Shore Sports Network Boys Soccer Freshman of the Year: Sean Moore

The Colts Neck boys soccer team was one of the youngest teams in the Shore Conference in 2023 and yet, the Cougars were also the highest-scoring in the entire conference.

No player better personified that description of Colts Neck than Sean Moore. After taking the Shore Conference by storm in his first season of high-school soccer, Moore is the 2023 Shore Sports Network Freshman of the Year.

One season before Moore arrived at Colts Neck, the Cougars relied on a one-two punch up top that included his brother, Kyle Moore, and Jairo Chira – both Shore Sports Network All-Shore selections in 2022. While Chira graduated in 2023, Kyle Moore came back as a junior for his third year as a starter and was set to team with his younger brother as Colts Neck’s dynamic scoring duo.

Colts Neck freshman Sean Moore. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

The Moore brothers were the most unstoppable scoring tandem at the Shore this season, with both siblings finishing in the top five in the Shore Conference in scoring while combining for 43 goals and 20 assists. The 43 goals were more than 30 of the 44 other teams in the Shore Conference.

While Kyle Moore finished second in the conference in scoring, Sean finished fourth with 21 goals and 10 assists. Sean Moore’s 21-goal season shattered a program record for a freshman – a record that stood for 24 years after Shawn Caltigirone scored 13 in 1999, when Colts Neck was a Group I in its first year as a program.

During his record-setting season, Sean Moore recorded three hat tricks, which came in consecutive games in late September against Freehold Boro, Neptune and Red Bank Catholic. The first leg of the three consecutive hat tricks was a four-goal game vs. Freehold Boro, which came one game after his older brother scored five in a win over Ocean.

Although Moore’s three hat tricks came against three teams with a combined seven wins in 2023, he showed at the end of the season that he could find the back of the net in big games vs. strong competition. During the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Tournament, Moore scored two goals in each of Colts Neck’s two matches. He scored twice in a 6-2 win over Burlington Township, then scored two goals and assisted the other in a 5-3 loss at Steinert in the sectional quarterfinals.

The two state-tournament performances were the last two of six multi-goal performances on the season by Sean Moore, who also scored two goals in a win over Middletown South – the No. 7 team in the final Shore Sports Network Top 10. He also posted a goal and two assists in a key, 5-3, division win at Manasquan that helped the Cougars win a share of the Class B North division championship for the second straight season.

Colts Neck graduates one senior starter from this year’s team and is set to return an experienced roster, led by its explosive sibling duo up top – the younger of whom is off to a record-setting start to a career that has a chance to go down in Shore Conference history.

Shore Sports Network All-Freshman Team

Sean Moore, Forward, Colts Neck (21 goals, 10 assists)

Nate Stryker, Forward, Brick Memorial (5 goals)

Nathan Sisco, Forward, Barnegat (4 goals, 4 assists)

Brody Powers, Midfield, Point Pleasant Beach (15 goals, 4 assist)

Chris Ruggiero, Midfield, Toms River North (2 goals, 1 assist)

Connor Shaw, Midfield, Ocean (5 goals)

Silvio Pessoa, Midfield, Shore (1 goal, 1 assist)

Luciano Ibarra, Midfield, Ocean (3 assists)

Muiz Aderogba, Midfield, Manchester (1 goal, 3 assists)

Jackson Motzenbecker, Defense, Shore

Sean Hankins, Defense, Point Pleasant Boro (1 goal, 2 assists)