OCEAN TOWNSHIP – After losing in both the Shore Conference and NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 3 tournament championship games a year ago, the Spartans have taken the Shore Conference by storm this season behind an outstanding returning senior class, a big-time transfer and significant contributions from a number of underclassmen.
This season Ocean returned seven starters and added Shore Regional second-team All-Shore transfer Leo Montesinos, who’s currently second on the team in goals scored with nine.
“We had to replace Stephen Carton, a goal scorer, and Job Cajas, a distributing center mid, and Leo’s helped us deal with both of those huge losses,” said Ocean head coach John Terlecsky. “He is both a goal score and great passer, but he also adds defensive grit to our team. When he loses the ball he gets it back nine times out of ten. He also owns the air – both offensively and defensively – something we really needed against CBA.”
The Spartans (16-3-1) won their second straight Class B North title this season claiming a 6-1 divisional record with their only division loss coming against rival Wall (12-3-2), who finished tied with Colts Neck for second in the B North at 5-2.
Their only other losses this season were both by one goal and the same score, 3-2, to Manasquan and CBA.
That loss to Wall turned out to be a wake-up call. Since then the Spartans have reeled off seven straight wins that include four straight in the Shore Conference Tournament on their way to capturing the program’s fifth SCT championship and first since 2012, beating third-seeded Christian Brothers Academy, 1-0, in double overtime.
“Losing to CBA, 3-2, in the regular season despite outshooting them as well, gave us even more belief in our capabilities,” Terlecsky said. “We went into that game (SCT final) confident we could win.”
Montesinos, who now appears to be the final piece of Ocean’s championship puzzle, headed in the golden goal 3:05 into the second overtime period off a throw-in from senior Luke Yates that senior defender Brent Gaber headed right into the path of a charging Montesinos near the far side of the goal.
Immediately after seeing the ball go in, Montesinos ripped off his shirt and sprinted the length of the field to celebrate with the student section.
“I felt the same as Leo, but my celebratory sprint was much slower,” Terlecsky joked. “Prior to Luke’s throw-in I had been concerned with our physical and emotional well-being. We had been bending but not breaking against CBA’s lethal possession game, and I just saw us getting a little tired both at the end of regulation and the end of the first overtime. They had earned what seemed like corner after corner in the first overtime, plus our semifinal versus Holmdel was much more emotionally exhausting than theirs against Jackson. The drama was high and the stakes were high, so when the ball went through the net, it was as special a feeling I’ve had as a coach.”
After last season at Shore in which Montesinos said, “lacked chemistry,” his transition into the Ocean system has been seamless by joining a group of players that he’s played with on club teams since he was eight years old.
CBA actually outshot the Spartans, 19-6, but failed to break through on senior All-Division goalkeeper Max Winters, who made seven saves to earn the shutout in one of the biggest games of his three-year varsity career.
“Mighty Max was stellar in the final match but, he was even more spectacular in the semifinal,” said Terlecsky. I’ve been joking that the final was a walk in the park for Max, and anyone who had seen his performance versus Holmdel would probably agree.”
To reach the SCT final, the Spartans needed to get by undefeated Holmdel, who was ranked second in the state at the time, in the semifinals and they pulled off the feat in equally dramatic fashion shocking the Hornets on penalty kicks.
Winters saved two penalty kicks, including one by Holmdel standout Anthony Arena, and Ocean converted all four of their shootout attempts to upset No.1 seed Holmdel in penalties, 4-2, after the two team played to a 2-2 draw for over 100 minutes.
“Max is cool under fire, and he welcomes the challenge,” added Terlecsky. “He plays his best when the lights are the brightest and the stakes are the highest.”
Ocean’s leading scorer, Santieno Harding, recorded his 18th goal of the season off an assist from Yates and James Schutz scored off an assist from Harding in regulation. Schutz, Harding, Montesinos and Yates converted penalty kicks.
The win against Holmdel was not only satisfying as it punched their ticket to the Shore Conference Tournament final for the second year in a row, it allowed Ocean’s senior-laden team to redeem themselves after absorbing a forgettable 7-1 loss to Holmdel in last year’s SCT final on their own turf.
“That loss embarrassed the boys more than I even realized,” said Terlecsky of his team’s devastating loss to Holmdel last season. “Their rivalry even extended to traveling soccer, so when the opportunity came to play them in the semifinal, it was what the guys were waiting for.”
The Spartans were given the No. 2 seed in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 3 Tournament with Neptune somehow awarded the top seed after being defeated by the Spartans in the regular season and finishing behind them in the B North in fourth place.
In their first-round game against 15th seed Nottingham, the Spartan cruised by the Northstars, 4-1, with Mark Mauro, Montesinos, Yates and Erick Vasquez-Gonsalez contributing goals and Yates, Zach Sintic, Robert Lopes and Kirk Jones adding assists.
The Spartans’ run through the playoffs commences Monday in a semifinal matchup versus third-seeded Wall that affords Ocean the opportunity to avenge their loss to the Knights earlier this season.
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