High School South boys soccer is in the midst of what could become a magical season, as the Pirates started strong winning 10 of their first 13 games.##M:[more]##
The key to South’s hot start may have come even before the beginning of the season, when the Pirates attended the Middle States Soccer Camp in Westown, Pennsylvania, in early August. “We really came together there,” says 24-year head coach, Brian Welsh. “You could see that there was a lot of potential.”
There was also a lot of motivation on the part of his players. Each of the last three seasons, South has been knocked out of the first round of the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs. “Last year we thought we were going to make a big run,” says senior co-captain Zach Howes. “We decided as a team that we won’t let that happen again (lose in the opening round).”
Senior forward Chris Wesson, also a captain, agrees. “We’re tired of losing in the first round. None of us want to lose a game again in the first round.”
South entered this season with four goals: 1) Win the Colonial Division in the Colonial Valley Conference (a division that includes stalwarts Steinert and Notre Dame). 2) Win the Mercer County Tournament. 3) Win a Central Jersey Group IV title. 4) Win all of Group IV.
Having already qualified for the state tournament, those goals certainly can’t be viewed as unrealistic, especially on a team that boasts 12 seniors, including goaltender Max Stember-Young, who currently leads the CVC in shutouts. “Max has been a phenomenal boost,” Howes says.
“We’re talented in the first eleven,” says Welsh, “but we’re also very deep off the bench. Our goal is to be solid, one through 23.” Welsh noted that it’s not only seniors who are making this season a success thus far, but a good “overall blend.”
The Murata brothers, originally from Japan, have added a spark. Yutaro is a senior forward, and his brother, Keisuke, is a ninth grader who has given the Pirates some valuable minutes. “Both are much more comfortable with the English language now too,” says Welsh.
Wesson is among the CVC goal leaders and senior captain Eric Voightsberger, has “done everything he’s been asked to do,” according to Welsh.
Says Voightsberger: “We knew we had the talent to have a season like this, and are not surprised with this outcome. We have good enough talent to win states.”
Welsh says: “When you add it all up, we’re still not at the point where we score a lot of goals, but we do create a lot of chances. Really, you want to be peaking at the end of October.”
In 24 years as head coach, Brian Welsh teams at South have missed the state playoffs just twice. In the mid-1990s, WWP won a string of five consecutive conference titles. This team reminds Welsh of that group. “They’re talented. They’re unified.”
The veteran coach has tried to keep his team level-headed by scheduling tough central Jersey foes in the Hun School and Shawnee (both Pirate losses), but ultimately, South’s success will ride with the 12 seniors.
“They’ve had success at every level,” according to Welsh. “They did some amazing things at every level, so this success doesn’t come as a surprise.”
Goalie Leads North
WW-P High School North junior goalkeeper Matt Jacques likes performing when the lights are shining brightest, whether it’s on the field for the Northern Knights, or when he’s on stage bellowing out classic songs, in his signature baritone delivery.
Last year, Jacques earned the lead role of Sir Harry in his school’s musical, Once Upon a Mattress. This fall, Jacques expected to lead the Northern Knights soccer team to a berth in the state tournament.
Unfortunately for Matt, the lights have gone out on that stage. North has struggled this season, losing its first nine games before putting together two consecutive victories.
“We’re playing great teams and coming up short,“ says Jacques, “However, we all know if we’ve progressed at the end of a game, it means a lot. But if the ball can’t pass me, then we can’t lose the game.”
Not many balls have gotten by Jacques this season. The 6’1” 175-pounder has yielded an average of just over two goals a contest; not bad considering North is consistently outshot each game. Lending offensive support to their keeper is where the Knights have had the most difficulty. The team scored just three goals in the entire month of September.
“We don’t necessarily have a go-to guy this season like we’ve had in the past,” says Jacques, “but we go into each game trying to earn respect, and the seniors have really stepped up lately.”
Earlier in the season, the Northern Knights went toe-to-toe with then number seven state ranked Rancocas Valley, before falling 2-0. North has also dropped 1-0 heartbreakers to both Notre Dame and cross-town rival High School South.
“We were losing to teams by a hair, and that has a lot to do with Matt,” says Trevor Warner, now in his sixth season as the Knights head coach. Warner has watched his young leader develop into one of the most feared goalkeepers in the Colonial Valley Conference. “Matt has gotten better over the last couple of years. When he works on pure instinct, his toughness and ability take over.”
“When I think about things,” says Jacques, “I lose confidence. But I really get in a groove when I don’t think about it (making a save) as much.”
Born in New Brunswick, the 16-year-old Jacques has lived in West Windsor for the last 11 years. His road to the lead role on the Northern Knights defensive attack started first with the township’s youth team, the West Windsor Plainsboro Mutiny.
He traveled on a squad that included current Northern Knight juniors, Mike Christie, Julio Portalatin, and Paul Boccelari. Because of his French-Canadian background, Jacques first gave hockey a shot in high school, but “fell in love with soccer.” He’s now a two-year starting goalkeeper.
Jacques says he hopes his team can make a run in the upcoming Mercer County tournament. If that is to happen, the Northern Knights will have to continue to receive strong performances from defenders like Nick Capp, a ball stopper who “disrupts everything,” according to Warner, and players like Jared Mangone, Robi Burns and Josh Gardner.
“Coming into the season, we knew that everything we got, we were going to have to earn,” says Warner. Right now, Coach Warner’s strong and deep junior class is earning valuable game experience. Couple that class with two freshman starters, and North will return a strong core in 2006, including Jacques. “We did know that we had to earn everything,” says the tested keeper. “We trust everyone.”
Jacques says that after his days at North are over, he’d still like soccer to be in his future. But first things first, he hopes to earn the lead in this year’s musical, Oklahoma.
As a peer leader and student body secretary who carries a 3.6 grade point average, it seems as if there’s nothing the well-spoken youngster can’t do. “I like being in the pressure spot,” he says. More like the lead role, and these days, Matt Jacques is standing tall on the Northern Knights biggest stage.
