Raritan downs Matawan in Shore Conference Tournament

Top Seed Manalapan Up Next In Round Of 16

By Mike Ready

 HAZLET – The Raritan boys’ soccer team got their biggest win in years holding on to a 2-1 win against cross-town rival Matawan, Thursday on their home field. The win lifts the No.16 seed Rockets (10-4-2) into the round of 16 and into the fire against No.1 seed Manalapan (13-2-1).

 “This is absolutely a great win for us,” Rocket keeper Alex Pruckowski said. “It’s not only a great tournament win for us but it came against our cross-town rivals. Today was a huge confidence booster after Saturday’s disappointment (3-1 loss to St John Vianney). We came out jacked up and ready to play today; we were hungry.”

 Pruckowski was stellar in the net all game long and he possesses a confidence in the box that his teammates feed off, enhancing their level of play at both ends of the pitch.

 Of his five saves, none came easy, including a lunging stop of a  scary Sam Labinger shot with 30 seconds left in the first half to keep the score 1-0, and of a number of pretty positioning stops after cutting off the angle of the attacker. 

 Matawan outshot the Rockets 10-8 but it was Pruckowski in net and Raritan’s defense, which was the difference in the game.

 “Alex had some big shoes to fill (graduated keeper Charles Seelinger, now at Ramapo),” Raritan head coach Ron Poll said. “But to his credit he’s been working really hard and has been able to pick up what we’ve been teaching him quickly because he’s such a great athlete.”

 Junior midfielder Cassidy Tripolitis got the all-important first goal at 10:32. After gathering in a Pat Goggins pass just outside the 18 he took a touch to his right and tipped it in off the far right post and into the corner of the goal.

 “Pat (Goggins) got me the ball in a pretty position,” Tripolitis said. “I needed to take a touch to the right and that opened up the far corner for me.”

 “This win finally gives us the respect we deserve,” Tripolitis added. “It feels good to accomplish something big. If we play as hard as we can and get the wins, we’ll get the respect.”

 Raritan upped its lead to 2-0 at 47:47 when junior attacker Ryan Casciani jumped on a Barry O’Sullivan header from in close and drilled it into the upper far corner to the left of the keeper. Matawan keeper, Colin Thompson, had no chance for the save as the shot was by him before he had the time to react.

 “My goal was more of a team effort,” Casciani said. “The ball started in the back, went to the middle as I began making my run and Barry (O’Sullivan) got me the ball to put it away. We have a lot of trust in one another, we all have confidence that whoever gets the ball can put into the net.”

 Rockets senior midfielder John McAree had a chance to make it 3-0 but banged a shot off the right post from about 35-feet out with less than 15 minutes left.

The Huskies got to within a goal with less than eight minutes to play after a takedown in the box resulted in a penalty kick for Matawan. Senior Alex Cella took his position, faked to his left and let a ‘no doubt’ shot fly into the right corner.

 Matawan had one last opportunity for the tie with three minutes to play when senior Joe Garofalo headed a corner kick past Pruckowski towards the goal, but Rocket defender Justin McAree was there to clear the ball and preserve the one goal lead.

 “They had some chances,” Poll said. “But my defense came up big and I’m just really happy for our team moving on to the next round.”

 “I do think we’re flying under the radar,” Pruckowski said. “We can surprise a few teams and that’s what we’re planning on doing Saturday (against Manalapan).”

 “On our best day we can beat anybody,” Tripolitis said. “But we know we’re not good enough to just show up with less than our best and beat anybody.”

 The Rockets travel to top seed Manalapan Saturday, 10-16-13, for a SCT round of 16 game starting at 2:00 p.m.

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