On Wednesday, October 25 afternoon, the boys varsity soccer season came to an unfortunate end with a tough 2-1 loss to Haddonfield in the NJSIAA Group 2 South State Tournament. Despite the season ending earlier than the team had hoped, the Hawks accomplished a lot over their 20 game season.
First and most notably, the Hawks captured the programs first Class B-South title in 21 years. To read more about the boys division championship, click here.
The Hawks were not able to qualify for the Shore Conference Tournament with the Shore’s new world cup format for the tournament. They were dealt one of the hardest hands in the tournament, however, drawing Central Regional, Holmdel and Howell for their group stage games. Central was a top 5 seed in the South Jersey Group 4 Sectional this season, a notoriously difficult group. Holmdel just captured their second Central Jersey Group 2 Sectional title in a row and returned 2 All-Shore players in David Weiner and Stepan Kapranov. And Howell went all the way to the Shore Conference Tournament and Sectional finals. Despite being dealt such a difficult hand, the Hawks fought hard against the two teams who would ultimately advance from the group, Central and Howell, losing 4-3 to Central and 1-0 to Howell.
While they did not make the Shore Conference Tournament the boys did, however, earn a top 10 seed in the Shore Conference Coaches Cup which is a consolation tournament of sorts. The Hawks made it all the way to the semi finals of the tournament, shutting out Freehold Borough 3-0 and Lacey 2-0 before they ultimately fell to Holmdel 2-1 in the final minutes.
The boys began to skid at the wrong time unfortunately, going 1-4 in their final 5 games and losing out on some crucial power points that could have boosted their state tournament seeding. They lost 2 heartbreaking games in overtime to Long Branch and Raritan, lost 4-2 to Brick Memorial in a muddy mess and as I previously mentioned fell to Holmdel in the final minutes of the game. Because of their inability to capture some important power points the Hawks found themselves with a difficult 8-9 matchup vs a tough Haddonfield team in the first round of the State Tournament. The Hawks struck first and early, with star senior Joey Kurak finding the back of the net 30 seconds into the match. That wouldn’t be enough, unfortunately, as Haddonfield equalized 5 minutes later and took the lead early in the second half. The Hawks had their chances, with Joey Kurak hitting the crossbar on a first half freekick and junior Aiden Clauburg just missing a clean look, but soccer is a game of inches and it just wouldn’t be enough for the Hawks on Wednesday.
The boys had some significant individual accomplishments this season as well. Senior Joey Kurak had a historic season, racking up 28 goals and 6 assists, breaking the single season goals and points records here at Manchester, leading the Shore Conference in goals and winning Ocean County and B-South player of the year. Junior Gabriel Occhipiniti cemented himself as a potent midfielder, earning 10 assists and 3 goals. Additionally, Aiden Clauburg proved himself to be a threat in the attack as well as an elite defender becoming the team’s second leading scorer with 5 goals and also earning 4 assists. In goal, junior Noah Cundiff had 146 saves and 7 shutouts.
Despite the early end, it was a memorable and fun season for the Hawks.
