Young Mustangs may have turned the corner
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

It's hard to predict with a young team whether or not it has character until the chips are down.

Brick Memorial answered that question for coach Bill Caruso after sweeping three games last week to get to 5-2. And it comes at a good time as the Mustangs this week have games against the teams that beat them earlier in the season - Toms River East on Monday and Jackson on the road on Wednesday. It's followed by a Friday game at Lacey, which Brick Memorial beat, 3-2, earlier this season.

"Last week was a great week; my wife had twins and we won three games," said Caruso. "But this will be a big week for us. (Shore Conference) A South is wide open. Anybody can win."

It started on Monday when the Mustangs beat Southern, 2-1, after holding a 12-0 edge in shots in the first half and a slim 1-0 lead.

It was followed by a 3-0 victory over winless Brick Township on Wednesday when Caruso missed the start of the game and showed up about 15 minutes into the action, exhausted but thrilled with the news that his wife had given birth to twin girls - Mia Elizabeth and Alexis Rose. Caruso also has a 2-year-old son, Bill.

Christina Cuffari scored the first goal on a pretty dribbling burst to the goal that beat freshman keeper Lauren McElroy and assisted Alex Montalto on the other two.

But the team's biggest test came when it squandered a 2-0 lead and pulled out a 4-2 victory over Toms River South on Friday.

"I hope Friday's game was a turning point for the team," said Caruso. "We lost our composure and then we found it."

It was different from the victory over Brick Township when Caruso said "it was the first time we started playing soccer, playing with passion and moving the ball around."

But with a two-goal lead on Friday, sophomore goalie Amanda Simon was called for a hand ball outside of the box and was ejected. Shannon Boe, last year's goalie who had nine shutouts but who came out for the team just before the start of the season, stepped into the nets for Simon but was struggling with a bad illness and rust. She let in a goal shortly afterward and then let in another to tie it before Cuffari struck for her third goal of the game, team-leading sixth of the season. Caitlin Carey put in an insurance goal.

"We were playing well but not finishing off opportunities and hopefully this is the start for us," said Caruso, who praised the efforts of midfielders Annie McCarthy and Caitlin Conway and fullback Jourdan Thompson, all interior players, for their efforts.

"They make us go and now the role players are stepping up and doing their part," said Caruso.

The Mustangs need the younger players to mature as two of their three seniors were out of the lineup on Friday. Midfielder Cat Dyczewski is not expected back from a bad ankle sprain before the end of the week and midfielder Alysse Newman may be back from her ankle injury this week. Outside midfielder Ashley Bechtle was the lone senior starter on Friday.

Brick Township, meanwhile, also has been looking to score off threats in an 0-6 start.

That problem continued last week when Brick allowed three goals to each of its three opponents and scored only once, that coming when Heather Murphy converted a pass headed from Jess Fayad in a 3-1 loss to Jackson. It pulled Brick Township to within 2-1. Jackson scored its final goal in the closing seconds.

The Green Dragons also lost to Toms River North, 3-0, although Jenna Wroblewski did a creditable job holding explosive scoring Kim Mancino to one goal.

"That seems to be an issue," said coach Mike Berardinelli of the scoring drought. "Defensively, we've been doing our job and playing with intensity. It's just a matter of putting goals in.

"We were down 2-0 and playing pretty even up against Jackson and even had the momentum in the second half but we're not putting anything away," said the coach.

Although there are many solid teams in Shore Conference A South, Berardinelli hopes his team can break out with some goals and maybe a win this week when it plays Southern, Lacey and Toms River South.