Boys Soccer – CBA Rolls Past TR North and Into SCT Final

BAYVILLE - For the first 25 mintues of its Shore Conference Tournament semifinal against Toms River North Thursday night at Central Regional High School, the Christian Brothers Academy soccer team showed why it earned the No. 1 seed in the Shore Conference Tournament and why it is considered arguably the top team in N.J.

Aaron Robertson scored two goals and Matt Mawson had a goal and two assists during CBA's four-goal outburst over the first 25 minutes and the Colts put away No. 5 Toms River North, 6-2. CBA will play for its second straight Shore Conference Tournament title Saturday against Marlboro.

"I was happy with the energy level that the boys came out with to play tonight," Mulligan said. "I guess it's that time of the year: the lights were on, the rain was coming down, and my guys were excited to play."

CBA got right to work Thursday night as Robertson opened the scoring eight minutes into the game by ripping a far post shot from eight yards out off a feed from Patrick Kollman. He later made it 3-0 in the 21st by taking a pass from Mawson, carrying the ball up the right side and toward the goal before unleashing a 12-yard rocket off of Mariners keeper Kevin Ryan and inside the near post.

Mawson played a through ball to Ryan O'Connor, who finished in the 13th minute for CBA's second goal. Mawson made it 4-0 in the 25th with a brilliant spin move along the endline on the left side and a perfect finish to the far side netting.

"That's in my top five," Mawson said of his goal. "I've had a couple good ones I can think of that might have been a little better, but the one tonight is up there."

"Matty Mawson is just another one of those CBA players on this year's team that contributes and doesn't really get a lot of the accolades because everybody contributes and it's difficult to say we have a superstar," Mulligan said.

Toms River North battled to within 4-2 by the early part of the second half to make the game interesting again. Within a minute of Mawson's goal, CBA keeper Aeden Boriotti came out of the goal to clear the ball, but Mariners forward Nico Garcia pressured the touch and redirected the ball into the exposed goal.

The Mariners then pulled within two goals in the fourth minute of the second half when Joe Swanton launched a long throw into the box and into the goal after Boriotti's attempted punchout redirected it into the goal.

"We have a problem with that sometimes where we just don't have the killer instinct to put teams away," Mawson said. "After we score four goals, the game's not over. We need to keep scoring goals and even if we don't score more goals, we need to keep playing."

Boriotti atoned for the error with two key saves in the final 12 minutes - one on another long throw by Swanton and another on a far-post volley off a corner.

The Colts put the game on ice when Matt Thorsheim earned a free kick from 20 yards out and ripped it off the crossbar and down over the line. Ryan Nigro capped the scoring with a 16-yard strike to the upper 90 with five seconds left.

Thursday's results set up a rubber match between CBA and No. 2 Marlboro, which got past Freehold Township, 2-0, in the first game of the double-header. CBA handed Marlboro its only loss on Sept. 13 and in the second meeting on Oct. 19, the Mustangs handed the Colts their first and only loss.

"We're going to come out strong on Saturday," Mawson said. "We were really mad we lost that game."

"I think we'll know if the loss to Marlboro has an impact on the result once the game is over," Mulligan said. "I just know that Marlboro is a formidable opponent and we're looking forward to a really high-level Shore Conference final between the two best teams in the area."

Box Score

CBA 6, Toms River North 2

Goals (Assists): (TRN) Nico Garcia 26', own goal 44'; (CBA) Aaron Robertson (Patrick Kollman) 9', Ryan O'Connor (Matt Mawson) 13', Aaron Robertson (Matt Mawson) 21', Matt Mawson 25', Matt Thorsheim (DK) 77', Ryan Nigro (Matt Thorsheim) 80'
Shots: CBA, 25-5
Saves: (TRN) Kevin Ryan 9; (CBA) Aeden Boriotti 3