CBA takes a happy win over Manalapan
BY DOUG McKENZIE Staff Writer
The CBA boys soccer team was looking to send a message in its seasonopener against Manalapan on Friday.

And that's exactly what they did by knocking off the Shore's top-ranked team, 6-2, on the strength of a hat trick from junior midfielder Pat Rafferty. The win came after the Colts fell, 3-0, to the Braves in last year's opener en route to a rough 2- 5-2 start to the season. Though they recovered to win 11 of their next 14 games to finish 13-8-2 on the year, head coach Dan Keane's team was anxious to hit the pitch running this time around.

"We certainly wanted to send a message to everyone that maybe CBA is going to score some goals this year," Keane, now in his 30th year, said. "I think beating a team like Manalapan, and scoring six goals in the process, definitely sends a message."

The Colts got the scoring started at the 9:29 mark when senior forward Andrew Liapis beat Manalapan goalie Brandon Stanislaus from 30 yards out for the first of his two goals on the day.

"Andrew is a very good goal scorer," Keane said. "He's fast and is a skilled dribbler. He did a nice job with his shots today."

Less than two minutes later, senior sweeper Jim Lannon, one of the team's cocaptains, took a Sean Kilkenny pass and beat Stanislaus to make it 2-0. Manalapan cut the lead in half on a penalty kick, before junior Pat Rafferty converted on a penalty kick of his own to make it 3-1. The Braves again made it a one- goal game with a Jeff Weitz goal just 3:32 into the second half, before Rafferty converted on his second penalty kick of the game, and then completed the hat trick with just 29 seconds to play.

The Colts' possession game seemed to frustrate the Braves, as the game was a physical affair, which kept the referees busy.

"There were a lot of fouls, and a couple of delay of games, some yellow and red cards," Keane said. "They had two guys sent off, we had one. It was just two very good teams that wanted to win the

Now CBA is hoping to build off the win while establishing themselves as one of the top teams in the Shore.

"It could go either way. Either we feed off the Manalapan win, or on the other side, we think too much of ourselves and take a step back," Keane said. "It was a great win, but this is another week and we've got some very good teams to play."

Despite the lopsided final score, Keane still thinks of Manalapan as the team to beat in the Shore.

"They entered the game ranked No. 1 in the Shore, and I would concur with that," he said.

That being said, Keane is also confident that his Colts will be playing for some hardware this year.

"They should have a good run. We're hoping to be in the mix for the division, and conference titles," he said, adding that the A North division will certainly challenge even the best of teams. "Manalapan, CBA, Freehold Township and Howell are all skilled teams that can beat each other on any given day. And the other teams, Middletown North and South and Marlboro, are building up right now, but certainly are capable of beating the other teams based their strengths. I would imagine by the end of September, once we've played six or seven games, the divisional picture should begin to clear up."

With an experienced team, particularly on defense where Lannon, Kilkenny, senior William Liapis and sophomore stopper Steve Krachie have looked very good, the Colts should be tough to score upon. Senior Steve Alessio takes over between the pipes, where Keane expects him to get better with every game.

"He only played one year as a freshman, but he's a very good athlete," the coach said. "He played very well on Friday. We're hoping he can hold his own. We're not asking him to make spectacular saves, just to be consistent."

The midfield features senior co-captain Chris Mergenthaler, Rafferty, junior Matt Lamura, junior Corey Rague and newcomer Brian Sugarman, while Liapis and senior Rob Patten are the forwards.

"We have 12 seniors, six juniors and four sophomores, so we're one of the more experienced and deep teams around," Keane said.