All A South Ballot

All A Central

All Shore Ballot (A North)

The All Shore Issue is set for Saturday, Dec. 8 and I'm sure a lot of you will find out who is on the team based on the phone calls I'll eventually make to the kids. But until then, I thought we could have some fun with it by doing an All-Shore Fan Ballot.

Here's how it will go: I'll put up a division each day, with four separate polls for each position within a given division. Vote for four (4) players at each field position (F, M, Def.) and one GK. I'll close the poll after about 24-36 hours and then move on to the next one. The top four vote-getters at each position will be placed on the All-Shore ballot, which will probably go up sometime at the end of next week. A North is up first. Enjoy.

Manalapan wins Group IV Title (Sort of)

Manalapan looked primed to win its first ever state title Frinday night, but instead settled for its first ever state title, as weird as that sounds. The Braves tied Clifton 1-1 in the Group IV final after letting a one-goal lead slip away in the 65th minute.

The goal against Manalapan was the first of these playoffs, and it came pretty much the only way possible to get a ball past Jake Grinkevich: on redirection. The first shot sent Grinkevich one way and the ensuing touch sent the ball in the other direction. There wasn't much he could have done.

Jeff Weitz scored the Manalapan goal on a 35-yard bomb that went over Clifton keeper Chris Kosciolek's head after he came up a little too far. Unfotunately for the Braves (except for Weitz of course), they'll probably remember the goals that didn't go in rather than Weitz' goal.

George Quintano slid a shot just wide of the far post on a one-on-one with the keeper, and Greg Grzelak had two good looks in OT, but one hit the post and the other went over the crossbar. There were some other good opportunities, a few of which ended in nice saves by Kosciolek.

The best save of the game didn't even count as it turned out. With two minutes left and the score tied at 1, Clifton thought Manalapan touched the ball on a free kick and proceded to take the restart themseles and turn it into a breakaway. Oscar Gonzalez had a one-on-one with Grinkevich and ripped a shot toward the far post, but Grinkevich came up, got his right hand on it and it hit the far post and kicked away. As it turned out, Manalapan should have retained possession anyway, so the ball moved back to the spot of the original free kick. That would hve been the play of the game had it counted.

Dropping back into safe-mode probably hurt Manalapan in this game, but it's hard to second-guess John Natoli for implementing a strategy that has worked all year. Give credit to Clifton for getting the better of play when they were down a goal. When the game was even, Manalapan was able to ssert itself a little better.

The Manalapan kids seemed content to take the tie. It was a little strange, because each player I talked to seemed progressively more at peace with the result. I think once they got past the fact that they didn't win the game in front of them, they realized they won the first state title in school history. It might not be perfect, but it'll go down as a title nonetheless.

A lot of people watching these games will call for shootouts to decide one champion instead of settling for a tie, which I'll admit, doesn't feel right. But I'll take this over a shootout. From a spectator standpoint, these games are like the last Sopranos episode. There's no definite resolution, there is a lot left unanswered, and you are left wanting more. But at the end of the day, it's the only way to end it. A shootout would have been like a shootout between Tony some of Phil Leotardo's guys where someone is left in a pool of their own blood. Even if Tony (I guess Manalapan in this case) comes out on top, you might get a kick out of it at first, but there would be the feeling that it just wasn't the right way to end something that was so much more than just a shootout. As it is, the ending might have been a little disappointing, but it fits the rest of the story better than the alternative would have.

That's all for games I guess. It's been real. We'll move on to All-Shore talk next week.

Group IV Finals Preview

Edit: Game is at 5:30 p.m., not 6.

Manalapan (20-3-2) vs. Clifton (20-5)
Friday, at The College of New Jersey, 5:30 p.m.

From everything I'd seen, heard, and read, the Group IV final was supposed to pit Howell against North Jersey power Columbia. Instead, we'll see the two teams that took out them out.

The first thing I'd like to find out Friday before I leave for the game or when I get to the field is when the last time any team won a state title without allowing a goal in the playoffs. It's probably not that rare, but it's worth noting. Manalapan has a chance to do that with a shutout win over Clifton, which is within the realm of possibility the way Jake Grinkevich and the defense have been playing.

