Boys’ Soccer
North. It was another successful campaign for the Knights last year, who went 19-2, claimed the Group III sectional title, and made it to the state semifinals before falling to Moorestown, 2-1. However, this year, the Knights will be without 12 players who graduated last year, including Scott Kelly and Drew Eccleston.
Despite this, the team still has strong leadership in goalie Eric Scala, who returns this year after a devastating season-ending injury last year, when he broke his jaw from a kick to the face just before the state tournament. “He really has surpassed where I thought he’d be both mentally and physically, so he’s rebounded well,” says North coach Trevor Warner.
In addition to Scala, junior Kevin Nowak and conference defender of the year Nassir Silwany will serve as the team’s captains.
“Of the 12 seniors who graduated, eight were starters,” said Warner. “We lost a lot everywhere. We lost three of our starting defenders, three of our starting midfielders, and we lost both forwards. We’ve got a lot of holes to fill, but I think that offers the opportunity for a lot of people. There’s been quite a bit of competition over the last couple of weeks.”
He says his team this year is not going to try to be last year’s team. “They know we accomplished a lot, and we had a lot,” he said. “It’s important to set realistic goals. We’re just going to try to work hard and practice and be the best.”
Every team has a long-term goal of qualifying for the state tournament, says Warner. “Everybody wants to extend their season, but I really want to hold off in trying to do that,” Warner said. “I think these guys need to figure out what makes them tick. They need to figure out how we’re going to be successful, and I think we’re making our strides.”
The team is preparing for its first game on Friday, September 11, against Ewing at home. “That’s what we’re going to try to focus on and not get too far ahead of ourselves,” he added.
He said the team has been working on keeping goal-scoring from the opposing teams to a minimum. “Our defense has to be strong,” Warner added. “We’re really going to have to focus on playing well everywhere as a team and working the ball around.”
South. Coming off a 14-5-2 season, the team returns quite a few strong seniors in Alex Prieto, Ralph Aurora, Drew Siversten, and Mike Skapyak, the latter three of whom will serve as captains this year.
Rounding out the roster are seniors Tom Savage, Stephen McCarron, Zach Mozenter, Dan Schloss, Salman Akhtar, Ronak Patel, and Henry MacQueen; juniors Sotak Koike, Zach Rosenberg, Sean Hazen, Nick Young, Andrew Ocha, and sophomore Graham Harter.
Prieto, who scored 16 goals last year, and Siversten, who scored seven, should boost the team’s offense this year. The boys’ first game is on Friday, September 11 against Trenton Central.
Girls’ Soccer
North. Having graduated seniors Sarah Alesio, Briana Taft, Caroline Girandola, and Courtney Carnevale, the North girls’ soccer team still returns eight starters, including Jacquie Mihalyi, Jackie Kercheval, and Lexie Forsell — all of whom will lead the team this year.
This year, the team moves into the large school division — the Colonial Division, where its closest competitors include South and Notre Dame. Last year, the team went 8-9 and won the CVC Valley Division. Coach Kevin Mackenzie hopes to build on that record. “The league was very tough last year,” he said. “I thought we had a good team, but it was very competitive.” Now that some of the top competitors have graduated, the new year’s challenge is moving up to the new division, which includes crosstown rival South as well as Hightstown, Trenton, and Steinert, says Mackenzie.
“I expect to compete for the state playoffs,” he said. “It’s important we get off to a good start. The latter half of our schedule is very difficult, so it’s important for us to play well early and set a positive tone.”
The team’s first game is on Friday, September 11, away against Ewing. “We have good team spirit, we’re fit, and we have some experienced players coming back,” says Mackenzie. “We need to work on attacking the field. The big improvement over last year that we’re looking for is for some people to score more goals for us.”
South. Coming off a record of 12-7-2 last year, the team graduated two key players in mid-fielder Maura McLaughlin, goalie Liz Huttner, but the team will have many other seasoned players looking to fill those spots.
Senior Allie Pungello will take over in the goal, while senior defender Johanna Schutzer and senior midfielder Ally Schwartz will lead the team as captains.
The team will also look for contributions from a group of seasoned players in seniors Clara Schoenauer, Erica Simi, Alexandra Werth, Grace Garbini, Sara Szostak, Allie Pungello, and Amanda Colonna, as well as juniors Erika Deetjan, Victoria Matthews, Michelle Morris, Kathryn Philbin, Sarah Solomon, Caroline Ziedonis, and Molly Johnson.
Other players that should be key contributors this year include sophomores Bridget McLaughlin, Heather Deamond, and Jane Calder, as well as skilled freshman Brittain Dearden, who plays for the Futsol National Team. The team will face Trenton Central at home on Friday, September 11.
