Boca Open Teams Set To Resume Play – Toms River Times
April 5, 2008
Eye On Sports
Toms River Times
April 5, 2008
Boca Open Teams Set To Resume Play
TOMS RIVER – As the winter break comes to a close, the Jersey Shore Boca men’s and women’s open teams will resume their 2007/2008 Garden State Soccer League season as the Boca men travel to TKS Polska of Ewing Township while the Boca women play host to US Parma at the John Patrick Sports Complex in Lakewood.
Heading into the first round of league play after the winter break, the Boca women hold an overall record of 8-1-1, including a 7-1-1 record in the GSSL Women’s Top Division and a 1-0 mark in the initial round of the 2007-2008 New Jersey Women’s Open State Cup.
The team’s only loss came at the hands of the division leader Peninsula Aztecs in a 1-0 heartbreaker played back in October.
In State Cup action, Boca toppled the Brunswick Blaze 6-1 last fall, advancing them into the semi-final round which will be played next month against Real Wyckoff.
The Boca women have amassed 43 goals thus far while allowing only 13 in both league and cup play.
Boca’s Kristen Kowit, from Lakewood, is the Garden State Soccer League’s leading women’s scorer, tallying 11 goals in nine league games.
Kowit, a two-time all-American and two-time ODAC Player of the Year during her college career at Lynchburg College, is the current girl’s varsity coach at Red Bank Catholic High School.
Former Ocean County College standout Nicole Laureigh from Lacey is second on the Boca team and third in the league in scoring, with seven goals with former Rider University and Jackson Memorial midfielder Sarah Artale from Jackson and Seton Hall and Brick Green Dragon alum Jaimie Silva from Brick, having scored four goals each at the break.
The Boca women, who are playing their first season together wearing the blue and gold, are coached by Silva along with Bob DeStefano.
The Boca men hold an overall record of 8-2- 2 at the break including a 6-2-2 record in the Garden State Soccer League Semi-Pro Elite Division and a perfect 2-0 mark in the first and second rounds of the 2007/2008 New Jersey Men’s Open State Cup.
Boca toppled Burlington FC 4-1 and the Hump Street Soccer Club of Hoboken 3-1 in the first two rounds of State Cup action last fall to advance to the quarter-finals, which will be played next month.
The team has tallied 33 goals thus far while allowing only 14 in both league and cup play.
Lithuanian-born Tomas Banionis of Berkeley Township leads Boca in scoring with 12 goals so far this season.
Justin Fuccello of Brick, a former Brick Memorial standout and Rutgers University graduate, follows with four goals in-front of former Monmouth University standout Guy Lockwood from Manahawkin, who has notched three on the season so far.
Lockwood, who played professionally with the NJ Stallions of the United Soccer Leagues (USL), is also a Southern Regional High School Hall-of-Fame inductee.
Jim Keady of Belmar, also a former professional player in the USL with the North Jersey Imperials, has been solid for Boca between the pipes this season.
The St. Rose High School graduate won a NCAA Division I National Championship as an assistant coach at St. John’s University after completing an exceptional college career at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
Former shore-area players Ryan Applegate of Central Regional and Rowan University and Christian Treney of Toms River East and Methodist College are player-coaches of the team.
One of the newcomers to the men’s open team this year is former Stevens Tech standout Christian Pontier of Lacey who, according to Applegate, has caught on nicely. Pontier, a longtime Boca veteran who played on the club’s youth, Super Y-League, U20 and U23 teams throughout his career, and he has scored one goal this season for the Boca men.
Both Fuccello and Pontier were members of the Boca U23 team last summer that advanced to the finals of the Mid-Atlantic Summer Showcase League (MSSL) Championship.
Jersey Shore Boca has been a fixture in the soccer community since 1978 and is one of the most respected soccer clubs on the East Coast. The club is celebrating their 30th anniversary this year.
For more information on the Jersey Shore Boca Soccer Club, visit the club’s official Web site at www.jerseyshoreboca.com.
Eye On Sports
Toms River Times
April 5, 2008