Boys Soccer Advances in States to Face Summit Tonight

(This story written by GL dad Jeff Bamundo)

In one of the best passing sequences of their season, Governor Livingston (16-1-1) saw the ball touch 4 players in succession on their way to taking the early lead against Middlesex (6-9-2) in their 1st Round States game yesterday at Snyder Avenue Park in Berkeley Heights.

In the 4th minute, the ball went from Jeramey Robbins to James Lynch to Kyle Morris to Julian Light -- all on what almost appeared to be one touch passes -- with Light promptly depositing it in the net for the first of his three goals.

And he didn't wait long to get his second. On a pretty feed from Lynch, Light was again in position to put the ball behind the Middlesex Keeper to make it 2-0 in the 7th minute.

Less than 10 minutes later, Robbins was the beneficiary of another Light effort, this time putting in the rebound of a shot that caromed off a defender.

The pressure continued until moments before the half when Sweeper Mike Bamundo took a pass from Robbins on a designed play from a free kick just outside the 18 -- and promptly shot it against the grain and just inside the keeper’s left post to make the score 4-0.

Middlesex did strike back in the 56th minute on a well-hit ball from inside the GL penalty area that went into the far side of the goal. Senior Goalkeeper Matt Peltier, who had entered the game at the half, had no chance to reach it.

The 4-goal lead was soon restored when the ‘Robbins-to-Light’ connection resulted in a shot being smashed in off the Middlesex keeper's outstretched hand – and give him his well-deserved hat trick!

Reflecting the unselfish nature of all of Coach Bruno Somma’s special squad, Light described his three important goals as follows:

1.      “Kyle (Morris) led a great counterattack, and unselfishly laid the ball off to me to finish”;

2.      “James (Lynch) did all the hard work taking on defenders and laid the ball off for me to finish”; and

3.      “Another great counterattack led by Jeramey (Robbins), [who] laid the ball off for me to get my hat trick.”

Another welcome sight to the GL team and fans was the return of Dylan Weitz to the line-up.  Dylan had been a starter at the Holding/Defensive Mid position before an injury sidelined him for the past 2 weeks.  Having such a versatile and skilled player back in time for the next round is a big boost to the squad and offers Coach Somma much more flexibility with his game day line-ups and substitutions.

With this victory, and Summit’s exciting 1-0 heart-breaker of a win over Johnson, the next round sees a match-up between GL and Summit for the third time this season  -- which will again result in the game being played at Snyder Avenue Park tomorrow evening at 7pm.

And it would be safe to say that there will be fireworks on the field as these two fierce rivals square off once again – with Summit hoping that the ‘3rd time is the charm’ following GL’s 2-0 and 1-0 wins earlier in the season.