Christian Brothers Academy Hasn’t Skipped A Beat After Graduating Ten Starters From Championship Team

LINCROFT – Last season Christian Brothers Academy boys soccer hit for the cycle. They captured the Class A North and Shore Conference Tournament titles before adding the South, Non-Public A championship and the Non-Public A title to its 2016 resume.

The only blemish on their 24-1 record was a 3-1 loss to Marlboro in mid-October when they were without center back Scott Mission – a SSN first-team All-Shore selection. Marlboro finished 20-2-2 and ranked No. 2 in the Shore behind the Colts, who were named the No. 1 team in New Jersey in the NJ.com final Top 20.

“The expectations are always high,” said CBA head coach Tom Mulligan. “As long as the players bring a good attitude and have a good work ethic we always have a chance.”

Their Non-Public A state title was the Colts’ first state championship since 2011 and sixth overall in program history, while their SCT championship was their fourth since 2009 and tenth overall.

After graduating 10 of 11 starters from last season’s juggernaut team including five first-team All-Shore picks, one second-team and three third-team selections, most thought the Colts might take a step back this season but that hasn’t been the case at all.

“The players were a little more unsure of themselves than the coaching staff,” Mulligan said when asked about his team’s attitude entering the season having lost so many starters. “So the coaching staff kind of reminded them of who they were, where they were at and what their potential was. Then as the season progressed I think they’ve started to believe in themselves a little more.”

The Colts (12-1, 9-0) are currently ranked No. 1 in the Shore Conference and third in the state in the latest NJ.com polls after Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Colts Neck. That was their seventh win in a row since their 4-2 loss to St. Benedicts, which is ranked No. 1 in the country on TopDrawSoccer.com.

CBA is presently riding a streak of six straight shutouts in which they’ve outscored their opponents, 16-0.

Senior goalie Shane Keenan – a University of Connecticut commit – has been the catalyst of the Colts defensive prowess recording 10 shutouts in all so far this season.

“Our defense has been stellar with a bunch of shutouts and the anchor of our defense is Shane,” Mulligan said. “In my eyes he ranks as one of the best goalies our program has ever seen. He’s an extremely valuable resource for all the players involved. He’s a first-year high school player having come out of the academy system.”

Senior center back John Askin is the lone returning starter from a year ago and has added a little bit more offense to his premier defensive game with three goals and four assists so far this season.

“John will do whatever it takes to get a result,” Mulligan said of Askin. “He’s a defender first and if necessary if he feels the need to go after the ball and get a goal then you’ll find him up in the box. He has a tremendous work ethic, is a really good athlete and has a bright future in soccer.”

Junior Jack Hempstead and senior Kevin Brennan join Askin on the back line on the outside.

“Jack’s a tough player to get around and provides a lot of skill,” Mulligan said. “A lot of our attacks on that side of the field start with Jack so he kind of sets the table on that side. Kevin brings a lot of pace to the outside and is able to get up-and-down the line with the best of them.”

Junior midfielders Jack Gill and Joe Lozowski played prominent roles in last season’s success off the bench. Gill scored eight goals and assisted on two others last season, while Lozowski added eight goals with one assist. So far this season, Lozowski is second on the team with five goals along with two assists and Gill has added two goals and an assist.

“Joe has really come on as of late and found his role on the team,” said Mulligan. “He’s an attack minded player with a high skill set. We moved him to the outside this season where we felt there was a need and he’s accepted that role and has done very well. Gill has been somewhat of a silent workhorse for us. He doesn’t show up a lot on the score sheet but he does a lot of the essentials for us and has the potential to help us get results down the road.”

Some new faces have made their presence felt for the Colts this season helping to ease in the transition. Junior midfielder Dominic Bellomo leads the team in goals scored (6) and total points (8) while junior Charlie Daly has come out of nowhere to score five goals with an assist.

“Dominic has found his niche,” said Mulligan. “He wins a lot of balls for us and helps us keep possession. He’s going to make some coach at the next level very happy. He’s very comfortable out there and has a great attitude. Charlie is a kid that plays on the outside for us who has a lot of pace. When he turns the corner and gets behind the defense it opens up a lot of possibilities for us. He’s a tremendous asset for us moving forward on the attack.”

The Colts’ three attackers are sophomore Luke Pascarella, who is tied with Lozoski with seven points (3 goals and 4 assists), senior Nico Lubrano and junior Vinnie Cinko.

“All three of them provide a little different quality,” Mulligan said of his three forwards. “Pascarella holds the ball up for us well and is a good distributor in the offense. Lubrano seems to find spaces and Cinko puts a lot of pressure on the defense with his speed so we can come at you at a couple of different angles.”

Senior midfielder Evan Koczan, who saw limited playing time a year ago, has added experience and depth chipping in with a goal and an assist and junior defenseman Liam Mulvey has contributed one goal this season as well.

“We don’t really focus on the ultimate objective of being the best team in the state; we kind of take it one game at a time,” Mulligan said when asked what his team would do for an encore. “Every game is a challenge. They’re all tight, competitive games and we just approach it one game and one practice at a time. We try to look at the performance as opposed to the result and try to find out what we can do to be better tomorrow as opposed to what happened today.

“There are no easy games in the A North contrary to what some people might think. They’re big schools, good athletes, are well coached and every game is competitive. And that only makes us better come postseason.”

UPDATE: The Colts fell to 12-2 overall and 9-1 in the division on Friday after losing a 3-1 match to No. 10 Freehold Township – one of those superior A North teams Mulligan was talking about. Gill put CBA up, 1-0, off an assist from Bellomo and the Colts led 1-0 at the half before the Patriots (9-4, 8-3) erupted for three second-half goals.

 

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