Rebels Fly Past Braves

When it comes to wins in the ultra competitive A North Division, no one ever said the wins had to be pretty. The Howell Rebels boys' soccer team could certainly agree with that.

With three of their four goals coming from bizarre shots, the Rebels will gladly take the scores in a 4-0 win over Manalapan, Friday afternoon at the Manalapan Recreation center

The first of the unusual goals was Howell's second when Colton Lambert's attempted cross was mis-played by Braves' keeper A.J. Horvath. The ball fell over Horvath's head and found the netting near the far post.

Later in the half, Drew Lyon's free kick, which never left the ground reached the net, as well as it missed a number of Howell and Manalapan players. The loose ball also eventually evaded the goalie, giving Howell the 3-0 advantage.

Lyon scored again, minutes later, off a give-and-go play with sophomore Jeremy Hoops, but the goal was waived off with Lyons being called for being offsides.

Hoops opened the scoring for Howell, burying a shot in the net after initially missing. Chris Hill set up Tommy Cafiero with a beautiful back-pass and Cafiero fed Hoops with a perfect cross to the middle of the 18-yard-box.

Hoops re-gained possession after whiffing on his first shot, and placed the ball just inside the far post.

"I'm happy with the way we played in the first half, but I'm not happy with the way we closed out the game," Howell head coach Rich Yuro said, "We strayed away from our game there and gave them a couple of chances, they just didn't capitalize on them. Against a better finishing team, that could be trouble."

The defensive moment of the game came in the early stages of the second half. Howell keeper Luke Weber, who has been impressive all season, dove to his left to bat away a penalty kick from Manalapan captain Ryan Nascimento to keep the home team off the board.

Howell added their final goal late in the game, when Jason Bower drilled a header past Braves' keeper Jason Cocklin, giving the Rebels the 4-0 lead.

"Our goal this year is to be pressing a little more," Yuro said, "We've been scoring goals so if we do make mistakes, at least we have a cushion."

Weber, along with solid defense from Brandon Kolchynski, Bower and Teddy Smith, was able to halt any chances that the Braves' mounted, including a number of long throw-ins that reached the 18-yard-box.

"They played well," Yuro said of his defense, "They held their own. We've been stressing defense -- them as a unit -- and they've been putting up good numbers."

The Rebels will be home, Monday afternoon, when they host divisional foe, Freehold Township. The starting time for that game is 4:00 p.m.