Boys SCT Soccer – Spartans Survive PK’s, Top TR North

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TOMS RIVER - The Ocean boys soccer team won the Shore Conference Tournament last season with sheer force, scoring what is believed to be a tournament-record 19 goals in four games, 14 of which came in the first two wins of the tournament.

Ocean senior George Kavarakas sends a ball forward during the Spartans double-overtime affair with Toms River North on Tuesday. (Photo by Matt Manley)

The Spartans have replicated a little more than 20 percent of their two-round scoring output from last year, but in the end, they are right back in the same place looking to defend their title.

Ocean survived its second straight SCT overtime match, this time winning 5-3 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw with Toms River North in the quarterfinals Tuesday. The Spartans advance to their second straight trip to Summerfield School Memorial Field in Neptune for the semis, where they will play top-seeded Manalapan Thursday at 7 p.m.

“I could light a cigar at halftime of last year’s games,” Ocean coach Tom Reilly joked. “But that stretch of games was kind of an anomaly because over the last couple of years, we’ve played a lot of close games and a lot of overtime games. So we’re used to being in pressure situations like today and down a goal, I know I’m going to get an all-out effort from these guys until it’s over."

Coming off a home win over Toms River South Saturday in which sophomore Wadneson Alexis scored the game-winner in the last minute of the first overtime period, Ocean went down 1-0 in the fifth minute of the second half. The Spartans, however, have had a knack for scoring late in games and that played out in the form of a 70^th minute goal by George Kavarakas to tie the game.

Ocean was awarded a corner kick after a shot by Alexis was deflected out of bounds, and fellow sophomore Marlhens Nasanes served the kick to the near post. Kavarakas went up over the Mariners' defense and flicked the ball into the net for the equalizer.

[onescreen item="5154952"]“Up until today, it never felt like we were defending the Shore Conference championship,” Kavarakas said. “We just haven’t been fully into our games. But with about 30 minutes left today, down by a goal, we started to realize that in 30 minutes, we could be out of the tournament. I think that woke us up and fired us up to really start defending our title.”

Neither goalkeeper – Ocean’s Chris Seager nor Toms River North’s Brian Brannagan – made a save in the round of penalty kicks, but a miss on the first attempt by the Mariners left Seager with the edge and Ocean with a chance to win with five true shots.

“We were working on penalty kicks in practice and we were all just working on hitting a spot,” Seager said. “So when we got to PK’s, I just told everybody to do what we’ve been practicing. Just pick a spot and hit it. If you hit the target, the keeper is not going to save it.”

Seager was one of those five Spartans shooters and he buried the second Ocean shot after Claudio Martins got the ball rolling. Alexis, Tyler Roman and Neil Martin rounded out the Ocean shooters, with Martin sinking his shot to the left side of the net to clinch the victory.

Toms River North played a round of penalty kicks only three days prior in a shootout victory over Red Bank in the round of 16. Seager and Ocean, on the other hand, lost in their last shootout, which came at the hands of Middletown South in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III quarterfinals by a score of 13-12. Only one shooter missed a shot in the round of kicks.

“It’s so much different being out there by yourself than just saving shots in practice,” said Seager, whom Reilly called “phenomenal” when it comes to saving penalty kicks. “It could be that I get out there and I overthink things a little bit and then I end up tipping which side I’m going to. The good thing is that I’ve had some work at it, so if it happens again, I’ll be even better.”

Toms River North jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 45^th minute on a goal by senior Sean Graham. Mariners senior Sean Moore kicked the ball off a defender and it rolled to Graham, who had plenty of space to line up his shot from eight yards out and place it out of the reach of Seager.

[onescreen item="5154953"]“That was a mistake by our defense,” Reilly said. “In that situation, we want to funnel the ball to Seager, but instead of leaving the ball for him to come get, our defenders tried to clear the ball and they ended up kicking it right to their guys.

“Seager is such a major asset for us back there, so we have to use him. Every time (Toms River North) put a cross into the box, Seager would go up and get it. He dominated the box today, which was huge in keeping them to one goal.”

Tuesday was the first time over the last two seasons that Ocean played a postseason game against a higher-seeded team. The Spartans won the tournament as a No. 3 seed last year and beat No. 10 Middletown South and No. 4 Holmdel in the final two rounds. They also lost to No. 7 Middletown South as a No. 2 seed in the Central Group III playoffs.

From here on out, the Spartans are the lowest-seeded team at No. 5, with No. 1 Manalapan, No. 2 Holmdel and No. 3 Rumson-Fair Haven remaining.

“We kind of looked at ourselves as an underdog last year,” Kavarakas said. “It’s going to be tougher as the team with the lower seed because we’re going to be playing really good teams, but that’s what it’s all about. If we want to repeat, we have to play our best and that’s the way it should be.”

Box Score

Ocean 1, Toms River North 1
Ocean advances on penalty kicks, 5-3