Boys Soccer – Braves Shut Down Freehold Township

MANALAPAN – During Monday’s practice, Manalapan coach John Natoli stressed to his team that its No. 1 scoring option may not be much of a scoring option in Tuesday’s Class A North showdown with Freehold Township – the No. 5 team in the Shore Sports Network Top 10.

With the Patriots keying on Braves senior forward Ryan Hammer – he of the 11 goals scored over his team’s first five games – No. 1 Manalapan found a way to remain unbeaten behind its stellar defense and a couple opportunistic finishes by other players.

Manalapan players mob Eric Wilkinson after his first-half goal against Freehold Township on Tuesday. (Photo by Matt Manley)

Senior midfielder Eric Wilkinson one-timed a long pass from junior outside back Miles Schindler for the first Manalapan goal and junior outside midfielder Mitchell Volis added an insurance goal in the 76th minute to give the Braves plenty of offense in a 2-0 win over the Patriots.

“We knew they were going to be focused on stopping Hammer so we really focused on making runs into the final third of the field,” Volis said. “If Hammer had multiple defenders on him, we knew we had to give him options, which is exactly what happened on my goal. They had to stop him with the ball and that left me a clear lane.”

The Manalapan defense held firm over the final 10 minutes of the second half and helped turn one of its defensive stands into an insurance goal by Volis. Senior center midfielder Adam Weisberger cleared the ball forward to Hammer, who dribbled the ball into the Freehold Township defensive third before sliding it to his left over to Volis. After a couple of touches, Volis drew goalkeeper Mike Christina off of his line and lifted a shot over the oncoming keeper and into the net.

“Mitchell’s really creative and crafty with the ball and there have been a few times where we should have had a goal with the ball coming off of his foot, whether it’s a goal or an assist,” Natoli said. “He’s just really good at working the space on the outside and getting the ball to the end-line. If he keeps doing that consistently, the production is more than likely going to follow.”

Manalapan’s counter-attack also helped generate the first goal, but that score came after the initial attack was turned away by Freehold Township. The clearance ended up at the feet of Schindler, who beat a defender and sent a ball into the box from 40 yards away. The ball bounced once and Wilkinson beat Christina to the ball, poking it into the exposed net for the first goal of the game in the 32nd minute.

“We lost three defenders to graduation and we’ve needed guys to step up on the outside, and they’ve really been awesome so far,” Weisberger said. “We brought back Mitch on the outside, but most of the other guys who have been doing the job are either new guys or guys who came off the bench last year. They’ve stepped up big, and we haven’t really missed a beat.”

Tuesday was the first game this season in which Hammer did not score a goal, although he did assist the second Manalapan score.

Senior goalkeepers Justin Terr and Mike Cavanaugh split the shutout, with Terr playing the first half and Cavanaugh the second. The keeper tandem benefited from an organized back line, led by center backs Mike McNicholas and Jordan Vance with Schindler providing a threat on the outside from out of the back.

“McNicholas is really the anchor back there,” Natoli said. “He keeps everyone organized back there and everything falls into place around him.”

Between Volis, Schindler, Wilkinson, Hammer and junior Ayush Mittal working the edges of the field, Manalapan pressured Freehold Township up the flanks while the Patriots put significant pressure on Weisberger and sophomore Rocky Garretson in the center midfield.

“We really had to hold them off for the first 25 minutes,” Volis said. “They have so much speed and they try to bring non-stop pressure, so it took us a while to get into the kind of game we wanted to play.”

Freehold Township’s best scoring chance came in the 68th minute, when McNicholas tried to play the ball back to Cavanaugh while feeling pressure from Patriots forward Tim O’Donnell. O’Donnell beat Cavanaugh to the ball, regained his footing and skipped a shot square off the near right post.

With Freehold Township suffering its second straight loss, Manalapan is now not only the only unbeaten team left in the division, but also the only team in Class A North with fewer than two division losses.

“All of these games are tough,” Weisberger said. “That’s why all of these wins are so big, especially at home against a great team like that. Everybody is coming at us with their best, but we don’t mind at all. We welcome the target on our backs. We like the challenge.”

Box Score

Manalapan 2, Freehold Twp. 0