Boys Soccer – VOTE: Surf Taco Week 5 Player of the Week

Each week during the 2020 fall season, Shore Sports Network recognizes 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 fifth week of the season. Read about their accomplishments from the past 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 Wednesday.

Class A North Player of the Week

Jason Laviola, Long Branch

There is going to be a common theme to this week’s list of top performers and that is players who scored big goals late in the game. For Laviola – a 2019 All-Shore player and 2020 Player of the Year contender – the monumental score game in the final minute of Saturday’s 3-2 win over Howell, when the senior broke a 2-2 tie in the final 30 seconds to complete Long Branch’s comeback and sweep over the Rebels.

Class A North Honorable Mention: Lucas Da Costa, Long Branch; Josh Hocheiser, Freehold Twp.; Anthony Vazquez, Long Branch; Shane Borenius, CBA; Dylan Cupo, CBA

Class A Central Player of the Week

Ryan Kuldanek, Monmouth

Statistically speaking, no Shore Conference player had a bigger week than Kuldanek. The Falcons junior recorded a hat trick in back-to-back games and added another goal in Monmouth’s third game of the week. The Falcons finally won their first game of the season on Tuesday by beating Shore, 4-3, in overtime and it was Kuldanek capping his hat trick with the golden goal in extra time. He also scored three goals in a win over Mater Dei and accounted for one of three Monmouth goals in Saturday’s win over Shore.

Class A Central Honorable Mention: Chris Fontanazza, Raritan; Cory Moeller, Shore; Dylan Haley, Rumson-Fair Haven; Tomas Zolofra, Holmdel

Class A South Player of the Week

Sean Palmer, Brick

Palmer was the star of one of the biggest upsets of the Shore Conference season on Wednesday, with Brick taking down unbeaten Southern, 3-2. Palmer was in involved in all three Green Dragons goals – which all came within 14 minutes of one another. The senior striker scored the first one to tie the game at 1-1, assisted a goal by Zack Meyer to give Brick the lead and then drew a trip in the box to set up Eli Chong’s penalty kick that made it 3-1 early in the first half. Palmer hurt his hip in the middle of the second half and Brick’s offense all but shut down with him on the bench, but the Dragons held on anyway.

Class A South Honorable Mention: Ali Baish, Toms River North; Kevin Kiernan, Southern; Danny Lindov, Toms River South; Zack Meyer, Brick; Gianni Smith, Central

Class B North Player of the Week

Marvin Muñoz Garcia, Neptune

Neptune entered last week 1-7 with plenty of close losses that the Scarlet Fliers had to swallow along the way. Facing a team that was ranked at one point this year, Neptune responded by winning two huge games against Manasquan by scores of 1-0 and 2-1. Muñoz Garcia scored only one of the three goals, but it was the most dramatic of the trio. The senior found the back of the net with just 1:04 left on the clock Friday to give the Scarlet Fliers the 2-1 victory.

Class B North Honorable Mention: Jacob Kirkpatrick, Red Bank; Tom Samaras, Colts Neck; David Tuschmann, Colts Neck; Matt Murphy, Wall; Matteo Balderas, Red Bank; Philip Lyons, Wall; Jake Gershon, Colts Neck; Cosme Fierro, Neptune; James Castell, Red Bank

Class B Central Player of the Week

Jean Roody Salomon, Asbury Park

The Blue Bishops picked up a pair of wins over Keyport last week and Salomon left his mark in each game. The senior striker scored two of his team’s four goals in a 4-1 win last Monday, then scored both during the second half to ignite Asbury Park in a 2-0 win over the Red Raiders. Through seven games, Salomon leads the 5-2 Blue Bishops with six goals.

Class B Central Honorable Mention: Kyle Corrigan, St. Rose; Tanner Curtis, Point Beach; Luke Hammil, St. Rose

Class B South Player of the Week

Danny Gallagher, Point Boro

Point Boro was inactive for 16 days while taking precautions related to COVID-19 and finally returned to the pitch on Saturday. It was a happy return too, as the Panthers upended Donovan Catholic for their first win of the 2020 season. With only four seniors on the team, Point Boro is one of the Shore’s younger outfits but it was one of those seniors who led the way Saturday. Gallagher assisted the first goal of the game and scored the third before halftime – staking the Panthers to a 3-0 lead that would prove to be exactly what they needed to hold off the Griffins, 3-2.

Class B South Honorable Mention: George-Kyle Hernandez, Lacey; Noah Hamouda, Lacey

Wild Cards

Tom Samaras, Colts Neck

The Cougars continued to barrel through the competition last week, outscoring a capable Matawan side, 14-2, in two victories – one 6-1 and the other 8-1. With 14 goals in two games, there were plenty of Colts Neck players who got into the scoring act, with both David Tuschmann and Jake Gershon recording hat tricks during the week. Samaras, meanwhile, left his stamp on both games by posting a goal and two assists in the first win, followed by a goal and three assists in the 8-1 rout of the Huskies.

Jacob Kirkpatrick, Red Bank

After starting the season 0-6, Red Bank has rattled off four straight wins and has leaned on a balanced effort around the pitch to get the job done. Last week, Kirkpatrick, Matteo Balderas and James Castell were the standouts, with each scoring two goals during a week that included a 7-0 win over Freehold Boro and a 3-1 win over St. John Vianney. Kirkpatrick and Balderas were the only two Bucs players to score in each game, with Kirkpatrick scoring a goal and assisting another vs. Freehold and tallying the first of three goals in Friday’s win over the Lancers.