, Ben Doda and Marco Enfiomusi are formidable on the field.

Co-captain Chris Quinn is another threat; his presence opens space for the other attackers as opponents regularly mark Quinn.

Brendan Slawson, the Lancers’ other captain, is a solid two-way player in the middle.

Other members of the team are midfielder Peter Festa and versatile Joe Iturrillo, both seniors; sophomore fullback Steve Fernicola; and freshman midfielder Rhyan Nelson. Junior Rob Hollywood is the reserve goalie but coach Grimm uses him as a midfielder.

"I think our team will get better as the season moves along," Grimm said. "They work well together and they’re gaining confidence. We’ll also get to play RBC [Red Bank Catholic] and Wall, the two teams that beat us, again. I know our guys will be looking forward to that."

On Monday, the Lancers got an important win over Manasquan, 1-0, and were looking to get to 4-2 yesterday against Freehold Borough. They’ll be back in action on Sunday when they play a nonconference game at Hudson Catholic.

Notes... While the Lancers are battling with a tough Shore Conference schedule, local teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference continue to make a strong showing in the early going.

The top-ranked East Brunswick Bears proved deserving of the recognition on Saturday with a convincing 4-0 win over second-ranked St. Joseph’s of Metuchen. Striker Zach Simi scored a pair of goals 69 seconds apart in the game’s first seven minutes to spark the Bear victory.

Defensively, the Bears continued their dominance, led by keeper Frank Vetri, who extended his shutout streak to four games. In fact, the Bears are yet to allow a goal this season. Josh Sims added two goals later in the game to build an insurmountable lead.

The Bears next challenge, a Tuesday match with Edison, was rained out, leaving Monday’s game with South Brunswick as the next scheduled test for a team that certainly appears to be the class of the GMC.

St. Joseph’s lost its second game in a row on Monday, when the Old Bridge Knights pulled off the 2-1 upset to get to 2-2 on the year.

The Knights’ Ray Reyes scored off a pass from Andrew Suozzo midway through the second half to give his squad the lead, and Old Bridge keeper Chris Reardon was brilliant in net to secure the win.

Old Bridge hoped to knock off another top team yesterday when they took on ninth-ranked J.P. Stevens.

The Sayreville Bombers enter today’s game with Colonia at 3-1, and trailing White Division-leading Monroe by one game. The Falcons are off to a 3-0 start, and appear to be the team to beat in the division.

South River fell to 2-3 with a 3-2 loss to Timothy Christian on Tuesday, and will look to get back to the .500 mark today against a Spotswood team still seeking its first win of the year.