Holmdel Boys Soccer Seeking Back-to-Back Shore Conference Titles By John Sorce

“Returning as many players as we did from last year’s team, we have a very strong senior class this year with a lot of experience,” said 16^th-year head coach John Nacarlo. “Joe Arena and Torre Alvitabile have been three-year captains. They’re two quality soccer players that really have the leadership and experience to keep that winning tradition going. It’s been a little bit of a struggle for us this year because of all the injuries that we’ve had, especially early on. But for us, finding ways to win has been very important for our team success.”

Because of those injuries, it has not been easy at times. The Hornets lost two of their top players early in the season. Anthony Arena, a junior and one of the top players in the state, went down with a strained hamstring in the Hornets’ third game of the season.

“He came back and saw limited minutes against Manasquan because of the importance of the game in A Central,” Nacarlo said. “He scored a goal in that game and we did end up winning. He didn’t play again until CBA, where he only played about 20 minutes. We just recently got him back full-time and he’s healthy and ready to go. He scored five goals in his last three games.”

The team also lost defender Jack Russo for about two weeks, and Nacarlo credits his depth and players continuing to step up to keep the winning streak intact.

“We’ve had a lot of kids step up in different spots,” Nacarlo said. “Peter Vassilakos and Mark Walier in the back. Jack Giamanco, a junior this year, has 12 goals. When our leading goal scorer, Anthony Arena, went down, he stepped up and scored some big-time goals for us. Eric Hinds, a junior this year, has been playing very consistently on the outside. Mark McStay, a senior, has been playing in the middle. We just got Henry Kiechlen available; he was a transfer from CBA and started playing on Oct. 4 and he’s another big person off the bench. One of the biggest surprises for us has been Ryan Fergusen. He’s a senior who saw limited minutes last year and really turned the corner as far as improving himself on the field. He scored two goals in the first round of the Shore Conference Tournament against Toms River East. He’s been a very hard worker and gives 110 percent no matter what he’s doing.”

Jack Murray has stepped up big in goal this year. He knows how opposing teams attack Holmdel with their tough defense, and has recorded an impressive nine shutouts in 14 games.

“His biggest strength is anything that circles the box or on corner kicks, he comes out and is very good in the air,” Nacarlo said. “He’s been doing that very well all year long. That’s what teams try to do against us because it’s hard to break our back four to get quality scoring opportunities, so when Jack needs to come up big, he tends to do that. Having nine shutouts and only allowing five goals in 14 games is pretty impressive.”

With the expectations that coms with the program, Holmdel does not like to look at the big picture. They take things one game at a time and the rest will take care of itself.

“That’s been our key since the beginning of the year,” Nacarlo said. “We’ve had a lot of games to look forward to, especially the CBA game. But our focus is just to focus one game at a time, take care of A Central. We had a lot of out-of-conference games this year because we only play each team in the division once now. That was our mentality.”

Now fully back at 100 percent, Holmdel has returned to the top team in the Shore Conference. They feel confident in their position for another Shore Conference Tournament title.

“I think the biggest key for us is we started the first four games of the season playing very well,” Nacarlo said. “We kind of hit a little bump in the middle where it was a little bit more difficult to put teams away and playing better consistently, because of the injuries that we were dealing with. Now, it seems that getting Anthony healthy and Jack Russo back to 100 percent, we’re kind of clicking again like we were at the beginning of the year. We did get the one seed and we feel very confident we have a very good chance to do it again.”