Boys’ X-C
North. Last year was a phenomenal season for the Knights last year, who became the first Mercer County team to win the state Meet of Champions, behind great runs by twins Joe and Jim Rosa — who placed second and sixth, respectively — as well as seniors Ryan Sleeper, Tyler Corkedale, Anthony Lee, Stephen Ellwood, and junior Jon Squeri. The team jumped in the national rankings from 19 to 4 as a result.
This year, Sleeper, Corkedale, Lee, and Ellwood have moved on from their high school careers, but some key runners should be able to lead the Knights to more accomplishments this season.
The Rosa brothers will be juniors this year and are back and will hopefully continue their record-breaking achievements. Last year, Jim Rosa finished sixth at the Meet of Champions in a time of 16:00.4. His brother, Joe, set a sophomore course record at Holmdel with a time of 15:38. He was second at the Meet of Champions, with a time of 15:47, in addition to winning the Nike Northeast Regional title.
Now ranked 20th nationally, the team will be seeking its third straight title, after winning the Meet of Champions last year. Senior Jon Squeri also returns to the team, and other teammates will be stepping up to fill in the holes left by the graduates. They include juniors Casey Dalrymple, Matt Hackett, and Patrick O’Connell, senior Matt Kelly and freshman Eddie Cunningham. The team’s first meet is against Allentown and Ewing on Tuesday, September 15 at Mercer County Park.
South. While the South boys lost Jeff McKee, Kevin Foy, and D.J. Hiller to graduation last year, it was lucky to have a lot of juniors ready to come up to take on leadership roles, says coach Kurt Wayton.
Under their leadership last year, the Pirates won the Central Jersey Group IV title, the first sectional cross country title in the school’s history. Despite illnesses down the stretch, the boys still managed to finish seventh in the state. “It displayed how tough it is to make our team,” says Wayton. “We have these kids who are, on an off day, still one of the better teams in the state.”
This year, “we want to set our sights on very lofty goals,” says Wayton. “I think on a good day, we could definitely be a top three in the state team.”
Among the returning runners for the Pirates are Sam Macaluso, the team’s captain, Brian Schoepfer, Nick Schmidt, Max Margiotta, Doug Wallack, Hurshal Patel, and Sameer Jaywant. Wayton says he is happy with the team’s depth and that he is very optimistic for the team’s prospects this year. “We just want to stay focused and work hard, but not too hard,” he said. “If we do that, and get a little bit of luck, we can be one of those top teams.”
The team will showcase its talent in the Cherokee Challenge on Saturday, September 19.
Girls’ X-C
North. The Knights lost Trish Reilly and Kelly Callahan to graduation last season, but they still have strong runners in Emily Scott, Christina LiPuma, Alyssa Christie, Anum Shah, Molly Mitlak, Gabriela Pikul, and Tracie Kong, all of whom are returning this season.
Coach Bill Mealy said the girls have been working hard all season and that he expects good things, especially from Scott and LiPuma. “Our next five will need to stay together and push each other if we are to have a successful season.”
Newcomers to the roster include Molly Patel, Sarah Neiheiser, Wendy He, Sarah Jones, Maria Vishnyakova, Charlotte THomas, Lauren McGinley, Angel Weng, and Janina Maschke.
The team will face Allentown and Ewing on Tuesday, September 15 at Mercer County Park.
South. After going undefeated in Mercer County last year, the South girls’ cross country team is looking to maintain its record this season.
Coach Josh Siegel says that while the team is young, “we’ve had a very good summer training, and the young ladies that we have now are working very hard to get to the same caliber that we were last year. We’re putting our right foot forward.”
Despite losing Katie Kellner, the star runner over the past few years, as well as Becky Barclay, Ting Ting Zhou, and Joey Gambatese, the team’s new captains Fatima Cheema, Keighly Bradbrook, Katie Calder, and Shelby Miller are stepping up.
The team also still has one Kellner on the team — Caroline, Katie’s younger sister, who enters this year after a successful freshman season. Rounding out the lineup are May Chang, Lisa Sher, Katie Donnelly, and Jaedi Gambatese, Joey’s younger sister.
The team’s first event will be on Saturday, September 19 at the Cherokee Challenge.
Tennis
South (1-0): A win against Trenton, 5-0, on September 9. Singles: 1.) Mallory Wang, 6-1, 6-3. 2.) Belinda Ji, 6-0, 6-0. 3.) Lindsey Joseph, 6-0, 6-0. Doubles: 1.) Amanda Stanton and Cher Lu, 6-0, 6-0. 2.) Teresa Akkara and Nikila Venkat, 6-0, 6-0.
