Boys Soccer – VOTE: Surf Taco Week 2 Player of the Week

Each week during the 2020 fall season, Shore Sports Network the top performers in each Shore Conference division and the SSN readers have a chance to vote for the overall Surf Taco Player of the Week.

Below are the top players from each of the Shore Conference's six divisions plus two wild cards who are in the running for the award for the second week of the season. Read about their accomplishments this week and vote for the player who should be recognized as overall Player of the Week.

Overall Player of the Week winners will be awarded a Surf Taco gift card. Vote once every hour at the bottom of this post until the poll closes at 10 p.m. on Thursday.

Class A North Player of the Week

Lucas Da Costa, Long Branch

After losing its season-opening series when CBA shut down for two weeks, Long Branch finally opened its season and did so with a pair of wins over Middletown South. The Green Wave enter 2020 looking to replace two top scorers and Da Costa calmed some of those concerns by scoring in each of his team’s two wins last week.

Class A North Honorable Mention: Adam Havens, Freehold Twp.; J.T. Gold, Freehold Twp.; Scott Vituli, Marlboro; Augusto Bontempo, Long Branch; Marco Mastriani, CBA; Chase Guinta, Middletown South

Class A Central Player of the Week

Felix Doebbel, Holmdel

Holmdel extended its unbeaten streak to 57 with three wins last week and Doebbel scored the winning goal in two of them – both on penalty kicks. Lest you like to dismiss penalty kicks as easy goals, Doebbel – a starting center back for the Hornets – was also instrumental in Holmdel limiting Monmouth and Middletown North to one combined goal in the three games.

Class A Central Honorable Mention: Tomas Zolofra, Holmdel; Luke Pentikis, Rumson-Fair Haven; Drew Stypa, Rumson-Fair Haven

Class A South Player of the Week

Sean Palmer, Brick

It has been a crazy start to the season for Brick but one thing has been a constant during the 2-2 start: the Green Dragons can score. Last week, it was Palmer who delivered goals in both of Brick’s games against Toms River East, scoring once in the 4-3 loss to the Raiders to open the week, then notching two goals to help his team exact some revenge against the Raiders after Brick coughed up a 3-1 lead to open the week.

Class A South Honorable Mention: Parker Nickelsen, Toms River North; Ali Baish, Toms River North; Noah Raimonde, Toms River East; Mike Conklin, Toms River East; Kevin Kiernan, Southern; Eli Chong, Brick; Peter Mandica, Toms River South

Class B North Player of the Week

David Tuschmann, Colts Neck

St. John Vianney had an encouraging start to the season with two competitive games vs. Manasquan, but the Lancers then had to feel the wrath of Colts Neck and Tuschmann. The junior striker put up a goal and two assists in a 5-0 Cougars win over the Lancers to start the week, then slammed in two goals Saturday in a 3-0 victory to complete Colts Neck’s season sweep of St. John Vianney.

Class B North Honorable Mention: Mike Cafiero, Manasquan; Jake Pepe, Wall; Matt Murphy, Wall; Sam Pearlberg, Manasquan; Simon Cardenas, Manasquan; Justin Skeete, Matawan; Tom Samaras, Colts Neck

Class B Central Player of the Week

Charles Anyichie, Ranney

Ranney opened its season on Friday with an 8-0 rout of Henry Hudson and the 6-foot-6 Anyichie led the way with a four-goal outburst. The Ranney basketball standout scored five goals in his first high-school soccer season a year ago and in his first game as a junior, he nearly matched that season-long output.

Teammate Josh Boyan started the year off with two hat tricks and this past week, it was Enu who gave Point Beach a steady source of scoring in its two wins over

Class B Central Honorable Mention: Josh Boyan, Point Beach; Isaac Enu, Point Beach; Tommy Boyan, Ranney

Class B South Player of the Week

D.J. Edinger, Lacey

Lacey picked up a pair of huge wins last week over a Manchester squad that finished ahead of the Lions in the B South standings a year ago and brought back almost an entire roster. Edinger came through in back games, scoring one of the two Lacey goals in a 2-0 win, then notching a goal and an assist in a 4-2 victory over the Hawks to complete the season sweep.

Class B South Honorable Mention: Johnny Hart, Pinelands; Preston Kyriakoulis, Donovan Catholic; Gerard Cerino, Jackson Liberty; Elton Canka, Jackson Liberty; Damien Mangin, Donovan Catholic

Wild Cards

Peter Mandica, Toms River South

Since an ugly opening-night, 5-1 loss to Brick, Toms River South has responded in a big way. After beating Brick, 5-1, in the second game between the teams, the Indians swept Central last week and outscored the Golden Eagles, 9-0. Mandica assisted two goals in the 3-0 win to open the week, then posted two goals and an assist in his team’s 6-0 win over Central to close it out.

J.T. Gold, Freehold Township

Freehold Township continued to walk the tightrope last week by letting Manalapan hang around until the second half, but finished off both games against the Braves with some second-half scoring. Gold was a part of both scoring sheets as he finished the Patriots’ second goal in a 2-0 win to start the week, then scored the winning goal on an upper-90 strike in the 62nd minute to help Freehold Township escape with a 1-0 win and a series sweep of Manalapan.