Lancers Look for Goals

For Livingston boys soccer head coach Roger Rubinetti, the key to his team winning some championships is simple: scoring goals.

Rubinetti knows that his team has plenty of players who have the potential to score, but they just need to put that final touch on the ball to do it.

"If we finish off our shots, we could have four or five  kids with 10 or more goals," said Rubinetti.

In terms of experience for 2010, the Lancers have plenty of it with nine returning starters and 11 seniors on the team, coming from a squad that finished with a 15-6-4 record and made the Group 4 North 1 state final before losing to Clifton, 3-0.

In addition, Livingston won the first Super Essex Conference Liberty title in 2009 and made the semifinals of the Essex County tournament before losing to Millburn. Even more impressive, the Lancers accomplished all this despite several injuries of players who were out at various times throughout the season. "We have to be healthy and get some breaks," said Rubinetti.

Unfortunately for Livingston, senior outside right back Andy Block will miss the first couple of weeks of the season after breaking a bone in his foot during a scrimmage. But the Lancers still have plenty of players on the bench who can come in and give Livingston some quality play.

Livingston has two All-SEC players in senior sweeper Sam Butensky and senior center midfielder Sean Rucker. 

"He's come on the last two years," said Rubinetti about Butensky. "He's our leader and organizes us in the backfield. He's very solid on the ball."

As for Rucker, he's one of the players that have potential to be a top goal scorer.

"He's very fast and has a great left foot," said Rubinetti. "He needs to stay composed and make adjustments in his game. We're waiting for him to explode and put 10 to 15 goals in."

Rucker scored a goal in the opener last season, but only put the ball in the net one other time in 2009.  Another player that has scoring potential is senior forward German Valdez, who returns this season after missing some time last season with an injury.  Junior forward Sam Katz, who had four goals as a freshman and three goals as a sophomore, is on the roster.  Senior goal keeper Jacob Karpen, who was out for a long time last season with an injury, returns this year.  But Karpen was injured again during the offseason and broke his hand during the summer.

The top returning goal scorer is senior midfielder Julian Craitar, who collected 10 goals and also netted all four of the team's goals in the state playoffs.

"He's a good technical player and fairly good in the air," said Rubinetti.

Junior Eric Sugarman, who missed half the season, but still scored three goals, and senior center midfielder Jason Fertig, who also missed time last season with an injury, have scoring potential.  Also, one of the top players off the bench is senior midfielder Dan Cilenti.

Livingston starts the season today against a tough Belleville and looks forward to upcoming games against power West Essex (Sept. 22) at home and at West Essex on Oct. 20. 

Livingston 2010 Boys Soccer Schedule
(Games at 4 p.m. unless noted)

Sept. 13       at Belleville
Sept. 15       Orange
Sept. 16       at Caldwell
Sept. 22      West Essex
Sept 24        at Montclair
Sept. 27       Morris Knolls
Sept. 29      at Nutley
Oct. 1            at Bloomfield
Oct. 5           Belleville
Oct. 7           at Orange
Oct. 13         Caldwell
Oct. 15         at Cedar Grove
Oct. 20        at West Essex
Oct. 22        Nutley, 7 p.m.
Oct. 25        East Side, 7 p.m.
Oct. 27        Bloomfield (Senior Night), 7 p.m.
Oct. 29        West Orange