Being twin brothers, Alex and Nick Tagliareni have a true love and respect for each other.
Then again, being born minutes apart means there is always the desire to take a playful jab. Thus, there is always a “but” when the Hopewell Valley Central High seniors discuss each other’s soccer prowess.
When center-midfielder Alex assesses Nick at forward, he says, “I think he’s a great player, he’s a great asset to have up top because you’re always gonna know where he is on the field. He’ll always be up top, you know he’s always gonna be ready to score the goal, he’s gonna be right where you want him to be.”
Buuuut…..
“But sometimes he’ll take the ball too much, dribble it too much, make the wrong play. So I’ll get on his back about that, we’ll have a little argument in the car after that.”
And then there’s Nick analyzing Alex by noting “He’s a great player controlling the ball in the midfield, it’s an important spot on the field and he’s playing it the way everybody wants it done.”
Buuuut. . . .
“But I wish he’d play the ball a little bit sooner sometimes so I’m not running offsides.”
The final “but,” however, puts it all in perspective.
“But,” Alex said, “it’s mostly really good.”
One thing that there are no buts about, is that “Uncle” Ed Gola loves having them on his team, which got off to a 3-1 start through mid-September.
“The things I like about them is, number one, they’re completely invested in soccer, so that makes it easy,” the veteran coach said. “Their number-one priority is soccer. They have this knack on the field to play off of each other, and they play similar positions, so that helps. I put one in front of the other, but there’s certain times in games I move both of them up depending on the situation.
“They’re also very coachable, nice kids, but once they’re on the field and the switch turns on, they’re tenacious and aggressive. They are just quick. They’re tough to handle. They’re tough to handle as one, but then there’s two of them out there.”
Two who are hard to tell apart.
“I have trouble with them,” Gola said with a smile. “Good thing they play with two different numbers.”
The numbers they put on the stat sheet are a good thing too. Three games into the season Alex led the team in goals with five to go along with an assist for a team-high 11 points. Nick led in assists with four and was second in goals (three) and points (10).
Their playing abilities are as similar as their faces.
“They both have quick shots and both have quick feet,” Gola said. “They have the ability to take people on one-on-one, make diagonal runs, and they’re just so tough. Physically tough, tenacious going to the ball, with the ball. They get knocked down and get right back up.”
Soccer was never on the Tagliarenis radar as boys. Both played baseball until finally, at age 10, Alex had outgrown the sport. He watched the 2014 World Cup and became enamored with soccer, joining the HVSA travel program as a goalie. It was the only time the brothers did not play together, as Nick stuck with baseball for one more year.
“We were all baseball,” Alex said. “No one in my family played soccer. My mom had a little bit of history, but never really talked about it.”
He said his career as a goalie “obviously didn’t go so well. I was short as a kid, that was my main problem.”
One year later, Nick abandoned the diamond for the pitch.
“Soccer interested me but I was still a little more focused on playing baseball,” he said. “That’s what, at the time, our dad wanted us to play and it was the sport we liked. It took me a while but I really wanted to play soccer. I would go to (Alex’s) games and obviously more soccer was on TV, so I was watching it. I liked the sport a lot more.”
Whereas Alex’s career took him from goalie to fullback to center-back to center-mid, Nick has been a forward from the start. From the time he slipped on his first pair of cleats, he had an appetite for goals.
“That’s been what I’ve been wanting to do since I wanted to be a forward,” he said. “Just get in there, find that little, tiny spot in the pocket in the 18, beat the defender to the ball and try to get a goal.”
The brothers played on the Bulldogs freshman team in ninth grade before jumping to varsity as sophomores. Nick had four goals and three assists that year, while Alex collected two and three. Nick improved to five goals and three assists as a junior, and Alex jumped to six and three.
It’s not surprising to see one assist the other as their chemistry has increasingly grown over the years.
“Ever since our first year together it’s always been a great help,” Alex said. “We always know each other well on the field, and it’s just great.”
“Sometimes I’ll run to the corner,” Nick added, “and I’ll know exactly where Alex is on the field, I can tell without even looking.”
Gola marvels at the sixth sense they have on the pitch.
“They always know where each other’s at,” he said. “I’m not a twin but whatever it is, twins kind of have something special between them. on the soccer field. They seem to know where they’re at and where they’re going.”
As for them looking practically identical, from the haircuts on down, Nick said of the opposition “I’m sure it’s impossible to mark us on corners. You don’t know which one is which when a coach tells you to mark us.”
As much as identical as the twins look, they feel their personalities are different although they can’t quite put it into words. Gola, however, sees some similarities.
“They’re both reserved, but that toughness is in the back of their head,” the coach said. “They’re the type of guys that might not come out and run right over you, but behind the scenes you might feel their presence.”
The two will go their separate ways next year and neither plans on playing in college. Nick is looking at Delaware and St. Joe’s, while Alex has his eyes on Villanova and Connecticut.
But for now, they are enjoying one last autumn as teammates who both praise and critique each other.
