HIGH SCHOOL

South Brunswick boys soccer advances to GMCT final

Daniel LoGiudice
@danny_logiudice

OLD BRIDGE - To make it to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final, the South Brunswick boys soccer team relied upon an unexpected hero.

Senior midfielder Russell Baskin scored late in the second half to give top-seeded South Brunswick a 1-0 victory over fourth-seeded East Brunswick on Thursday afternoon at Geick Park. The Vikings will play sixth-seeded South Plainfield in the final on Saturday.

“This speaks to our team mentality,” South Brunswick coach Chris Hayston said. “This is a 24-man deal with everyone contributing and working towards a common goal.”

Senior forward Nasser Aamer received a cross in the box and fired a shot directly at East Brunswick goalie Lucas Espada with 10 minutes left in the game. The ball ricocheted off Espada, and Baskin — in the right place at the right time — buried the deflection into the back of the net.

“It was really important to keep pushing until we got that goal,” Baskin said.

The goal came shortly after East Brunswick nearly took a 1-0 lead, but senior defender Paul Grudnik blocked a rocket of a shot on the goal line.

“I thought it was a goal, and I just saw him on the goal line swinging at it,” Baskin said. “It changed the game.”

With the lead and momentum on their side, the Vikings finished strong. East Brunswick’s Keysean Brant-Sharp made a great run to the goal with minutes to spare, but Vikings goalkeeper Arvind Swaminathan cut him off before the forward could take a shot.

The Vikings dominated possession and the pace of the game. Senior Kyle DeGroff had two open looks early in the first half and Grudnik’s brother Patrick had one in the second that all narrowly missed.

They had the opportunities, but they just had to finish.

“You have to keep plugging away,” Hayston said. “There was nothing we were going to do that was going to make us more dangerous. You just need to keep doing the work you’re doing.”

The Vikings stuck to their game plan, and Baskin rewarded his teammates with the game-winner. With one goal on the season prior to Thursday’s semifinal, Baskin may not have been the expected hero, but he came up big when it counted.

“He did a great job executing and making sure the ball went in,” Hayston said. “Anytime you get a kid who’s not as prominent a goal scorer to make a play like that, it’s great for the kid and the entire team.”

The Vikings will play the Cinderella story, South Plainfield, in the final on Saturday. The sixth-seeded Tigers upset second-seeded New Brunswick 4-3 in the other semifinal Thursday.

Though the teams haven’t faced off against each other this year, the Vikings are expecting a hard-fought battle for the GMC title.

“We’re expecting a tough game,” Baskin said. “We lost to New Brunswick 2-1, and they beat them. It will be a good, tough game.”

Staff Writer Daniel LoGiudice: dlogiudice@gannettnj.com