By Warren Rappleyea
Although Sayreville War Memorial High School’s boys’ soccer team has struggled early, coach Nick Cifelli believes the best is yet to come for his young team.
The Bombers are 2-5-1 with three matches scheduled this week, including Sept. 29 at home against Carteret High School and Oct. 1 at Colonia High School. Cifelli’s team was slated to host North Brunswick Township High School Sept. 27.
Sayreville is coming off a 1-1 tie against John F. Kennedy Memorial High School Sept. 24. Brandon McCoy’s second-half goal created a stalemate that stayed that way through two overtime periods. Goalkeeper Michael Philip turned aside five shots for the Bombers.
Sayreville’s inexperience has worked against it, and several players are out with injuries. The team has had trouble scoring this fall and has posted just eight goals in as many matches.
“For a lot of our guys, this is their first varsity season and they’re still adjusting to the speed of the game,” Cifelli said. “The good news is our guys are getting there. I think we’ll be OK, especially as we start playing teams for the second time.”
Cifelli is relying on his four captains to set the tone. Striker Kevin Sousa, who missed several recent games with a high ankle sprain, is the team’s top scorer with three goals and two assists. McCoy has become a mainstay on the backline, while Ope Olaloko and junior Tyler Barreiro anchor the middle. Olaloko has a goal and two assists, and Barreiro has scored twice and has one assist to his credit.
The Bombers have been playing without a pair of promising players. Sophomore striker Frankie Astarita was injured in the second game of the season and is close to returning.
Since goal-scoring has been something of a challenge, the Bombers have focused on defense. Philip, a junior, has played well in front of the wood work. The defense includes Dave Stolte; juniors Ham Islam, Ryan McCracken and Matt Rodriguez; and sophomores Sebastian Cardoso and Dan Espejo.
Junior Joe Martinez, sophomores Zach Colgan and Alex Szpindor and freshmen Dylan Clerigo and Jhonathan Caicedo are the midfielders. Dawud Mbenga, a junior, is another attacking option.
“Once we get more comfortable and we begin to get our injured guys back, I expect we’ll get some more wins,” Cifelli said. “We have a lot of talented guys; it’s just that they’re untested.”
The Blue and Gray gave a glimpse of what it could do Sept 13 and 15 when it won two in a row. Sayreville downed Carteret, 4-0, as four different players found the net, and also kept a clean sheet against Colonia, 2-0, in a game that saw Philip make nine saves.
“I have confidence in our guys,” the coach said. “They’re getting better every day, and I expect that we’re going to score more goals in the second half of the season.”