Clifton will present a number of challenges to Manalapan, mainly up front with a pair of forwards, Oscar Gonzalez and Eddie Olave. Gonzalez leads the team in goals as a freshman, so I'm interested to get a look at him. With two forwards up top and a pretty good center-mid in Manny Caicedo, the Mustangs have enough fire power to put one past Grinkevich.

Clearly, Clifton has defensive potential as well. They must if they can blank Columbia and West Orange, and goalie Chris Kosciolek has 11 shutouts.

You can look at Clifton in two ways: They can beat you a couple different ways, but then again they are not consistent. They can win 1-0 games against West Orange and Columbia, or they can endure a high-scoring 4-3 win over Montclair in the Sectional Semis. But that also shows they can be scored upon.

We know all about Manalapan. Quintano will look to break free and create for himself or someone else and Grinkevich will make a big save here and there. The key to this game is who is more affected by the astroturf, and in that respect, I think Manalapan is in good shape. They have some speed to make up for the surface and they don't rely on possession as much as they did last year. The only scenario I could see it hurting them is if Grinkevich misplays a ball by being too aggressive.

With some of the names they've played and knocked off, Clifton should have everyone's attention. They are a worthy champion and can beat Manalapan no matter what kind of game it turns out to be. But the Braves are tough, and I can't see Clifton presenting more problems than West Orange did last year. A year better, I think the Manalapan gets it done and gives me a research assignment in the process.

The Pick: Manalapan 1-0.

Thoughts on the CBA loss

I'll start off by saying that the better team won this game. Seton Hall was too fast and too skilled for CBA. They had many more quality opportunities at the goal, although that was because once they took the lead, CBA could not advance the ball past all of the defenders they stuck in the back.

With that said, the first goal, at least from my vantage point, was the wrong call. C.J. Crooks did run into Steve Alessio, albeit unintentionally, knocked him down, and never touched the ball, a least not until Alessio lossed the ball after the collision.

What made the call tougher to swallow for CBA was that the sideline referee raised his flag to signal a foul, but the field referee looked to the other sideline official, who did not raise his flag. The field ref. did not ask the ref. that called the foul until after play had resumed, and at that point, they can't overturn the call anyway.

I spoke to the officials briefly after the game and the sideline referee that did not raise his flag said he saw Crooks' head make contact with the ball. If that's true, then the call is fine, but he could be covering for the whole group. I don't mean to accuse them of anything, but rather than admit that the field official made a mistake by not asking about the raised flag earlier, it would be much better for the crew to agree that the other ref. had a better view of the play and saw Crooks head the ball. Long story short, I didn't see Crooks make contact with the ball, so it looked like the wrong call.

Some of CBA's players took issue with the second goal, because they thought Crooks was offside. Unlike the first goal, I don't think CBA had a beef here. Crooks was even with William Liapis when Brian Maher sent him the ball.

If I have space for a notebook this Saturday, I'm going to touch on this artificial turf that they played on last night. A lot of schools have turf fields, but they are newer, softer, and more natural-playing surfaces. TCNJ has the old, original Astroturf surface, which is like playing on concrete. In fact, Jim Lannon said CBA practiced in the parking lot for a little while Thursday to prepare.

A few years back, TCNJ made sense because it provided a large venue with central location and a playing surface that can hold up in inclimate weather. Now, there are plenty of fields with artificial surfaces far more conducive to soccer that would make for more quality games. TCNJ still provides the best venue, turf-aside, because it is in a good location and can seat a lot of spectators. But let's hope they can change the playing surface sometime soon, because the players hate it and it makes the game very ugly.

I'll be back at TCNJ Friday to watch Manalapan play Clifton for the Group IV title. I'll preview it on the blog and in the paper, so keep and eye out.

Manalapan wins 2-0

Adam Rice and Greg Grzelak scored second-half goals, each off George Quintano assists, and the Braves advanced to their second straight Group IV final with a 2-0 win over Washington Twp. Manalapan will play Clifton, winners over Columbia earlier this evening.

I wasn't at the game, so I can't tell you too much more in the way of details.